My father wants to go balloning in the Loire Valley for his 80th b-day in October. Does anyone know of a good company to go balloning with in that area?

Thanks

I haven't been on one of their trips so I can't really give it a recommendation but have a look at www.franceballoons.com. I did a bit of hunting around for balloon trips when I was going to the Loire last year and these people had several recommendations. Because you are going to be there at about the same time of year as I was, you might come up against the same problem as me, namely that there were no flights on for the 2-3 days I was there. The only other thing I would add is that one of our local travel shows did a ride with this crowd earlier this year and although the presenter said he had a fantastic time, it seemed to me that he only overflew Chateau Chennoceau. I would have expected that you get to go over several. Perhaps they did and they just didn't show shots of the other chateaux in the film clip, so may be this is something you should enquire about. I have only been on a hot air balloon flight once and it was wonderful and in an area like that, no doubt awesome.

I would think that service depends on flight conditions. A hot air balloon has no rudder, accelerator, or brake.

Thanks to the both of you. I will have to do some real research as he wanted to do
several rides!

Oops...thought this was about gastronomy...

Aw c'mon RonZ the gastronomical ballooning happens all over France, not just in the Loire.

icygreg, my Lonely Planet guide book recommends www.franceballoons.com too.