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10 World’s best hot-air balloon flights

  • Multiple countries

Last updated: 25 April, 2024

If you’ve never done one, flying in a hot-air balloon is a uniquely serene, almost spiritual experience, where time seems to stand still.

Add to that a mesmerising moonscape or a dune-filled desert all around, or a look down onto turreted chateaux, ancient temples or villages unchanged for thousands of years – and you have a truly special experience.

Here’s our round-up of the world’s best to grace any travel bucket list.

Table of Contents
  • Goreme, Central Anatolia, Turkey

  • Bucket List Experience

A yellow hot air balloon over jagged orange rocks.

Experience

Arguably the world’s greatest hot-air balloon flight, over Cappadocia‘s spellbinding moonscape-esque landscape of arches, honeycombed hills, striking spires and eye-popping, giant protuberances resembling gigantic mushrooms.

Adult price: 75

Min age 6

Good for age: 13+

Duration: 4 hours

  • Namib-Naukluft National Park, Erongo, Namibia

  • Bucket List Experience

Sossusvlei Dunes

Experience

Float over towering ochre-red dunes of Namibia‘s Sossusvlei, a sea of crimson curves stretching to the horizon, suspended in serene stillness. The desert below humbles with its immense, undulating beauty and dazzles with colours that change with the sunrise.

Adult price: 450

Min age 7

Good for age: 10+

Duration: 4 hours

  • Marrakech, Marrakech-Safi, Morocco

  • Bucket List Experience

Marrakech

Experience

Drift above evocative Marrakech, awash with vibrant colours, geometric patterns, and labyrinthine streets. Then it’s out over dramatic, arid landscapes of the Atlas Mountains, looking down onto traditional Berber villages.

Adult price: 150

Good for age: 10+

Duration: 5+ hours

Luxor

  • Luxor, Upper Egypt, Egypt

  • Bucket List Experience

View of a hot air balloon floating just above the valley containing the Temple of Hatshephsup

Experience

There’s nothing quite like seeing this evocative landscape of ancient sites, Nile floodplains, and villages unchanged for thousands of years, as the sun rises over the Nile. Gasp-worthy sights include Karnak Temple and the Valley of the Kings.

Adult price: 30

Good for age: 13+

Duration: 3 hours

  • Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

  • Bucket List Experience

Dubai's desert

Experience

Drift over an ocean of rolling, golden dunes surrounding this extraordinary city at sunrise, see their crisp curves glinting under the Arabian sun. The occasional oasis punctuates the solitude, as does the occasional traversing camel.

Adult price: 250

Min age 4

Good for age: 12+

Duration: 4-5 hours

  • Amboise, Centre-Val de Loire, France

  • Bucket List Experience

Three hot air balloons flying over Loire castle on a blue summer's day, reflecting on the river

Experience

Float gently above the Loire Valley, a captivating vista of verdant vineyards and charming villages, peppered with fairy-tale, turreted chateaux. The meandering Loire River, glitters in the early light, weaving a silver thread through the tableau.

Adult price: 180

Min age 6

Good for age: 10+

Duration: 3 hours

Tuscany

  • Tuscany, Italy

  • Bucket List Experience

Tuscany

Experience

Silently drift above superlative Tuscan landscapes, a unique perspective on the quintessential vineyard-clad hills of the Val d’Orcia, dotted with ancient villages and castles.

Adult price: 250

Min age 7

Good for age: 13+

Duration: 3 hours

Bath

  • Bath, Somerset, United Kingdom (UK)

  • Bucket List Experience

Aerial view of the crescent with two red hot air balloons above it

Experience

The city of Bath is a scene of Georgian architectural splendour, bedecked in honey-hued stone buildings, with twisting cobbled streets. Green hills and the tranquil River Avon frame the cityscape.

Adult price: 120

Min age 7

Good for age: 13+

Duration: 4 hours