Luxury EgyptEgypt Tour With Hot Air Balloon: 8 Days, Cruise and Flights
This Egypt tour with hot air balloon ride from Special Egypt runs 8 days and is priced at $1,808 per person on GetYourGuide. It is a private trip that stacks a lot into one week: the Giza Pyramids with a camel ride, a flight to a 4-star Hurghada beach resort, a boat day on the Red Sea with snorkeling, a hot air balloon over Luxor, three nights on a 5-star Nile cruise with an Abu Simbel excursion, then Alexandria before flying back to Cairo. Entry fees, both domestic flights and an Egyptologist guide are in the price. Drinks, including water, are not. It rates 4.7 from 12 reviews, a small sample, and this page sets out what that means before you book. Compare it with the other luxury Egypt tour.
About This Tour
Special Egypt sells this as a private 8-day highlights loop from Cairo. You start with the Giza Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum, fly to Hurghada for two nights at a 4-star beach resort with an Orange Island or Paradise Island boat trip, then drive to Luxor for the West Bank, a balloon ride, Karnak and Luxor Temple. From there a 5-star Nile cruise carries you south through Edfu and Kom Ombo to Aswan, with Abu Simbel and a Nubian Village lunch attached. A flight returns you to Cairo for a final day in Alexandria and a night in a 5-star Cairo hotel before the trip ends at your Cairo or Giza accommodation on day 8.
The inclusions list counts 2 Cairo nights, 2 Hurghada nights and 3 cruise nights, while the itinerary adds a 5-star Cairo hotel on day 7, so the total night count is not stated on the listing. Ask the operator to confirm the arithmetic before you book.
$1,808 per person, private group. Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure for a full refund, with reserve now pay later.
8 days. The listing states 2 Cairo nights, 2 Hurghada nights and 3 cruise nights, plus a 5-star Cairo hotel night on day 7, so the total night count is not stated. Confirm before paying.
Hotel, airport and cruise pickup and drop-off in air-conditioned vehicles is included, with the time shown at checkout. It is a private group, so no strangers are added.
A professional English-speaking Egyptologist guides the sightseeing. The listing also lists Arabic, French, Spanish and German.
A 4-star Cairo hotel, a 4-star Hurghada beach resort, 3 nights on a 5-star Nile cruise ship and a 5-star Cairo hotel on day 7. Flights Cairo to Hurghada and Aswan to Cairo are included.
Meals are listed day by day, with breakfast, lunch and dinner on cruise days and breakfast only on day 8. Entry fees, the balloon, Abu Simbel, the boat trip, camel ride, felucca and horse carriage rides are included. Drinks, including water, are not in the price, and no minimum age, wheelchair access or difficulty level is stated.
Check Dates and Availability
Starting times and the pickup window appear once you check availability for your dates. The listing allows reserve now pay later and free cancellation 24 hours before departure.
Quick answer The short answer
This Egypt tour with hot air balloon costs $1,808 per person for 8 days, private, with the Luxor balloon ride on day 5, entry fees and both domestic flights included. Drinks, including water, are not.
Key takeaways
- At $1,808 it bundles both domestic flights, a 5-star cruise and Abu Simbel into one private price, and the luxury Egypt tours comparison shows the alternatives.
- The rating of 4.7 comes from only 12 reviews, a small sample compared with the 8-day Cairo Aswan Luxor private tour at 4.9 from 285.
- The listing does not state the total night count, so read what the price actually covers before you commit.
- If you only want the flight itself, the Luxor hot air balloon guide covers it on its own.
What the Price Actually Covers
The listing is generous on big-ticket items and quiet on the small ones. Entry fees, both domestic flights, the balloon, Abu Simbel and all boat rides are inside the $1,808. Drinks, including water, sit at the end of the inclusions list and read as an exclusion, so budget cash for them.
What Is Inside the $1,808
Hotel nights, the Nile cruise, the Cairo to Hurghada and Aswan to Cairo flights, all pickups and drop-offs, an Egyptologist guide, the Orange Island or Paradise Island boat trip with snorkeling, the hot air balloon ride over Luxor, a camel ride at the Pyramids, a felucca ride, a horse-drawn carriage to Edfu, the Abu Simbel excursion, the Nubian Village visit with lunch, and entry fees for the sites on the itinerary. Meals are listed day by day, with full board on cruise days and breakfast only on day 8.
The listing does not break out what happens if you want the inside of the Great Pyramid, a Seti I or Tutankhamun tomb, or a ship or cabin upgrade, and no single supplement or holiday supplement amount is stated. If any of those matter, ask the operator in writing before you pay. The Orange Island or Paradise Island trip is stated as subject to availability, so a wind day could swap it out.
| Line | In the price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Entry fees | Yes | Entry fees included per the listing, no itemised list of which tickets |
| Domestic flights | Yes | Cairo to Hurghada and Aswan to Cairo |
| Hot air balloon | Yes | Over Luxor on day 5 |
| Abu Simbel | Yes | Excursion included from the cruise |
| Great Pyramid interior, Seti I and Tutankhamun tombs | Not stated | The listing says entry fees but does not name these extras, so confirm |
| Ship or cabin upgrades | Not stated | No upgrade or single supplement amounts are stated |
| Drinks including water | No | The inclusions list ends with drinks, read as an exclusion |
| Visa on arrival | No | Your own cost, US$30 cash on arrival per the FCDO, with Gulf News reporting US$45 |
| Tips | No | Not stated as included, so carry cash for the guide and cruise crew |
| Holiday supplements | Not stated | No peak-date pricing is stated, unlike some rival listings |
The Honest Note
Two things in the listing deserve a straight answer. The total night count is not stated. The inclusions list 2 Cairo nights, 2 Hurghada nights and 3 cruise nights, and the itinerary adds a 5-star Cairo hotel on day 7.
Ask the operator to confirm the plan before you book, or check the 9-day private Egypt cruise tour, which runs one day longer with 3 Hurghada nights spelled out. Second, the 4.7 rating rests on just 12 reviews. If a track record matters more to you than the price, the 8-day Cairo Aswan Luxor private tour has 285 reviews, and the luxury Egypt tours comparison lists the rest.
Sources: UK FCDO travel advice: Egypt, Wikipedia: Egypt
Hot air balloons rising into the dawn sky over Luxor. Photo: Ovedc, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
What the Day Is Really Like
The listing gives a day-by-day shape rather than clock times. Pickup times appear once you check availability, so treat the order below as the structure and the platform for the exact hours.
Day by Day
Day 1 starts with a Cairo arrival, where a representative meets you, then hotel transfer and the Giza Pyramids with a camel ride. The Egyptian Museum follows, and you overnight in a 4-star Cairo hotel.
Day 2 is the flight from Cairo to Hurghada and transfer to a 4-star beach resort. Day 3 is the full-day boat trip to Orange Island or Paradise Island with snorkeling, subject to availability, and a second resort night.
Day 4 is the drive from Hurghada to Luxor and the West Bank sights: the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple and the Colossi of Memnon. Day 5 is the hot air balloon over Luxor, then Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple.
Days 6 and 7 run south on the river: the horse-drawn carriage to Edfu Temple, then Kom Ombo Temple, arriving Aswan for the Abu Simbel excursion and the Nubian Village visit with lunch, three cruise nights in total. Day 7 also brings the flight from Aswan back to Cairo and check-in at a 5-star Cairo hotel.
Day 8 is the Alexandria day trip, taking in the Kom el Shoqafa Catacombs, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and Qaitbay Citadel, then return to your Cairo or Giza accommodation, where the tour ends. Day 8 is breakfast only, so plan lunch and dinner money for that day and the Alexandria drive, which Rough Guides puts at 140 miles (225 km) from Cairo.
An Egypt Trip with a Hot Air Balloon Over Luxor
A travel vlog covering Cairo, Luxor, Hurghada and Alexandria, with a balloon flight over Luxor. Third-party video by Making Memories With M. This site did not shoot it and has no relationship with the creator.
Who This Tour Rules Out
This is a fast, packed itinerary at a low price for the length. That combination suits some travellers and excludes others, and the listing states very few limits, so the gaps below are what you must probe before booking.
Check These Before You Commit
The listing states no minimum age, no wheelchair provision and no difficulty level, which means none is promised. If you travel with young children, need step-free access or have limited mobility, get written confirmation first, because tomb corridors in the Valley of the Kings are steep and a balloon ride means an early start.
The balloon ride is an early start, so day 5 begins before most hotel breakfasts. Luxor averages monthly highs above 40 C from June to August, and the cruise and Abu Simbel days add heat on top, so summer travellers should weigh that against the lower prices. The Alexandria day involves a long drive from Cairo on the final day, and day 8 ends at your accommodation with no stated return time, which matters if you have an evening flight.
If the shared-group feel of a small group appeals, this private tour is not it. If instead you want deeper hotel quality than a 4-star Cairo and Hurghada base, look at the 8-day Cairo Aswan Luxor private tour, which uses 5-star deluxe hotels throughout without the beach stop. If the balloon is the only draw for you, the Luxor hot air balloon guide covers the ride standalone, and if Egypt is too much in one go, the 3-day private Cairo pyramids tour keeps it short. The free cancellation window is 24 hours, shorter than the 6-day windows on some rivals, so book when you are sure.
The terraced Temple of Hatshepsut set against the cliffs at Deir el-Bahari. Photo: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Getting There and What to Add
You start and end in Cairo. The tour includes its own domestic flights, so your only arrival job is reaching the capital, and anything the itinerary skips you can add before or after on your own.
Reaching Cairo
A representative meets you at arrival per the listing, and hotel, airport and cruise transfers are included, so you do not need to arrange ground transport at either end.
Rome2Rio shows a Cairo to Aswan flight at 3h48m door to door with about 1h25m in the air, and a Cairo to Luxor flight at 3h13m door to door, which gives a sense of the distances this tour covers by air. The overnight sleeper train is the overland alternative at 8 to 10 hours to Luxor or Aswan per Rough Guides, but this tour flies instead. Luxor Airport (LXR) lies about 6 km east of downtown, and Aswan Airport (ASW) is given as about 10 km or 16 km from the city centre depending on the source. Aswan sits 848.4 km by road from Cairo per Rome2Rio.
What to Add on Your Own
The tour uses the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir, so the Grand Egyptian Museum is the obvious add. It stands about 2 km from the Giza pyramid complex and holds over 100,000 artefacts, and it opened officially after a trial opening in 2024. Foreign adult tickets are reported at EGP 1,450 on a 2026 visitor guide and at EGP 1,000 during the 2024 trial period, so check the current figure. The Grand Egyptian Museum guide covers the layout.
Saqqara lies about 30 to 40 km south of Cairo and holds the Step Pyramid of Djoser, the oldest complete stone building complex known, and the tour route skips Memphis and Dahshur too. Alexandria is on the itinerary but only as a single day, so a second night there would slow the trip down. If you want beach time beyond Hurghada, the Red Sea resorts extend north and south, and the best time to visit Egypt guide helps you pick the season for both the cruise and the sea.
Day by Day
The listing states the sequence and contents of each day but not the clock times. Pickup and departure hours appear when you check availability for your dates.
-
Day 1
Cairo arrival, Giza Pyramids and the Egyptian Museum
A representative meets you on arrival, then a private air-conditioned transfer to the Giza Pyramids with a camel ride and on to the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir. Overnight in a 4-star Cairo hotel.
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Day 2
Fly Cairo to Hurghada
Included domestic flight to the Red Sea coast and transfer to a 4-star beach resort for the first of two resort nights.
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Day 3
Orange Island or Paradise Island boat day
Full-day boat trip with snorkeling, stated as subject to availability. Second night at the Hurghada resort.
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Day 4
Drive to Luxor and the West Bank
Road transfer to Luxor, then the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut Temple and the Colossi of Memnon.
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Day 5
Hot air balloon over Luxor, then the East Bank temples
The included hot air balloon ride over Luxor, followed by Karnak Temple and Luxor Temple.
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Days 6 to 7
Cruise south: Edfu, Kom Ombo, Aswan and Abu Simbel
Horse-drawn carriage to Edfu Temple, then Kom Ombo Temple, arriving Aswan for the included Abu Simbel excursion and the Nubian Village visit with lunch. On day 7, the included flight from Aswan back to Cairo and check-in at a 5-star Cairo hotel.
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Day 8
Alexandria day trip, then the tour ends in Cairo
Breakfast only, then the drive to Alexandria for the Kom el Shoqafa Catacombs, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and Qaitbay Citadel. Return to your Cairo or Giza accommodation, where the tour ends, with no stated return time.
Pros and Cons
A fair read of the listing, the review count and the inclusions.
What we genuinely like
- At $1,808 per person it bundles both domestic flights, the Luxor balloon, Abu Simbel, entry fees and a 5-star Nile cruise into one private 8-day trip.
- A private group with an English-speaking Egyptologist and air-conditioned vehicles throughout, with all hotel, airport and cruise transfers covered.
- The Red Sea stop is a genuine differentiator: two Hurghada resort nights with a snorkel boat trip that no Nile-only itinerary of this length offers.
- Reserve now pay later and free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure soften the commitment.
- Guides run in five languages, not just English.
The honest downsides
- The listing does not state the total night count, so confirm the plan before paying.
- The 4.7 rating comes from only 12 reviews, a small sample next to comparable private tours with 80 or more.
- Drinks, including water, are excluded, which means buying bottled water every day.
- The Cairo hotel and the Hurghada resort are 4-star, so the 5-star standard comes only with the ship and the day 7 Cairo hotel.
- The Alexandria day rides on a long return drive on the last day of an 8-day trip, and the boat trip is subject to availability.
- No minimum age, wheelchair or difficulty information is stated at all.
Who it's NOT for: Travellers who need verified access provision, guaranteed 5-star hotels from night one, or a long review history should look at the 8-day Cairo Aswan Luxor private tour or compare all luxury Egypt tours on the homepage.
Questions About This Tour
Is the hot air balloon over Luxor included in the $1,808?
Yes, the listing includes a hot air balloon ride over Luxor on day 5 along with entry fees, both domestic flights and the Abu Simbel excursion. For the ride on its own with no tour around it, see the Luxor hot air balloon guide.
Why is the night count unclear on this listing?
The inclusions list 2 Cairo nights, 2 Hurghada nights and 3 cruise nights, while the itinerary adds a 5-star Cairo hotel on day 7, and the listing does not state the total. Ask the operator to confirm the plan, or compare with the 9-day private Egypt cruise tour, which spells out its nights.
How many reviews does this tour have?
It rates 4.7 from 12 verified bookings on GetYourGuide, a small sample. If you want scale behind the score, the 8-day Cairo Aswan Luxor private tour holds 4.9 from 285 reviews.
What is not included that I should budget for?
Drinks, including water, are excluded, and tips for the guide and cruise crew are not stated as included, so carry cash for both. Your Egypt visa is also your own cost, listed by the FCDO at US$30 cash on arrival with Gulf News reporting US$45, and the practical side sits in the guide to luxury Egypt tours.
Can I cancel this booking?
The listing offers free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure for a full refund, plus reserve now pay later. That is a shorter window than the 6-day cancellation on some rival tours, so check the terms on the luxury Egypt tour before choosing.
What hotels do I sleep in?
A 4-star Cairo hotel for two nights, a 4-star beach resort in Hurghada for two nights, three nights on a 5-star Nile cruise ship and a 5-star Cairo hotel on day 7. No hotel names are stated on the listing, and no single supplement amount is given. Travellers wanting 5-star deluxe city hotels throughout can compare the 8-day Cairo Aswan Luxor private tour.
Is the Orange Island or Paradise Island trip guaranteed?
No, the listing states it is subject to availability. Everything else on the listing, including the balloon and Abu Simbel, is stated as included, and the route details sit in the Egypt itinerary guide.
Prices, availability and terms are set by the operator and confirmed at checkout.
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