Palm Springs & the Coachella Valley
Palm Desert / Coachella Valley · near Palm Desert / Palm Springs · California Desert
Ballooning
At a glance
- Price
- standard
- Season
- 2
- Best season
- Roughly November–April only (summer is far too hot to fly)
- Open year round
- No
What is here
- Scenery
- desert
- Amenities
- Champagne toast · Mount San Jacinto backdrop · Sunrise or sunset options · Coachella Valley resorts nearby
- Best for
- Wintertime desert flights near the resorts
- Features
- Desert floor under Mt. San Jacinto · Rare sunset desert flights · Cool, calm winter mornings · Coachella Valley resort base
Worth knowing
- Hazards
- Winter season only — summer heat grounds flights · Even winter dawns are cold aloft — dress warmly · Weather-dependent; wind cancels flights · You stand for the whole flight; ask about limits
- Family friendly
- Yes
Guides, rentals and operators
- Operators
- Fantasy Balloon Flights
Ballooning detail
- Experiences
- sunset
- Occasion
- scenic
- Flight notes
- Float over the Coachella Valley floor beneath the towering wall of Mount San Jacinto — a wintertime desert flight (sunrise or, unusually, sunset) when the desert air is cool and calm and the low sun rakes across the sand and palm groves
- Logistics note
- ~$200–275 pp; ~1 hr aloft, 3–4 hr total; sunrise or sunset; winter season only
- Intl tip
- A striking wintertime desert flight — floating over the Coachella Valley floor and palm groves beneath the sheer 10,000-ft wall of Mount San Jacinto. Strictly a cool-season activity: operators such as Fantasy Balloon Flights fly roughly November–April (summer heat grounds ballooning), offering both sunrise and the more unusual sunset departures. Pairs with a Palm Springs resort getaway. Even winter dawns are cold aloft — dress warmly; wind cancels flights, so stay flexible. Confirm the seasonal schedule before traveling.
The guide
The Coachella Valley around Palm Springs and Palm Desert offers a striking wintertime balloon flight — floating over the desert…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Palm Springs & the Coachella Valley — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 33.72, -116.37