Hot Air Balloon and Full Day Luxor Tour with Lunch

Luxor Travels

Sunrise balloon flight over the Valley of the Kings, then a full day across the ancient monuments of the West Bank and the East Bank: the Valley of the Kings (Necropolis of Thebes), the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut at Deir el Bahari, the Colossi of Memnon, Karnak and Luxor Temple. A licensed Egyptologist guide leads the day, and an air-conditioned vehicle handles the transfers between sites.

Valley of the Kings

Three tombs in the Valley of the Kings, chosen with the guide. Check-out is at 7:00 AM after the balloon flight, and the West Bank day tour begins from there. The first stop is the Necropolis of Thebes, the Valley of the Kings on the West Bank of Luxor. Tombs of various dynasties are set into the rock of the Theban hillside, and three of them are on the programme. The Egyptologist guide is on hand to recommend and advise on which ones to enter. From the tombs the route continues to the Temple of Hatshepsut.

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Sun rise Hot-air balloon ride over the Valley of the Kings

The flight lifts off at sunrise above the Valley of the Kings. Once back on the ground, the rest of the day runs through the main ancient monuments of both banks of Luxor: Valley of the Kings (Necropolis of Thebes), Deir el Bahari and the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the Colossi of Memnon, Karnak and Luxor Temple. A licensed Egyptologist guide accompanies the group, with an air-conditioned vehicle between stops.

Tomb of Ramses III

(Admission is free with a Valley of the Kings ticket) The tomb of Ramesses III, catalogued as KV 11, is a complex system in the Valley of the Kings, known since antiquity. Colourful painted sunken reliefs carry the traditional ritual texts, the Litany of Ra and the Book of Gates among them, along with Ramesses before the gods. Rarer here are the secular scenes in the small side rooms off the entrance corridor: foreign tributes, including highly detailed pottery imported from the Aegean, the royal armoury and boats. The last of those chambers holds the blind harpists that gave the tomb one of its alternative names, the Tomb of the Harpers.

Tomb of Ramases IX

(Admission is free with a Valley of the Kings ticket) Ramesses IX was the third pharaoh of the Twentieth Dynasty of the New Kingdom of ancient Egypt, known as Amonhirkhopshef before he took the crown. Fifth son of Ramesses III, he was appointed crown prince by the twenty-second year of his father's reign, after all four of his elder brothers had died. Colour and detail survive across the tomb, including the ceiling above the sarcophagi where the goddess Nut stretches the length of the space. The sarcophagus is one of the largest in the valley, and although parts of the painting have deteriorated, this remains one of the most decorated tombs here.

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Tomb of Merenptah

(Admission is free with a Valley of the Kings ticket) In Egyptian mythology, Ptah is the demiurge of Memphis, god of craftsmen and architects; the deity, in falcon form, began to be placed in tombs to accompany and protect the dead on the journey to the West of Luxor. Tomb 8, in the Valley of the Kings, was the burial place of the Pharaoh Merneptah, a son of Ramesses II and Queen Isis-Nofret, and became the model of royal tombs. Howard Carter discovered it in 1903. The plan cuts down the number of lateral rooms and raises the height of the corridors and chambers sharply. Merneptah did away with the jogged axis used since the time of Horemheb and set the entire tomb on a single axis, and the entrance was cut considerably wider than in earlier tombs.

Tomb of King Tutankhamun (Tut)

Entrance fees to the tomb of Tutankhamun, 300.00 EGP (optional). Tutankhamun came to the throne at around 10 years old and died at 19, a young king of the New Kingdom. His royal mummy lies in his tomb in the Valley of the Kings, and you can stand face to face with it.

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Temple of Hatshepsut

(Entrance fees to the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut 140.00 EGP) After the tombs, the vehicle continues to Deir el Bahari and the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut, the only woman ever to reign over Egypt as pharaoh. She was an ancestor of King Tutankhamun and belonged to the same dynasty.

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Colossi of Memnon

Colossi of Memnon, Thebes. The two largest ancient statues in Egypt, dating from the era of King Amenhotep III.

The Karnak Temple

(Entrance fees to the Temple of Karnak 200.00 EGP) The courtyard of Amun-Ra is one of the four aisles that make up the Temple of Karnak in Luxor, dedicated to the worship of the good god Amun. The courtyard covers about 250,000 square metres, and restoration work is under way in parts of it.

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Temple of Amun

(Entrance fees to the Temple of Karnak 200.00 EGP) Within the Karnak complex in Luxor, the courtyard of Amun-Ra is one of four aisles, built for the worship of the good god Amun. Its area is around 250,000 square metres, with restoration work under way in places.

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Obelisk of Queen Hapshetsut,

Obelisk of Queen Hatshepsut.

Avenue of Sphinxes

A road lined with human-headed sphinxes, over one and a half miles (3 km) long, once linked the temples of Karnak and Luxor. It was used once a year during the Opet festival, when the Egyptians carried the statues of Amun and Mut along it in a symbolic re-enactment of their marriage. At Luxor temple, Amun was magically transformed into Min, the god of fertility. Around 1,350 sphinx statues are thought to have lined the route, together with barque chapels stocked with offerings. Queen Hatshepsut (1479-1425 BC) built six of those chapels, each with a precise function, such as cooling the oar of Amun or receiving the beauty of Amun.

Obelisk of Thutmoses I

Obelisk of Thutmose I, the smaller of the two that remain, with three lines of inscription on each face. Thutmose I was one of the great warrior-kings of ancient Egypt, extending his domains south into Nubia and north into Syria. In thanksgiving he contributed many monuments to the capital town of Thebes, now called Luxor. Among them was a pair of obelisks raised here, though only one is still standing today. This is that obelisk.

Luxor Temple

Luxor Temple is dedicated to the Theban triad of Amun-Ra, Mut and Khonsu. The granite statues of Ramesses the Great are here.

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