Everything You Need to Know for a Hot Air Balloon in Loire Valley // Travel Tips

The best thing we did in the Loire Valley was convince my mom to join us for a hot air balloon ride — it was truly stunning. The morning we went, it had been quite cold the night before (in the 40’s), so the fog and mist when we woke up was quite dense. This made for stunning views as we saw the fog from above, rising from the towns and gathering over the Loire River.

If you or someone you love is afraid of heights and worried that the ride will be terrifying, be assured that it will not be. After being in the air for about 5 minutes, my mom felt much better and was no longer clinging onto the ropes for dear life. By the end of it, she enjoyed the ride so much, she agreed to go on another one in the future. Trust me — it’s worth it.

Private or Group

The first thing you need to do when looking for a flight is decide whether you want a private or group flight. I would definitely recommend a private flight as you’ll be able to see closer to 270° views (the pilot has a cordoned off half the box), vs the 90° views if you’re sharing, but the price will be higher per person. If you have lots of people in your group, take advantage of the economies of scale. When we flew with 5 people, we paid only $50 more than we would have for a group flight.

Time of Day

As you can book sunrise or sunset, it’s up to you whether you’d prefer mist rising and sunrise (which was around 8am for us, so not particularly early, unlike our flight in Mexico City), or the golden hour of sunset (taking off around 5:30 pm for a sunset around 7:30pm). We also saw a deer running as we were coming in for landing, which is a nice additional reason to fly at sunrise vs sunset — animals are more active at sunrise, though you’re not guaranteed to see any.

If you want to photograph other balloons in the air, though, I’d say fly at sunset — more people fly at this time.

What to See / Where to Fly

You can also choose where you want to fly. We wanted to fly along the Loire River and our company’s default was to take off around Chaumont-Sur-Loire, so we went with that and had an amazing time. But if you want to see a specific castle from the air (Chenonceau and Chambord are popular ones), you can find a company that will take off from there (this flight and this flight take off from Chenonceau).

Of course, if you choose to take off from near a castle you should do it on a day you’ll be in the area, so this activity should be moved to what is most convenient for you (while keeping an eye out for good weather).

Contacting Companies

Usually we book through Viator or a website directly. However, we wanted to get some quotes and make sure the flight we flew was right for us, so we emailed a number of companies with our requirements/questions. We included which days we were available, how many people we were, and where we wanted to fly.

Ultimately, we flew with Aerocom Montgolfiere, and we contacted them for a private flight very last minute (the day before) via phone and email, but I would recommend booking in advance if you’re going during peak season.

What to Expect the Day of

After we met up with the group at 7:45 am, we were shuttled to their takeoff point. The balloons were stretched out and filled with hot air, then we got into the basket and went up.

The ride lasted about 1 hour, and is different for everyone, affected primarily by the wind conditions, the skill of the pilot and the other balloons in the air. The air is only a little colder than the temperature on the ground, but at sunrise when it was 40°F the night before means that it was pretty frigid for us.

The ride itself is not tumultuous, and the only real movement is when the pilot inflates the balloon to lift it. When the balloon slowly falls, it’s hardly noticeable.

The landing is the only real part where you need to be prepared. As the balloon gets closer to the ground, the pilot will tell you to brace for impact, and the earth will suddenly come at you very quickly. But it will bounce a bit and then stop, and is really not very scary at all.

After the ride, (we were on the ground by 9:30am) we had some snacks and drinks (coffee and hot chocolate), while the pilot and an assistant packed away the balloon. Then were shuttled back to where we met up with the company, at around 9:50am. So end to end, the whole experience was about 2 hours.