Luxor Travel Forum

Hi,

I will be in Luxor soon and had a question about the hot air balloon ride. I heard it is highly recommended. My concern is that I will most likely be coming into Luxor via a cruise ship, check-out ~ 8 am.

- Is it possible to take a hot air ballon ride after 8 am?
- How should I go from the East bank to where the balloons depart?
- How much do the balloon rides cost?
- What is VOTK? (I read somewhere that the balloon rides are over VOTK).

Please advise as soon as possible. I will be leaving for Egypt this week, and plan to take the balloon ride on Dec 20th.

Thanks!!!

The following is from my tip on my Egypt page. I have the same tip on my Luxor page with different photos. So go to the tips on both pages to see all the photos.


A hot air balloon ride over the West Bank is a great way to spend a morning. The rides are early in the morning. They pick you up at your hotel. Take you on a private ferry across the Nile. There is tea and snacks on the boat. They drive you back to the private ferry and take you back to your hotel after the ride.

If you want, when they take you back to the Nile, you can rent a taxi for about 6 to 7 hours to see what you flew over. I'll have more information on that in a different tip.

I recommend you see the West Bank first, and then take a hot air balloon ride on a different day. That way you will recognize what you are looking at. There are many things to see from the balloon and some of then are far so they may be hard to recognize if you have not been their on the ground.

At the start of the trip, the caption asks who is this the first hot air balloon ride they taken. He then states, this is his first time also. :)

They have a little dance after the ride which is fun to join in.

My guide book said the price for a 40/45 minute ride is over $100 USD per person. However, the tout in Aswan said he can book for $80 USD per person and booked two Australians we met. This guy overcharged us before, plus he was in Aswan, not Luxor so we didn't book with him. We booked in Luxor for $60 USD per person. The Australians which paid $80 were on the same balloon as us.

We later found out from a taxi driver that we could book the same ride for $40 USD per person. So, buyers beware. :)

Viking is one balloon company, there are many others.

This tip is both under my Egypt and Luxor sections. I will have different pictures in the two postings of the tip.

Website: www.vikingairegypt.com

Check out Sindbad Balloons - we went with them last week in Luxor over VOTK. We were on a tour, so paid 250LE per person, but you can get it cheaper by booking direct. Our flight started really early at sunrise, so not sure if you can do it any time of day - would check online with them.
Would highly recommend the flight!!

VOTK is The Valley Of The Kings.

Stewart

Wow. Thank you all for your excellent advice and feedback. Mikeysoft - thanks also for the detailed information. This really helps. Its amazing how VT'ers come through every time for new travelers. I really appreciate it!!

I've just copy and past what I had on: :)

http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/9e4cc/de1/4/
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/9e4cc/1ea650/4/
and
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/9e4cc/de1/8/

I went to the tourist office and asked for balloon companies. I called them and asked each direct for the price (hotel price is higher as they add commission.) Eventually we went with Viking (after hearing from my hotel that it is a prestige company and price normally at LE300 per person). We were a group of 7 (just met in Luxor) so we were able to get the price down to LE225 per person.
As MikeySoft mentions, the price includes transpportation, snacks, a certificate and a t-shirt.
The flight will be on top of the west bank but as I saw that day, no balloons flew over the VOTK.