There are many places to visit around Luxor, so you can easily spend 3 days here
Hot air balloon ride
One of the must dos in Egypt. The landscape is unique with mountains, valley, river, green fields all coming together. I had done this in Cappadocia before and was still on the clouds when I did it in Luxor. The early morning lighting of the balloons is a scenic moment to capture along with all balloons in the air post take off
We booked the tour through Emo tours
Luxor is one of the cheapest places in the world for ballooning. We had booked at $35 per person, but the rates seem to have gone up now
We went with Sindbad balloons, one of the most reputed companies in Luxor. The balloon company was not mentioned during booking. We were picked up from our hotel and transferred to another vehicle at the West Bank pier to the take-off location
The flight can get cancelled if winds are east facing to avoid balloons landing at the airports. Keep a day’s buffer just in case the weather is not right
Day tour to temples of Dendera and Abydos
We booked day tour from Luxor through Emo tours
Dendera is about 1.5-2 hrs away from Luxor and Abydos about 3 hours away. Dendera temple was the most interesting one among all the temples in Egypt. It had ornate work on its walls with blue colored reliefs on overhead walls. It is multistoried, where you can walk on the roof of the temple. There are many rooms with temporary ladders to get a glimpse of the architecture although there is not much inside the rooms
Abydos temple of Seti I is one of the oldest dating 1300 BC. It has large reliefs on the walls and huge pillars which make it unique. There is an inscription of all the kings of Egypt on one of the walls
Temples on the Nile
We booked transfer from Luxor to Aswan through Emo tours. They have multiple similar options on the site with slightly different pricing. We wanted to include Esna and used the cash voucher booking route for the small customization
We started our day at 8:30 and reached Aswan by about 5 PM
Esna– Has colorful pillars and blue starry designs on the overhead walls. Dedicated to Khnum, the ram headed god. Entry 150 LE/ $3
Edfu- One of the best preserved temples with lot of designs on the outer walls. Architecture is similar to Dendera temple, but core temple is a bit smaller. Dedicated to the eagle faced god Horus, husband of Hathor to whom the temple of Dendera is dedicated to. Entry 450 LE/ $9
Kom Ombo– Dedicated to Sobek, the crocodile god.
There is a museum with mummies of crocodiles at one corner. The temple reliefs show interesting elements like surgical instruments. Entry 360 LE/ $7
We reached Aswan in the evening around 5 PM