27 Aug 2025
First of all, book the second ride because it cost less and you will end up in the same ride as the people who paid for the first ride. By the time you get on a balloon, sunrise will have come and gone, and you will have a wonderful fun experience in a hot air balloon. Do not expect to be in the sky, watching the sunrise, no matter what time you book. The people who operate the balloons have to wait for the airport authority to tell them that the air is OK for them to go up because of the wind is blowing in the direction of the airport. It will not allow them to go fly. The whole watch the sunrise thing is just a way to attract you. You can actually watch the authority send up a weather balloon and watch the direction it goes; if it heads towards the mountains, you’re good to go if it heads away from the mountains, you may not be flying that day. We paid for the $55 a person for the 45 minute balloon ride, it was supposed to come with breakfast, but we never saw any food. That was fine because we preferred to eat breakfast at the hotel. Overrall the people we dealt with and the ride itself were terrific. I highly recommend this as a part of your luxury experience. Our pilot was Sam and it was obvious he was very experienced and that was wonderful. The person who met us at the hotel was. A young man named Mohammed. He was also terrific. I’m a senior and he helped me on and off the bus and in and out of the balloon. There are also going to be young people there trying to sell you things. It was the first time I saw people trying to sell photographs with birds, most had parakeets or some version of that but one young man had a trained owl definitely the first time I had met one of them up close. Be prepared to pay a little if you want to take a photograph, holding the bird. I highly recommend this experience.