When to Fly, Destination by Destination
Thirty-one flying sites, twelve months and three different calendars. The grid we use ourselves to check whether your dates and your balloon agree.
A balloon's calendar is not the tourist calendar, and the two disagree more often than they agree. Luxor is at its best in January, when almost nobody is planning Egypt. Cappadocia is fullest in July and August, the two months its pilots would rather not fly. Melbourne's season is Christmas.
So the useful question is not when is the best time to fly — we answer that one elsewhere, and the answer is dawn — but which of these places agrees with the dates I already have. The three grids below are how we check.
Winter deserts
Where the sun is the problem the season inverts, and these five fly best when Europe and North America are cold. Marrakech holds the longest peak on this page: seven months.
| Month | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LuxorFlies almost every morning of the year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| DubaiOperators stand down in high summer | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| PhoenixSonoran desert; the summer is too hot to launch | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| TeotihuacánYear round; the summer rains cancel mornings | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| MarrakechThe longest peak on this page | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
Spring-and-autumn country
The pattern most travellers already have in mind: two peaks either side of summer, with July and August lost to heat and haze rather than to wind. Two exceptions sit inside it — Brihuega, which exists for three weeks of lavender, and Albuquerque, whose October is a festival rather than a climate.
| Month | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CappadociaFlies all year; snow mornings are the quiet ones | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| PamukkaleSame calendar as Cappadocia, fewer balloons | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| SegoviaCastilian plateau, cold and clear | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Toledo | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Salamanca | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| BarcelonaCoastal breeze extends both shoulders | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| MallorcaIsland season; operators pack up for winter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Ibiza | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| BrihuegaLavender in bloom: a three-week window | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| FlorenceTuscan season; August is hazy and hot | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Siena | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Umbria | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Loire ValleyShort season built around the châteaux | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Vilnius & TrakaiOne of the few cities you can legally fly over | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| AgadirAtlantic coast; milder than inland Morocco | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| TemeculaSouthern California wine country, year round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| AlbuquerqueThe Fiesta owns October; the box works all year | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
The southern calendar
South of the equator the year turns over, and the tropics turn it over again: Cairns flies in the dry winter while Melbourne flies in the wet summer — three hours apart by plane, six months apart by season.
| Month | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Serengeti & TarangireDry season, when the herds concentrate | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Johannesburg & MagaliesbergHighveld winter: dry, cold, still | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Melbourne & Yarra ValleySouthern summer; one of the few CBD flights | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Sydney | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Gold Coast | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Byron Bay | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Cairns & the Atherton TablelandsTropical: the dry season is the winter one | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Perth & the Avon ValleyMediterranean climate upside down | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| AtacamaThe driest desert on earth; altitude keeps it cool | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
Peak = operators fly most days and conditions are at their most reliable. Flying = departures are scheduled, with more of them cancelled for weather. Out of season = few or no scheduled departures at all. Around half of these destinations fly the whole year, so an empty month means the balloons are grounded, not merely that the month is second best.
Month by month, in one table
The same information read the other way round: you have the dates, you want the destination. Where a month has more peak destinations than fit on a line, the ones named are those with the deepest choice of flights on this site.
| Month | At their best | What is going on |
|---|---|---|
| January | Luxor, Teotihuacán, Marrakech, Dubai (+2 more) | Deep winter in the desert belt: the clearest, coolest mornings of the year. |
| February | Luxor, Teotihuacán, Marrakech, Dubai (+2 more) | The same window, with slightly longer flying days. |
| March | Teotihuacán, Marrakech, Barcelona, Dubai (+7 more) | The hinge month — the deserts are ending, Spain and California are starting. |
| April | Cappadocia, Marrakech, Barcelona, Florence (+16 more) | Europe opens. Southern Africa and Western Australia enter their dry season. |
| May | Cappadocia, Barcelona, Florence, Segovia (+17 more) | The broadest month on the calendar: almost everywhere is flying. |
| June | Cappadocia, Florence, Segovia, Pamukkale (+11 more) | Tuscany at its best; the Serengeti dry season begins and the Gulf shuts down. |
| July | Vilnius & Trakai, Johannesburg & Magaliesberg, Cairns & the Atherton Tablelands, Serengeti & Tarangire (+3 more) | Northern heat closes the Mediterranean mornings. Lavender and the tropics take over. |
| August | Vilnius & Trakai, Johannesburg & Magaliesberg, Cairns & the Atherton Tablelands, Serengeti & Tarangire (+2 more) | The thinnest month in Europe. East Africa and Queensland carry it. |
| September | Cappadocia, Barcelona, Florence, Segovia (+17 more) | The second European peak begins, and it is the quieter of the two. |
| October | Cappadocia, Marrakech, Barcelona, Florence (+18 more) | The busiest month of the year worldwide — and the one to book earliest. |
| November | Luxor, Teotihuacán, Marrakech, Barcelona (+8 more) | Europe hands back to the deserts. |
| December | Luxor, Teotihuacán, Marrakech, Dubai (+2 more) | Luxor, Teotihuacán and the Gulf; Melbourne starts its summer. |
Why the map splits in three
Heat, rain and wind close the sky in different ways
Three things end a ballooning season, and they behave differently.
Heat is the gentlest: it does not cancel the flight, it shortens it. Air rises unevenly once the sun is up, so the launch window narrows to the first half-hour of light. This is what happens to the Mediterranean in July, and it is why Cappadocia keeps flying through the summer while losing days to it.
Rain ends it outright. A wet envelope cannot be packed safely and rain of any intensity grounds the flight, which is why the monsoon months are thin for Teotihuacán and for tropical Australia rather than merely second best.
Wind is what decides Northern Europe. The Loire and Vilnius have plenty of cool, clear mornings; what they do not have is enough of them under ten miles an hour outside a short summer.
Peak season is not the same as peak price
The grids above are about conditions, not about crowds or cost, and the three rarely line up. October is the most reliable month almost everywhere in the northern hemisphere, which also makes it the month that sells out first. The shoulder immediately after a peak — late October in Cappadocia, March in Luxor, November in Tuscany — usually buys the same sky with fewer baskets in it.
The exception is the desert winter. Luxor, Teotihuacán and Dubai are at their operational best in the months when their own tourist seasons peak too, so there is no quiet version of them. Book those early, or take the shoulder.
Quick answers
Which month has the most destinations flying?
May, followed closely by October. In May the European and Mediterranean seasons are fully open while Southern Africa, Western Australia and the Atacama have already entered their dry season — very little of the map is closed.
Is there anywhere to fly in August?
Yes, but the map narrows. East Africa is at its peak, tropical Queensland is in its dry season, the Atacama and the South African Highveld are both good, and Vilnius is in the middle of its short summer window. In the Mediterranean, August flights still run — they just lose more mornings to heat and haze than in any other month.
Can I fly at Christmas?
December is one of the better months for Luxor, Teotihuacán, Dubai and Phoenix, and it opens Melbourne's summer season. Most operators do stand down on Christmas Day itself and around New Year, so check the specific dates rather than the month.
How far ahead should I book?
For a peak month in a popular destination, six to eight weeks. For October in Cappadocia or the week of the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, several months — those two sell out on dates, not on availability. Outside peak a week is usually enough, and booking near the start of your trip matters more than booking early: it leaves you days in hand if the weather scrubs the flight.
Found your month? Find your flight.
Every destination on this page has its own, with the operators flying there and what a morning actually costs.
Data verified on. Seasons are built from the flying windows the operators in our catalogue actually schedule, cross-checked against local climate normals. They describe a typical year, not a forecast. Editorial Policy