What to Expect on a Hot Air Balloon Ride in Sydney & Useful Tips Before You Go

“If you never try, you’ll never know.” ~ John Barrow. 

For many of us for the past few years, flying anywhere in a commercial jet was out of the question. But if you’re anything like me, you’re always yearning for that feeling of soaring above the clouds and experiencing a new environment without hopping on a plane. So, have you ever wondered what it would be like to experience a hot air balloon ride? 

When I was invited to experience my first hot air balloon Sydney flight, my initial thoughts were met with hesitation. “Fly above the city in an open-air basket? I can’t do that! What about the rough landing and freezing air up there? It’s not exactly an aeroplane, after all!”

If you’ve ever had those thoughts too, there’s no need to worry. As I’m about to explain in this guide to taking a hot air balloon ride in Sydney, the more I thought about the benefits of this experience, the more my hesitation dissipated. I’m not one to pass up an amazing opportunity like this so I bit the bullet – and am incredibly grateful I did.

What to expect hot air ballooning in Sydney

Night before the hot air balloon in Sydney experience

As your balloon ride depends heavily on the weather conditions, Balloon Aloft will provide confirmation the night before if your experience will proceed the following morning. They provide a phone number to call with a recorded confirmation message.

Safety is the number one priority so if weather conditions aren’t ideal, your ride will be rescheduled for another day – no worries.

On the day of the Sydney hot air balloon ride

There’s a little more to rocking up and jumping into your balloon! Here’s a rundown of what you can expect.

Arrive at Camden Valley Inn

The meeting point for balloon riders on my flight was at the lovely Camden Valley Inn before sunrise. It’s so welcoming with its glowing fairy lights adorning the surrounding trees.

Your recorded confirmation message from the night before will outline the exact time you need to be there. For my winter flight this was 5:30am, but note it would be earlier during summer months as the sun rises sooner.

It’s important to NOT be later than your allotted time otherwise you will miss your chance to sign in, select your breakfast for afterwards and potentially miss your flight. The pilots (and sunrise) can’t wait!

TIP: This is your last chance to use the toilet before the flight – there aren’t any at the launch sites.

Finalise launch location

From Camden Valley Inn, a shuttle bus will transport you in the direction of the balloon launch location – there are about 30 sites! I found this next part quite interesting.

The final location depends heavily on optimum wind conditions, so your pilot needs to make their final decision at this point based on the wind direction. To do so, the team send up a small helium balloon with a flashing red LED light nearby their shortlist of locations for that morning. 

As wind flows in “layers”, this small balloon floating at 200 feet helps them determine the final launch site.

Shuttle bus to location

Once the final launch site has been decided by your pilot, your shuttle bus will follow a ute towing your hot air balloon and basket. It’s a strange sight to see the baskets without the balloons attached during setup – but there will be plenty of time for that very soon. 

Balloon inflation

This next part was the most exciting for me! As the black skies above slowly began transitioning to dawn, on the horizon silhouettes of trees began to peep through the morning fog. I’ll admit the fog had me feeling a little down as I thought it would make visibility very low. I was happy to be wrong about this and you’ll soon see why down the page! 

There was something pretty special about seeing these massive balloons come to life while lined in a row. Being this close to them made me really appreciate their true enormity – they can be up to 30 metres high! The baskets are laid on their sides to be attached to the balloon before they’re inflated.

Firstly, the balloons are inflated with cool air to expand them enough before the hot air is used. You can see in the images below how huge the flame is to get these babies off the ground! The flame’s loud roar began to build the exhilarating anticipation of knowing we’d be in the air very soon.

Hot air balloon Sydney flight

After our pilot explained the correct way to position ourselves for landing afterwards, it was time for lift off! It was so gradual that at first I was too busy checking the settings on my camera I didn’t realise we were airborne, ha. I think I was expecting it to be more of a jolt. After a moment we were above another balloon, which was so cool to see from a bird’s eye view.

Before long, we’d floated high above the fog into the clear skies. The fog created a beautiful, river-like blanket over lovely Camden Valley below. There were a few moments where the scenery reminded me of places from overseas. We also noticed how deadly silent and peaceful it was at this altitude (aside from the occasional flame burst).

Once the sun rose up from behind the clouds, it was a magical time for photography – the entire region was cloaked in a golden filter. We could even see the Blue Mountains over in the distance at one point!

A few of us were surprised that we didn’t feel cold up above the clouds, the wind was minimal and the burst of flame into the balloon above definitely kept us warm while we were in awe of the views!

What to expect during landing 

Once it was time to land, our pilot prompted us to stand in the landing position. This means leaning with your back against your basket compartment and outstretching your arms to hold the looped ropes in front, located inside the basket. 

Now, I can only speak from this balloon landing as it’s my first ever, but the landing was SO smooth! I was expecting a big bump as we touched the ground but it wasn’t like that at all. We touched down gradually, the basket did a slow bunny-hop – like you’d imagine with gravity of the moon – before finally coming to rest. 

TIP: Due to the wind direction, you’re not going to land in the same place that you took off!

What happens after the balloon ride

Once everyone had alighted from the basket, it was time to deflate the balloon. This part was interesting as we were able to walk inside the balloon and asked to help deflate it by working as a team to pull the sides together. It’s nice and toasty inside as all the hot air has risen towards the balloon’s top.

Then it’s time to work together again to roll the deflated balloon up and place it back into its storage box on the back of a ute. Many hands make light work! By this time our shuttle bus had arrived to take us back to Camden Valley Inn for our hearty breakfast.

Enjoying a post-flight breakfast

Back at Camden Valley Inn, our group was seated at a table where we discussed the exciting experience over breakfast. Earlier that morning I had selected ricotta and vanilla pancakes served with strawberries, cream, meringues and maple syrup. The serving was quite generous.

Other breakfast options included Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon or a full “CVI Breakfast” served with toast (gluten free available), baked beans, mushroom, free range bacon and eggs to your selection. Tea and coffee is included, too!

What to wear on a hot air balloon in Sydney

As I took my balloon flight during the cold Sydney winter, I wore layers to keep me warm during the early morning start (5ºC) with a scarf and a coat I could remove as the weather warmed towards breakfast time.

Balloon Aloft suggests dressing for the temperature on the ground (no matter what time of year) as it won’t feel much different at the balloon’s cruising altitude (about 1km).

Keep in mind the grass at the launch sites can be wet in the early morning. The grass in these fields can be quite long in places, dampening your pants and shoes. I wore knee-high waterproof boots and hopped through the grass like an antelope in some parts to get photos of the balloons inflating and was fine, although my friend who accompanied me wore regular sneakers that ended up being soaked through.

TIP: Don’t forget to bring sunglasses for when the sun peers out over the horizon when you’re mid-flight!

Now you know what to expect on a hot air balloon in Sydney, is this something you’d like to try someday? Let me know in the comments below.

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