Balloon
This is the opposite of Skydive Dubai in almost every respect, which is exactly why people book both. No noise, no adrenaline, no altitude to speak of — an hour drifting over dunes at about four thousand feet as the sun comes up, and breakfast afterwards.
Quick answer
A Dubai hot air balloon ride starts before dawn, flies for about an hour over the desert, and is back at your hotel by mid-morning. Prices run from $259 with transfers included to $3,150 for a private basket. The best rated is the Michelin-breakfast flight at $462 with 407 reviews at 4.9. It is over the desert, not over Palm Jumeirah.
What a desert dawn actually involves
An early pickup, twenty minutes of spectacle, an hour of silence, then breakfast.
The pickup is early and it is not negotiable. Balloons fly at first light because that is when the air is calm and stable. That means a hotel pickup between four and five, and an hour or so in a vehicle heading inland.
The inflation is part of it. Watching a balloon go from a heap of fabric to a standing envelope takes about twenty minutes and is genuinely a spectacle. Most people photograph it more than the flight.
The flight is about an hour and it is silent. Apart from the burner, there is no engine, no wind noise — you move with the air rather than through it. Around four thousand feet, with dunes running to the horizon and the Hajar mountains on a clear morning.
Then breakfast. Almost every listing here includes one, and on the Michelin flight it is the reason half the reviews are as good as they are.
Which balloon listing to pick
They differ far more in what is bundled than in the flight itself.
$462, 407 reviews at 4.9. The strongest evidence of any balloon listing here, and the breakfast is why.
$259 with transfers included. Four hours door to door and the straightforward version of the morning.
$272. Five hours, and a fuller desert morning if you want more than the flight.
$367. Six hours, and the busiest itinerary here.
From $1,906. Your own balloon, and the price anchors on this page.
$53 — and worth being clear about: it rises straight up and comes straight back down on a cable. It is above Palm Jumeirah, it is the cheapest thing on this site, and it is not a flight.
A balloon, and the opposite of Skydive Dubai
Sixty seconds at 200 km/h, or an hour at walking pace.
A balloon rises to about four thousand feet and drifts. A Skydive Dubai exit happens at thirteen thousand and falls. One lasts an hour at walking pace; the other lasts sixty seconds at two hundred kilometres an hour.
They also happen in different places: balloons fly over the desert inland, while Skydive Dubai jumps over the Palm or over the Desert Campus. Nobody sees the island from a balloon.
People who do both usually report the same thing: the jump is what they expected and the balloon is not.
A balloon and a skydive are the two extremes of the same idea. One is sixty seconds at two hundred kilometres an hour; the other is an hour at walking pace. People who do both usually say the balloon surprised them more.
Is it worth it→Book direct
The best rated, the cheapest real flight, a fuller desert morning, and the one above the Skydive Dubai drop zone.
★ 4.9 · 407 reviews
★ 4.6 · 28 reviews
★ 4.3 · 83 reviews
★ 4.4 · 461 reviews
A balloon is over the desert and a Skydive Dubai jump is over the island. People book both for exactly that reason.
Palm or desert?→Common questions
From $259 with transfers included. The best-rated listing is $462 with breakfast, and private baskets start at $1,906.
No. Balloons fly over the desert inland. The only balloon above the Palm is the tethered one at Atlantis, which rises and descends on a cable.
Hotel pickup is usually between four and five in the morning, because balloons fly at first light when the air is calm.
About four thousand feet, which is roughly twelve hundred metres — about a third of a skydive exit altitude.
About an hour aloft, within a four-to-six-hour morning door to door — against about an hour in total for the jump.
November to March, for the same reasons as Skydive Dubai: cooler, calmer and clearer.
Go deeper
$749 for the jump, and what the rest of this page costs.
Palm or desertTwo drop zones, two completely different views underneath you.
TandemWhat actually happens, minute by minute, from briefing to landing.
RulesThe numbers that decide whether you can book at all.
BookingHow far ahead, what sells out, and what the price includes.
HeightThirteen thousand feet, and what sixty seconds of freefall means.
Dubai: Skydive Experience at The Palm with Photos & Video
★ 4.9 · 646 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h