From time to time, I think back to my horrible hot air balloon ride in Luxor and it’s enough to get me all riled up again. I even contemplated not even writing about this because it makes me so upset, but I thought if it could help at least one person, then it’s definitely worth writing about. I want to preface this blog post by saying that the actual hot air balloon ride was not the problem, but it was more what happened beforehand and afterwards that ruined it for me. 

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Is a Hot Air Balloon Ride in Luxor Worth it?

I was really on the fence about doing this hot air balloon ride in Luxor. Back in 2017, I took my first hot air balloon ride in Bagan, Myanmar and it was seriously the most amazing experience. The weather was perfect and the views of the temples were just stunning. I pretty much thought (and still do) that nothing was going to beat that experience so why would I pay for another ride. What finally convinced me in the end to take the hot air balloon ride in Luxor was that I might as well just do it since I’m already there and also the PRICE!

 

How Much Does A Hot Air Balloon Ride in Luxor Cost?

Our Bagan hot air balloon ride cost us around $300/person back in 2017. Even for me, that’s a lot to swallow, but again, it was totally worth it for the views. For Luxor, I heard that the hot air balloon rides cost around $80-$120. I met some fellow travelers during my trip and I think they paid $95. The interesting thing is that my hot air balloon ride only cost me $49! Granted, I booked it as a part of an add-on excursion to my Nile cruise, but I wanted people to know that you can get a hot air balloon ride in Luxor for $49 if you look hard enough. They are always trying to fill up space!

 

How Many Rides Per Day Are There?

I believe there are at least three flights per day (if the weather permits). There is the sunrise one which is obviously the most popular seeing that everyone wants to catch the sunrise. Also, it’s probably the best one if you don’t want to deal with the heat and the best chance of not being canceled due to weather. After the sunrise flight, I noticed that there were at least two more flights that took off. I think the caveat of me getting a $49 hot air balloon ride in Luxor is most likely because I was supposed to be on the 2nd flight, but somehow I managed to get on the sunrise flight which I’ll explain further down below.

 

Is it Safe to Do A Hot Air Balloon Ride in Luxor?

Not going to lie, I heard historically the safety protocols aren’t the best and there have been a few incidents in the past, which alone would have made me stop from taking this ride. In the end, I did more reading and research and there seems to have been more precaution and safety measures put in place now like canceling flights if the weather is not near perfect. I took my chances anyway and I would say it was a near perfect day for a hot air balloon ride. There was almost no wind and the landing was softer than the one I had in Bagan.

 

How Long Was the Ride?

Some blog posts say it’s around 45 minutes, but I swear it felt more like 25-30 mins. I think it really depends on the wind and where your balloon decides to land.

 

What Was My Horrible Hot Air Balloon in Luxor Experience?

So, it all started in Aswan with my original tour organizer, Montasser. When I was researching for this trip, I was looking for an affordable tour organizer and found Montasser’s contact from another blogger (Big World Small Pockets) so I thought I would use him too. I decided to book everything from my Nile cruise to all of my excursions though him. Anything that had to do with Aswan was fine since Montasser lives there, but unfortunately, he has another guy that handles anything to do with Luxor named Memo (pronounced like Nemo).

 

Pre-Flight Experience

As I mentioned above, I was supposed to be on the 2nd flight of the day which had a 5:10 am call time. The night before the flight, I get a text message from Memo saying that he managed to get me on the sunrise flight and that I now have an earlier call time (4:10 am). I wasn’t exactly thrilled about waking up earlier, but thought it would be nice to see the sunrise regardless so I agreed. Well of course, after I agreed, he said that it’s going to cost me an extra $10 USD more for the sunrise flight. 

At that point, I told him that I didn’t want to pay extra and don’t care about the sunrise flight. I want to keep with my original flight. He kept trying to push the sunrise flight on me and told me that I was the weird one for not wanting to take that flight. He said if I take the sunrise flight, I can come back to the cruise and have breakfast there and then wait for my next tour. I didn’t care for that because what I really wanted was just to sleep in. Every morning since I started the cruise, I have been waking up at 3:00 am and I just wanted one morning where I didn’t have to be up so early. 

To be honest, I would have just paid the extra $10 for the sunrise flight, but it was the fact that he was so pushy about it that it became more of a principal thing than anything. $10 wasn’t breaking the bank, but I was so tired of everyone trying to make money off of me or trying to upsell me on things that I finally wanted to put my foot down. He finally let it go and said that I can keep my original flight. So, I went to bed.

 

The Morning of My Hot Air Balloon Ride

I woke up to my original call time and was waiting in the lobby of the cruise to be picked up by 5:10 am. I was already down there waiting by 5:05 am, but then 5:15 am passed, then 5:20 am, and then 5:30 am. Now I’m wondering if I’m going to be picked up at all since there might have been confusion from the night before. Finally, a guy comes and tells me that he’s my ride to take me to the hot air balloon. I hop in a shady van and now I’m wondering why am I the only one in this van. 

The driver explained to me that I was really lucky to get on the sunrise flight and that I needed to pay them the extra money for this flight. Ok now, I’m seriously about to LOSE MY SHIT. I told the driver that I didn’t want to be on the sunrise flight and that I told Memo that I wanted to be on the 2nd flight. I told the driver to call Memo and they need to figure it out for themselves. After the driver talked to my tour guide for what seemed to be at least 10 minutes (and of course I can’t understand anything he’s saying), he finally agreed to let it go and so I thought I was back on the 2nd flight. 

After riding in the shady van for about 15 minutes, they took me to the river to get on a shady speed boat to cross over to the West Bank. I’m seriously thinking, where are ALL the people? Why am I the only one? I don’t really have time to question since they seem to be more and more of a rush to get me somewhere. After we get to the other side of the river, they put me in the back of ANOTHER shady van! I seriously was about to jump out but then I noticed some hot air balloons taking off in the distance. So, at least I knew I was going in the correct direction I guess.

The van comes to a grinding halt and some random guy throws open the sliding door and urgently signals me to follow him. I hop out of the van and now we are running full sprint across the hot air balloon field! When I say sprint, I literally mean like I was on The Amazing Race trying to run for my life to catch the next secret challenge or something. I wasn’t prepared at all for the running and the next thing I know, I hear some guy yelling at us. Apparently, the zipper of my backpack unzipped and now ALL OF MY CAMERA EQUIPMENT has fallen out. I literally had to run back and collect my camera, lenses, GoPro, tripod, etc. all off the ground. 

At this point, I’m PISSED! I finally figured out that they were still trying to put me on the sunrise flight and that I was the last person that this balloon was waiting for. It was bad enough that they were still trying to scam me in the morning, but now a balloon full of people just watched me drop all of my camera gear and probably thought I was the reason holding up their balloon ride. I finally get into the basket and everyone was cheering that I made it (except for me). I was so embarrassed, but I tried to compose myself as best I could so I can at least enjoy the ride. If this was the end of my horrible experience, I would have been happy, but unfortunately it wasn’t.

 

Post-Flight Experience

What happened after the flight is what upset me the most. I tried to hold it in as best I could but at a point, I did start to break down. Since my tour guide decided to put me on the sunrise flight, my ride was probably over around 6:45 am. I was abruptly dropped off on the side of the road where I was told my next tour guide was supposed to pick me up. Well, an hour went by and I Whatsapp’d Memo asking him when I was going to be picked up. There was no response. Another 20 minutes went by and I messaged him again. Nothing. I gave him a call. Nothing. He finally messages back after I’ve been on the side of the road for 1 hour 40 mins saying that he is on his way. I asked him how long it would take him to get here and he said 20 minutes. 

I patiently wait inside of this cafe while I watch everyone else get picked up before I message Memo again asking how much longer since it’s been over 35 minutes now. He tells me that it’ll be another 15 mins. Well, ANOTHER 40 mins goes by and still no one. I was SO UPSET. I was left stranded on the side of the road for 3 HOURS! Mind you, it is over 100 degrees outside too!

If I originally was on the 2nd flight like I was supposed to be, the wait in between wouldn’t have been as long in between. But because Memo decided that he wanted me on the sunrise flight, I had to wait extra for my next tour guide to pick me up. You might be wondering, why I didn’t just go back to the cruise ship. Well, I would have if Memo would have communicated that the next tour guide wouldn’t pick me up until 10:00 am! Then for sure I would have just gotten a taxi back to the ship. In the end, I figured out that since I didn’t want to pay the extra $$$ for the sunrise flight, he pretty much did an “F U” to me by making me wait on that side of the road for 3 hours on purpose. 

I am usually a strong person, but after 3 hours in the Egyptian sun with no idea if I was ever going to get picked up, I was an emotional wreck. Luckily, once the next tour guide finally came and picked me up, he was a sweetheart and made the rest of the day enjoyable. But I promise you, I will never forget how Memo treated me and how he thought it was okay to just leave anyone out there for 3 hours! I hope no one ever comes across this guy. He is shady AF and not even worth you trying to save money.

 

So, the Moral of this Story? Do Not Use Memo!

Memo was by far the WORST tour organizer I have ever encountered. This is also not just my opinion. Other people from my cruise had him for other tours and they were upset at him as well for trying to charge them extra. I’m telling this story to you because I hope you don’t encounter this guy unless you like being left on the side of the road for hours. Below is his Whatsapp number so you’ll know if you actually come across this guy. Also, if you decide to book Aswan itineraries through Montasser, make it clear to him that you do NOT want Memo as your organizer in Luxor. Trust me, I am saving you from a lot of heartache.

 

How Was the Actual Hot Air Balloon Ride?

The actual ride itself was very peaceful and calm. Just like how I remembered it to be in Bagan. The view was definitely not as pretty as Bagan though. Luxor seems to be full of air pollution or something because it was hazy all morning. Also, our balloon didn’t float over the West Bank temples. I saw pictures from other travelers and they were able to get right above the Valley of the Kings and the Temple of Hatshepsut. So, just be aware that not every hot air balloon will give you the same experience. It’s just going to be a matter of luck and how the winds are that day. For our balloon, I would say our views were just average.

 

Would You Do It Again?

Of course I don’t need to do another hot air balloon ride in Luxor, but if you haven’t had a chance to ride one, Luxor provides you with a pretty affordable option. For $49, I don’t think I’ll find any place in the world cheaper than this. With that being said, I would not even pay a penny more to Memo. The fact that Memo was trying to make more money off of me and when he couldn’t, decided to leave me out on the road for 3 hours ruined my whole experience. I would have paid more for a better tour organizer.

 

Hot Air Balloon Ride Pictures