- Duration
- Day trip
- Starts from
- Luxor
- Group size
- Up to 12 guests
- Difficulty
- Easy
Overview
An early-morning balloon flight with a licensed operator: about 45 minutes above temples, villages and sugarcane fields at sunrise, back at your hotel by around 8:00.
It's an early start, but almost nobody regrets it. We collect you from your hotel or cruise boat in the dark and cross the Nile by felucca or motorboat to the West Bank, where tea, coffee and a safety briefing are waiting while the crew fills the balloons with roaring bursts of flame.
You lift off around sunrise and spend about 45 minutes in the air. Below you: the Temple of Hatshepsut against the Theban cliffs, mud-brick villages waking up, donkeys on the farm tracks and bright green squares of sugarcane running down to the river. On a clear morning dozens of balloons rise together, and the photographs almost take themselves.
Landing is usually gentle, sometimes with a little bump, in the fields. The crew celebrates with a small ceremony and hands out flight certificates, and you're back at your hotel by about 8:00, in time for breakfast. Flights depend on the wind: if the aviation authority cancels the morning's flights, you get a full refund or another date.
Highlights
- Sunrise over the Nile and the Theban hills
- About 45 minutes in the air with a licensed operator
- Views over temples, villages and sugarcane fields
- A dawn boat crossing to the West Bank
- Landing celebration and flight certificate
- Back at your hotel in time for breakfast
Itinerary
- 1
Day 1
Nile crossing → sunrise flight → back for breakfast
Pickup in the dark and a boat crossing to the West Bank, tea and the safety briefing at the launch site, then about 45 minutes in the air at sunrise. Landing celebration with certificates and the transfer back to your hotel or boat by about 8:00.
What's included
- Pickup and drop-off at Luxor hotels or cruise boats
- Felucca or motorboat crossing to the West Bank
- Tea, coffee and a light snack before the flight
- Safety briefing by the pilot
- About 45 minutes of flight with a licensed balloon operator
- Transfers to the launch site and back from the landing site
- Flight certificate
Not included
- Tips for pilot and crew
- Breakfast
- Photos and videos sold by the operator
- Travel insurance
What to bring
- A warm layer — winter mornings are chilly
- Flat, closed shoes
- A hat
- Camera or phone with a wrist strap
- Small Egyptian pound notes for tips
Pickup & meeting point
Pickup from your hotel or cruise boat in Luxor at around 4:30 (a little earlier or later with the season). Exact time confirmed the evening before.
Children up to 11 pay the child rate
Photos
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