Up, Up and Away: Sunset Balloon Ride over the Loire Valley

Posted on May 16, 2018

Hot air balloon floats above Loire Valley farmland

Dan and I spent a magical few days exploring the Loire Valley in France with Amboise serving as our home base. We stayed in a “troglodyte” cave, visited chateaus, and sampled the local sparkling wine, but the highlight of the trip was our hot air balloon ride along the Loire River.

We floated above small villages and fields of yellow flowers while passersby honked their horns and waved us on. It was magical!

Don’t miss the video at the end of the post!

Up, Up, and Away…

After doing some research, we decided to book with Balloon Revolution, which is a company based in Amboise. The balloons take off from a field on a small island in the river, immediately adjacent to the town.

Our balloon ride was originally scheduled for the morning of the third day of our trip, but the forecast was calling for rain so the company moved us to the sunset time slot the day before. It was a beautiful day for a balloon ride but some high winds almost grounded our flight — we started the process of inflating the balloon only to have it derailed when a strong gust of wind came along.

Luckily, the winds calmed down and we had just enough time to inflate the balloon and prepare for take off. We jumped in the basket with our fellow fliers (there were six of us plus our pilot in the basket) and away we went!

It’s an amazing feeling floating silently through the air with nothing below your feet but a wicker basket. It was a very surreal but peaceful experience and one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done.

Aerial view of highway and Loire River in Amboise, France

Hot air balloon floating above field of yellow flowers in Amboise, France

Hot air balloon floats over Loire River in Amboise, France

View of inside of red, yellow, and black hot air balloon from below

After 45 minutes floating along the Loire River, the pilot signaled to assume position and brace ourselves for the landing, which meant we had to squat down, hold on to the ropes inside, and lean back. The basket skidded along the ground a few times before settling (more of a crash really) into a ditch. We crawled out of the basket one at a time, laughing along the way.

We helped pack up the balloon and celebrated with a champagne toast afterward. The pilot then presented us all with a Certificat d’Ascension en Montgolfière, which translates to Certificate of Ascension by Balloon.