BALLOON CHASER · THE WORLD AT SUNRISE
The best view of your life is at dawn.
Reviews of the best hot air balloon rides on earth, sunrise by sunrise. The fairy chimneys of Cappadocia, the Valley of the Kings above Luxor, the Teotihuacan pyramids outside Mexico City and the Atlas foothills past Marrakech. We sift the operators so you book the right flight.
Worth the airfare
Three sunrises you can only have from a basket.
A balloon will lift off almost anywhere now. But drifting over the Cappadocia fairy chimneys, the Valley of the Kings at Luxor and the Teotihuacan pyramids happens above these places and nowhere else on earth.
Central Turkey
Sunrise over the Cappadocia Valleys
Nowhere else launches a fleet like this. In the dark before dawn, a hundred or more balloons inflate together in the Goreme valleys, then rise as one into the first light over a moonscape of fairy chimneys, rock-cut churches and rose-coloured ravines. The burner roars, the basket turns slowly, and the whole valley glows beneath you. It is the most photographed balloon sky on earth, and it earns every frame.
- 1 Cappadocia Hot Air Balloon Ride/ Turquaz Balloons
- 2 Balloon Flight over Soganli Valley Cappadocia / Lord Balloons
- 3 Daylight Balloon Flight Cappadocia (Goreme) by Nazar Balloons
Upper Egypt
Dawn above the Valley of the Kings
This is the oldest sunrise view a balloon can give you. You lift off the West Bank of the Nile as the sky pinks, drifting over the mortuary temples, the green sugar-cane fields and the bone-dry valley where the pharaohs were buried. Hatshepsut’s terraces, the Colossi of Memnon, the river catching fire with light: three and a half thousand years of history, seen the way the gods were meant to see it.
- 1 Hot Air Balloon Ride in Luxor Egypt with Transfers Included
- 2 Luxury Sunrise Balloon Ride in Luxor with Hotel Pickup
- 3 Sunrise Hot Air Balloon Over the Historical sites in Luxor
Teotihuacan
Above the Pyramid of the Sun
Float over a lost city before the crowds arrive. A short drive from Mexico City, the basket lifts at first light above Teotihuacan: the Avenue of the Dead running arrow-straight between the Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon, the whole ceremonial city laid out below in the cool morning air. Most flights end with a cave breakfast and a toast. Two thousand years of stone, from a vantage no ground ticket can buy.
- 1 Balloon flight + Breakfast in cave + Pyramids + Pick up CDMX.
- 2 Balloon flight + pick up in CDMX + Breakfast in Cave + Pyramids
- 3 Balloon Flight + Cave Breakfast + Pick Up from CDMX or We Fly
The flight everyone books
If you only book one balloon ride.
More travellers reach for this one than any other on the site. A safe first booking when you want the morning to count.
The classics
The World’s Most Popular Balloon Rides
Cappadocia, Luxor, Teotihuacan, Marrakech, Melbourne. The dawn flights travellers reach for first, above the places they most want to wake up over.
Where to fly
Pick your sunrise.
Cappadocia for the fairy chimneys. Luxor for the Valley of the Kings. Teotihuacan for the pyramids, Marrakech for the Atlas, Turkey for the travertines, Australia for the vines and the Outback. Each place, with the flights it does best.
Which kind of morning
How to pick your sunrise.
What is below the basket matters as much as the basket itself. Three very different mornings aloft, depending on the landscape you want to wake up over.
Goreme & the valleys
Cappadocia is the reason people learn the word balloon.
No sky on earth is more photographed. Before dawn the Goreme valleys fill with the roar of burners as a hundred envelopes inflate in the dark, then lift together into the first pink light over fairy chimneys, rock-cut churches and rose-coloured ravines. You drift low between the spires and high enough to see the snow on distant Erciyes. It is the flight every other balloon ride is measured against.
See the best Cappadocia balloon rides →Luxor & the Nile
The oldest dawn view on earth.
Egypt flies more balloons at sunrise than anywhere outside Cappadocia, and it flies them over four thousand years of history. The basket lifts off the West Bank of the Nile at Luxor as the light turns gold: the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut’s terraces, the Colossi of Memnon, the sugar-cane fields and the great river catching fire below. Further south the desert opens out over Aswan and the Red Sea coast at Hurghada.
See the best balloon rides in Egypt →The best part
The ground just lets go.
There is a moment, after the burner has roared and the basket has tugged, when the earth simply releases you. No lurch, no engine, no sound but the flame. You rise, and the alarm clock and the cold and the dark are suddenly worth it. The landscape turns to a map, the horizon goes pink, and for an hour you are a passenger of the wind. Every flight on this site ends the same way: feet back on the grass, already planning the next one.
Browse every balloon ride →Vineyards at first light
The softest landing is in wine country.
Not every flight needs ancient stone or a fleet of a hundred. Some of the gentlest mornings aloft are over rows of vines: Temecula and the Napa and Sonoma valleys in California, the Yarra Valley outside Melbourne, the chateaux of the Loire. Mist still sitting in the hollows, the burner ticking over, and a glass of something local waiting when the basket settles back into the grass.
- 1 Hot Air Balloon Rides in Napa Valley
- 2 Yarra Valley Sunrise Balloon Flight with GoPro Photos
- 3 Skyward at Sunrise: A Premiere Temecula Balloon Adventure
How big a morning
How far do you want to wake up?
Some mornings you want a gentle drift over the vines and breakfast on the grass. Some you want to rise with a whole fleet at sunrise. And some you want a wonder of the world laid out below the basket. Pick the morning, we will point you at the flight.
A gentle drift
Just float and watch the light come up.A calm sunrise drift over vineyards, city skyline or open country: feet off the ground, a soft landing in a paddock, sparkling breakfast on the grass, and you are home by mid-morning.
The classic sunrise
Rise with a whole fleet of balloons.The flight people travel for: launching in the dark with dozens of envelopes, climbing into the first gold light over a landscape made for it, the burner roaring, the valleys glowing pink below.
The bucket-list dawn
Drift over a wonder of the world.The once-in-a-lifetime morning: lifting off before sunrise above ancient temples, royal tombs or two-thousand-year-old pyramids, the kind of flight you plan a whole trip around and never forget.
More than Cappadocia
Turkey flies the busiest balloon skies on earth.
The Goreme valleys are only the start. Pilots launch at sunrise over the rose-coloured chimneys and rock churches of Cappadocia, and away to the southwest the white travertine terraces of Pamukkale make a second, stranger dawn flight. Some operators add a sunset slot when the wind allows. From the queen of all balloon rides to the cotton-castle pools, this is the country that does dawn best.
See all 44 balloon rides in Turkey →By place
Pick a place to wake up over.
Cappadocia for the fairy chimneys. Luxor for the Valley of the Kings. Mexico City for the Teotihuacan pyramids. Marrakech for the Atlas foothills. Istanbul for the day trip out to the valleys. Melbourne for the city skyline and the Yarra vines.
By country
Every country worth the early alarm.
From the valleys of Turkey to the temples of Egypt, the pyramids of Mexico to the Atlas of Morocco, the Yarra vines of Australia to the wine country of California and France. Browse by the land you want below the basket.
Dark to landing
How a balloon morning goes.
Never been up before? Here is how the morning flows, from the pre-dawn meet in the dark to the glass raised in the landing field.
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