Sunrise
Forty-five minutes over the West Bank as the sun comes up over the Nile.
4 stops
From the air, the plan of Thebes is plain: the river down the middle, the temples of the gods on the east bank, and on the west the hills where the kings were buried. It is the clearest view there is of the second chapter of how Egypt kept reimagining eternity.
Before dawn
From your hotel or Nile cruise.
Luxor's river setting; this does not depict a contracted transfer.
Photo: Marc Ryckaert · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for display.
Stop 2
Safety briefing while the balloons inflate.
Photo: Wouter Hagens · CC BY-SA 3.0. Resized for display.
Sunrise
About 45 minutes over the West Bank, the temples and the villages.
Photo: Ovedc · CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized for display.
Stop 4
Flight certificate, then transfer back.
Luxor's waterfront setting; meeting point and transfers are confirmed separately.
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg · CC BY 4.0. Resized for display.
Day and time labels describe the planned sequence, not confirmed departures. Your written quote confirms pickup, flights, sailing and return times for your date.
Watch the day before you go
Chapter 1 · Before dawn
It is still dark when you are collected. At the field, the balloons lie flat on the ground like sleeping animals.
Then the burners roar, and they stand up.
You climb into the basket. Flights leave at sunrise, when the wind is calmest, and the ground lets go of you.
Chapter 2 · Sunrise
The sun comes up over the eastern hills, and from up here, ancient Thebes finally makes sense.
On the east bank, where the sun rises: the town, and the houses of the gods.
On the west, green fields that stop dead at the desert. Beyond them, the cliffs and the plain the Egyptians gave to their royal dead.
There, Hatshepsut's terraces against the cliff. And there, two giants in a field, small as chess pieces.
Sources: Barry J. Kemp, Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a Civilization (2018), pp. 262–263.
Chapter 3 · After sunrise
If the wind carries you south, Medinet Habu opens beneath you: not just a temple, but a walled estate of courts and gates.
When the kingdom fell into civil war, people ran inside these walls for safety. Later a whole Christian town lived in the temple.
The basket bumps down in a field. Someone hands you a certificate. You are back on the ground, and it looks different now.
Sources: Richard H. Wilkinson, The Complete Temples of Ancient Egypt (2000), pp. 193–194.
Times of day set the scene; your written quote confirms the timetable. Facts come from the sources named under each chapter, and where we give an opinion, it reads as ours.
Why go
A Luxor hot air balloon ride at sunrise shows the West Bank as no other view can: the Valley of the Kings, the temple of Hatshepsut against its cliffs, the Colossi of Memnon, and the green line of the Nile and its villages, all coming into the first light.
You are collected from your Luxor hotel or Nile cruise before dawn and taken to the launch site for a safety briefing. Flights take off at sunrise because the winds are calmest then. The flight lasts about 45 minutes with a certified English-speaking pilot, and you receive a flight certificate after landing before being driven back for breakfast.
Two things to know. First, balloons fly only when the weather allows. If the authorities cancel flights, the ride cannot go ahead that morning, so book it early in your stay to leave room to fly another day. Second, baskets are shared with other passengers; the price is per person. Ask us about basket size and the operator when you enquire.
Pair the flight with the West Bank tour that same morning, and you see from the ground what you just saw from the air.
Our tip
Book it for your first Luxor morning, so a weather cancellation still leaves you a second chance.
The details
Before you go
Questions
Balloons in Luxor fly only when conditions allow, and flights can be cancelled on the morning. Book early in your stay so you can fly on another day.
No. Baskets are shared with other passengers and the price is per person.
$120 per person, or $119 each for groups of 8–10, in US dollars.
Passengers must be able to climb in and out of the basket unassisted. Ask us about age limits for your date when you enquire.
Local tips matched to this route
Karnak and the West BankA photographer who knows Karnak's columns and quieter corners, and the hours when the light comes through them.
Build this day and choose your additions
Photo: Djehouty, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and cropped for display.
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Deluxe Trips Egypt
Send your dates and party size here. We reply with a written quote: the price for your party, what is included and the terms. Nothing is booked until you accept it.
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Ovedc, CC BY-SA 4.0; Marc Ryckaert, CC BY-SA 4.0; Wouter Hagens, CC BY-SA 3.0; Vyacheslav Argenberg, CC BY 4.0; Marcosleal, CC BY-SA 3.0; Marc Ryckaert, CC BY-SA 4.0; Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0; Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0; Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0; Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0; Zezinho68, CC BY-SA 4.0; Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 3.0; Hamerani, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and cropped for display.
