Situated on the east bank of the Nile, it was known in antiquity as Kaine (Greek Καινή, meaning "new (city)"; Latinized transliteration: Caene) and Maximianopolis.

Tourists traveling between Luxor and the Red Sea will assuredly pass through this city since there is only one good road connection.

[7] Qena is a large market town on the River Nile situated next to the famous Greco-Roman temples of Dendera.

Also on the Nile, Luxor is a long-time tourist hotspot that in large part attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors because of its temples, tombs and location on the site of the ancient capital of Thebes.

Part of these operations probably included Lockheed MC-130 flights during the Desert One rescue attempts for the U.S. hostages in Tehran in the late 1970s.