My amazing hot air balloon experience in Luxor with Cinderella Balloons

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Omg wow… what an experience! ❤️

Yes, the 3am alarm was painful. Hotel pick up at 4:15am, then driving through the darkness towards the balloon site on Luxor’s West Bank wondering what on earth we had signed up for.

And then suddenly… lights, burners, baskets lying on their sides and dozens of giant balloons slowly coming to life in the middle of the desert.

It honestly felt surreal.

People arriving from all over the world, crews running around preparing balloons, flames lighting up the sky and the quiet excitement building while we waited for air traffic control to confirm conditions were safe to fly.

We moved over to our basket where we met our pilot, Ahmed, who gave us a full briefing before inflation began. Watching our balloon rise from flat on the ground into this enormous glowing giant was incredible enough on its own… but then you looked around and realised there were over 20 balloons surrounding us doing exactly the same thing. 🎈

The atmosphere was unbelievable.

Then suddenly… go go go.

Everyone climbed into the basket. There were 20 people in ours which sounds cramped but honestly it wasn’t at all. Plenty of room, very calm and incredibly smooth.

And then we slowly lifted into the sky.

Being one of the first balloons to rise meant we could look down and watch the others below us gradually floating upwards, becoming tiny colourful dots across the landscape.

Below us was the whole of Luxor waking up.

The green farmland along the Nile cutting through the desert; tiny villages and flat roofed homes; farmers already out working the land; ancient temples and tombs appearing beneath us.

At one point we drifted over the area of the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens… somewhere that still holds the tombs of pharaohs including Tutankhamun. Looking down from above and realising this landscape has barely changed in thousands of years was honestly quite emotional.

Then the sunrise.

The sky turning gold over the Nile while dozens of balloons floated silently around us.

No noise apart from the occasional blast of the burner.

Just complete calm.

And finally the descent.

I expected chaos if I’m honest - but the ground team were amazing. Running alongside, pulling guide ropes and bringing us down so smoothly there genuinely wasn’t even a bumpy landing.

Would I recommend it? Without hesitation.

Yes it’s an early start. Yes it’s touristy. But it is also one of those genuine bucket list travel moments that stays with you forever.

Luxor from the ground is incredible. Luxor from the sky is something else entirely.