Hot Air Balloon in Luxor: A Magical Sunrise Above Ancient Egypt

One of the most beautiful activities during my stay in Luxor was to fly by balloon early in the morning during sunrise.
Nowhere in all of Egypt can one fly by balloon except in Luxor; there is no well-known reason for that, but the adrenaline of this trip is not easy to describe.
Pick-up time is always between 4:00 to 5:00 am; depending on the sunrise’s time, one needs a jacket or coat in the wintertime because of cold weather early in the morning on the way to the balloon.
The transfer to balloons is always by motorboat from the eastern side of the Nile to western bank in Luxor and by small buses to the place where they are preparing balloons to start to fly.
In this place, there are police and civil aviation representatives to check the safety procedures to launch daily flying by balloon, the vision must be clear, and the wind speed must be less than 8km per hour.
The confirmation of flying occurred during the last minute before flying. Many times cancellation of balloons occurs after the arrival of tourists to balloon and at the last minute before flying.
Daily, around 25 balloons on three trips, through different local companies for balloons, the pilots are well educated and checked by the civil aviation ministry after passing a determined quantity of hours to get a license to fly and be responsible for the balloon.
Balloons differ in size and capacity.
The most little balloon basket could fly with two persons, and the enormous basket could have 32 persons, by the way, it’s the enormous basket in the whole world.
Preparing the balloon needs big fans to fill the balloon of old air. They fill the balloon with hot air “helium” to move the basket to the proper position, allowing tourists to be inside it after checking their weight to get the needed balance.
Inside the balloon in the center, he always stays pilot with his instruments and bottles of helium to control the balloon’s height.
On the right and left, tourists watch the views around the balloon, and the pilot always turns the balloon in circles to make tourists get all the views during flight.
It is not possible to determine the direction of a balloon since it depends on the direction of the wind; the role of the pilot is only to decide the proper height of the balloon according to the layers of air with its direction.
However, the note mentioned above can guarantee during most balloon flights to watch the temple of queen Hatshepsut, river Nile, the enormous contrast between the Nile valley and deserts in Egypt, and the magical sunrise view.
The trip time is not easy because it depends on the wind; one could install the minimum time, not the maximum.
The price is between 100$ to 120$. The price depends on; company and time of the trip and the number of the trip morning always.
The most expensive trip is the first one, making a better impression watching sunrise clearly and the last moment of lighting temples and mountains of Luxor by aries and they direct by sun rays.
Anyway, I highly recommend this magical trip, no need to fear that it is very smooth and easy to fly on landing. Egyptian pilots are very professional.