Middle Tennessee · Central Time
Reserve your winter hot air balloon ride near Nashville for a Saturday sunrise
Two nights in Nashville and one shared sunrise flight make up this February stay. You check in on Friday, February 12, 2027, to a room at a small inn or hotel in town, two people sharing, and head home on Sunday, February 14, 2027. Saturday, February 13, 2027, is flight day, with a winter hot air balloon ride near Nashville that begins at the balloon company's meeting area in Franklin, south of the city. The office asks the balloon company and the lodging to hold space on these dates and replies with a written quote you can read over before anything is paid.
From $555 per person, double occupancy, flight included, lodging tax extra
- Dates
- February 12 to 14, 2027
- Stay
- Two nights
- Flight
- February 13, sunrise
- Leave at
- 5:35 a.m. CT
Saturday in Franklin, from dark to daylight
Set the alarm well before dawn. You leave the lodging at 5:35 a.m. Central Time, while the streets are still dark, and drive down I-65 for the 30 minutes it takes to reach Franklin. The office plans your meeting with the balloon company for 6:08 a.m. Central Time, and in the thirty minutes before the 6:38 a.m. Central Time sunrise the pilot reads the wind and weather and makes the call on the flight. There may be frost on the grass, with bare trees along the fence lines and your breath showing in the cold. You ride in a basket of up to six guests and spend about an hour in the air while the low sun turns brown winter pastures gold. Allow about three hours from meeting to the walk back to your car. Every clock time here is Central Time, one hour behind Eastern Time in Pembroke Pines, where the office works.
The flight morning, hour by hour
| 5:35 a.m. | Leave your lodging in Nashville |
|---|---|
| 6:08 a.m. | Planned meeting with the balloon company, Franklin area; the company confirms the time the evening before |
| 6:38 a.m. | Sunrise |
| about one hour | In the air |
| about three hours | From meeting to being back at your car |
Sunrise for Franklin; drive 30 minutes from Nashville.
Included in the $555 figure for February 13
- Two nights in a room in a small inn or hotel in Nashville, double occupancy, at the office's planning figure for a room night, before tax
- The shared sunrise flight on February 13, 2027, in a shared basket of up to six guests
- The ride back from the landing field to the Franklin meeting place on February 13
- The office's written quote for February 12 to 14, 2027, then the confirmation
Not in the figure: road, taxes and tips around February 13
- The drive to Nashville by February 12 and home again, which you arrange
- Tennessee sales tax, Davidson County lodging tax and any city tax on two nights
- A tip for the chase crew on February 13, if you choose to leave one
- Meals and other outings during two nights in Nashville
Frost, a shared basket and a Sunday to spare
This stay suits two people sharing a room who are happy to get up in the dark and stand in cold air to watch the sun rise. Children aged 6 and up can come; 6 is the youngest age the office plans this flight for, and the balloon company asks each flyer for the details it needs before confirming a place. A shared basket means flying beside other guests, which a couple hoping for time alone in the air should keep in mind. Winter weather can call off a morning, and this stay holds one later morning for the pilot to move the flight to, so anyone who needs a firm flight day may want a stay with more spare mornings.
Settled with the balloon company and the lodging
| Nashville lodging | Rate for February 12 to 14, 2027, and whether it holds the room |
|---|---|
| Franklin balloon company | A place in the basket on February 13; flyers aged 6 and up, as the office plans it; its weather and change rules |
| Basket plan | The company plans each basket by the passengers' combined weight and asks each flyer for their own before it confirms; a shared price assumes an average passenger |
| Weather date | One later morning of the stay, asked to be kept open |
| How $555 is built | $325 per person for the flight, plus half of a $230 room night for each of two nights |
Anything that cannot be refunded is marked in the quote, and the total there replaces the starting figure. See balloon vacation package prices and the balloon flight weather cancellation policy.