Tuscany: Siena Hot Air Balloon Flight with Breakfast & Prosecco

4.79

(137 reviews)

What’s the experience like?

I was still half-asleep when we met our pilot near Siena — that kind of blue morning where the fields look washed out and quiet. There were just a few of us, shuffling around in jackets, watching the crew unfold this giant patchwork balloon. I ended up holding onto a rope while they blasted hot air into the envelope — it smelled faintly like toasted bread, which made me hungry, honestly. Our captain, Paolo, cracked a joke about “Tuscan elevators” as we climbed into the basket. I didn’t expect to feel so calm right before takeoff.

The first few minutes were just… silent. Not awkward-silent — more like everyone forgot to talk because Siena and all those little villages were sliding under us, slow as syrup. The sun came up behind some cypress trees and everything looked gold for a minute. Paolo pointed out an old castle (I forgot the name already), and you could see lines of vineyards curling around it like green ribbons. Sometimes we’d drift low enough to hear dogs barking or someone’s radio from a farm below. It felt weirdly close but also far away at the same time.

We floated for about an hour, sometimes high enough that my ears popped a little, sometimes low enough you could almost smell the olive groves. I tried to say “buongiorno” to a farmer waving up at us — probably butchered it because he laughed and waved harder. When we finally landed in a field (soft bump — nothing dramatic), the crew set up a little picnic with croissants and local cheese. Someone popped open prosecco; it tasted sharper than I expected but paired perfectly with the cold air. I still think about that view from above — how small everything looked, but not in a bad way.