Our Balloon Flight Locations and Areas
Our Flight Vouchers are valid for our scheduled flights over the following two areas (although can be transferred to be used with England based balloon operators that are part of the Balloons over Britain group - details available on request).
- Edinburgh, Lothians & northern Scottish Borders (Peebleshire)
- Perth & Kinrosshire, Fife & Clackmannanshire
For our Lothian & Peebleshire flights, we meet at Hillend, Edinburgh on the A702 conveniently just off the Edinburgh A720 bypass.
For our Kinrosshire area flights, we meet at the Kinross Moto Service Station just off Junction 6 on the M90, Kinross.
From the meeting point, we take you to one of our many available launchsites which will enable us to get the best flight for you from the wind direction on the day.
Our Midlothian launch sites include Easter Howgate near Roslin, Arniston House, Penicuik and Mount Lothian. Our Peebleshire launch sites include West Linton, Eddleston and Peebles. A typical flight may take us over the dramatic Moorfoot or Pentland Hills and/or over Midlothian's rural landscape with its picturesque villages, castles and reservoirs.
For our Kinrosshire area flights, we generally launch at either Balado near Kinross if the wind has a southerly component, else Bridge of Earn (just south of Perth) if it has a northerly component. We normally get treated to excellent views over Loch Leven, Kinross or perhaps Perth, and the beautiful Ochil and Lomond Hills. With an Easterly wind from Bridge of Earn, we may fly down Strathearn towards Dunning and Auchterarder near Gleneagles; or from Balado, towards Crook of Devon and Dollar in Clackmannanshire. With a Westerly from Balado, we will fly over Milnathort/Kinross towards Auctermuchty, Falkland and Cupar. With a Southerly from Balado, or a Northerly from Bridge of Earn, we will generally cross over the dramatic Ochil hills.
West of Scotland
The areas of Glasgow, Ayrshire, Renfrewshire and north Lanarkshire are not generally practical for ballooning due to the high urban density of buildings and the busy airspaces surrounding Prestwick and Glasgow airports. But our Peebleshire flights from West Linton sometimes extend into south Lanarkshire (flying towards Biggar or Carnwath and Lanark) with a north-easterly wind. Dumfriesshire, away from the mountainous parts (see Highlands & Islands below), consists of coastal areas (with the towns of Dumfries, Castle Douglas, Newton Stewart and Stranraer) and we don't like to get close to coasts as there may not be anywhere to land before heading out to sea (and balloons don't float!).
Angus & Aberdeenshire
We draw many passengers from the cities and towns of Dundee, Arbroath, Montrose, Stonehaven, Aberdeen, Peterhead and even Inverness (and their surrounding areas) down to our Kinrosshire flights as it is normally a straightforward drive down the A90 or A9, and then the M90 to reach Kinross.
For ballooning, the area around Aberdeen itself is too busy with oil industry air traffic, but the area to the west does provide good opportunity provided it's not plagued by the dreaded east coast haar! Similarly, for the area of Angus although there is sometimes not a lot of space to get in a decent flight duration between the start of mountains to the north-west and the coast to the east and south. If you particularly wish to fly over these areas and can put together a group of 8 people, then please talk to us and we can look at possibilities for you.
Scottish Borders (south)
Again, we draw many passengers to our Lothian and Peebleshire flight area from the southern Borders towns of Berwick, Duns, Kelso, Melrose, Selkirk, Jedburgh, Lauder, St Boswells, Hawick, Galashiels to Moffat. The south-eastern Scottish Borders and Berwickshire provide a good area for ballooning so if you particularly wish to fly here and can put together a group of 8 people, then please talk to us and we can look at possibilities for you.
Stirlingshire & the Central Belt
Again, we draw many passengers from the cities and towns of Stirling, Bridge of Allan, Dunblane, Falkirk, Cumbernauld and Glasgow (and their surrounding areas) to either of our flying areas with the easy access provided by Scotland's good road and motorway system in the Central Belt. The area around Stirling itself can provide some opportunity for ballooning but is better after harvasting (around mid-August) when more of the many arable fields in the area become available for landing in. If you particularly wish to fly over this area and can put together a group of 8 people, then please talk to us and we can look at possibilities for you.
Highlands & Islands
Unfortunately, it is not practical to balloon over Scotlands majestic mountainous and island regions as there simply aren't reliably certain areas for us to land (and extract the balloon back onto its trailer afterwards), particularly as there is no possibility to directly control the steerage of the balloon other than to use what wind variation there may be with altitude.