BallOOning Marrakech vs The Best Quad Ever

What $149 with BallOOning Marrakech buys that $145 with The best quad ever doesn't

The gap between these two seats is four dollars, and four dollars is not what you're really deciding about. BallOOning Marrakech charges $149 for the 5am slot and $146 at 6am, and puts a photographer, a drone, insurance and a personalised calligraphy certificate written in Arabic into the price. The best quad ever charges $145 at 6am, $146 at 4.50am and $146 at 5am, and its included list stops at hotel pick-up and drop-off, the flight, a professional pilot, a traditional Berber breakfast and light refreshments. Same sky, same countryside, very different receipt.

The other number worth staring at is the review base. BallOOning Marrakech holds 5.0 from 10,839 reviews. The best quad ever holds 5.0 from 318, the smallest review count of every listing collected here. Both are perfect scores, but one of them has been stress-tested by ten thousand mornings and the other hasn't. There's more on how much a star rating is worth at that volume on the ratings and review counts page.

BallOOning Marrakech and The best quad ever compared on price, rating and inclusions

Here's the whole argument in one place, with every figure taken straight off the two booking pages.

	BallOOning Marrakech	The best quad ever
Shared seat prices	$149 at 5am, $146 at 6am	$145 at 6am, $146 at 4.50am, $146 at 5am
Rating	5.0 from 10,839 reviews	5.0 from 318 reviews
Advertised duration	3 - 4 hours, with a published itinerary	5 hours, with no breakdown
Time airborne	40-minute flight, published	Not published
Photographer	Included	Not listed
Drone	Included	Not listed
Insurance	Included	Not listed
Certificate	Personalised calligraphy certificate	Not listed
Private option	Private group badge, no priced option	$1,329 at 4.50am
Cancellation	Free up to 24 hours in advance	Free up to 24 hours in advance

The 4.50am departure that only The best quad ever sells

The best quad ever is the only listing here with a 4.50am slot, and it costs $146, the same as its 5am seat. That ten minutes matters more than it sounds: the earlier you're collected, the more of the pre-dawn setup you see, and this operator makes a feature of it by inviting you to watch the balloon being inflated and photograph the crew at work. That's also, frankly, its answer to not including a photographer. You are the photographer.

BallOOning Marrakech starts at 5am for $149 and drops to $146 at 6am. If sunrise timing is the whole reason you're booking, the 5am and 6am slots page works through which departures actually put you in the air for it. And note that on both listings the exact pick-up time is confirmed after booking, because it moves with sunrise, season and weather.

Whether 5 hours or 3 - 4 hours is the honest number

The best quad ever advertises 5 hours and publishes no breakdown of where those hours go. BallOOning Marrakech advertises 3 - 4 hours and shows you the parts: roughly 50 minutes in the van, a 40-minute flight, an hour for breakfast, then 50 minutes back. That's the only one of the two that tells you how long you're actually off the ground.

Don't read the longer advertised duration as a longer flight. It's a longer morning, and most of the extra sits in transfers and waiting. The duration page splits every listing the same way.

Who gets left on the ground: restrictions on both flights

The two operators refuse different people, so check this before you pay rather than at 5am in a hotel lobby.

	BallOOning Marrakech	The best quad ever
Not suitable for	Children under 4, pregnant women	Pregnant women, people with heart problems, people afraid of heights
Not allowed	High heels, sandals or flip flops, pets, smoking, alcohol and drugs	Pets, smoking
What to bring	Comfortable shoes, closed-toe shoes, hat, jacket	Hat, camera, sunscreen, comfortable clothes

The one that catches people out is the heights clause. The best quad ever states plainly that it isn't suitable for people afraid of heights, and BallOOning Marrakech doesn't say that. If somebody in your group is nervous, the nervous flyers page covers what a shared basket is actually like. On footwear, BallOOning Marrakech bans sandals and flip flops outright and asks for closed-toe shoes, which the what to wear page turns into one packing list for both.

The pick-up rules where BallOOning Marrakech is stricter

This is the section that costs money if you skip it. BallOOning Marrakech asks you to be at reception or the entrance 10 minutes before the scheduled time, and the driver waits a maximum of five minutes. Miss it and it counts as a no-show, which is not refunded and not rescheduled. You also can't change your pick-up point within 24 hours of the activity, and if your hotel is outside Marrakech an extra 1,200 dh per vehicle applies.

The best quad ever is looser about it: pick-up lands anywhere from 0 to 60 minutes before the activity, timed to sunrise, season and weather, confirmed by WhatsApp after booking, with a nearby meeting point if your riad is down a lane no van can reach. Neither publishes a grace period you'd want to test. The hotel pick-up page has the address rules for every operator.

1. Book, then give the number you'll actually have switched on in Morocco, because both operators confirm by WhatsApp.
2. Check the message the evening before for your exact time and point.
3. If your riad is inside the medina, ask where the van can physically stop.
4. Be downstairs early. Ten minutes early on BallOOning Marrakech, because five minutes is all the driver owes you.

What happens if the wind says no

The best quad ever spells this out: if unsafe weather reschedules or cancels the flight, you're offered an alternative date, and if you turn that down you get a full refund for the affected booking. BallOOning Marrakech publishes free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund, same as every listing collected here, but doesn't put a weather clause in the same words.

Balloon mornings get scrubbed more often than people expect, and the industry norm across Marrakech is reschedule-or-refund rather than keeping your money. Still, book the flight for your first or second morning in the city, not your last. A cancelled slot with a flight home the next day is just a lost slot. Full booking conditions are on the cancellation and payment page.

The drone and the photographer, and the caveat nobody mentions

BallOOning Marrakech is the only one of these two that lists a photographer and a drone in the price. That's genuinely unusual, and on other Marrakech launch fields guests routinely get offered aerial footage as a paid add-on at 30 to 40 euro. Getting it bundled is worth more than the four-dollar price difference.

The caveat: Morocco is famously restrictive about drones. Bringing your own into the country is a fast way to lose it at customs, and operators need authorisation to fly one. Treat included drone footage as something the operator arranges under its own permissions on the day, not a guarantee that a drone goes up every morning. With The best quad ever there's no ambiguity at all, because nothing aerial is promised and you shoot the inflation yourself. More on who hands over images on the photos and drone footage page.

Booking a private balloon with either operator

Only one of these two puts a price on the whole basket. The best quad ever sells a private sunrise flight with Berber breakfast at $1,329, departing 4.50am. BallOOning Marrakech carries a private group badge but no priced private option on its listing, so there's nothing to click.

If a private basket is the point of the trip, that settles it on availability alone. The private versus shared page compares the charter prices across all the operators collected here.

Breakfast, and the one complaint worth knowing about

BallOOning Marrakech gives you welcome tea and coffee with croissants before the flight, then a Moroccan buffet breakfast under a caidal tent afterwards, with an hour set aside for it in the published itinerary. The best quad ever lists light refreshments and a traditional Berber breakfast after landing, without a published time allowance.

One reviewer of The best quad ever noted the food wasn't entirely what they expected. It's a mild grumble against otherwise strong reviews, but if the meal is a real part of why you're booking, that's the listing where it's least described. The breakfast page sets out what each operator actually serves.

So which one should you book?

Book BallOOning Marrakech unless the 4.50am launch is the whole point: for four dollars more at 5am you get a photographer, drone, insurance, a calligraphy certificate, a published 40-minute flight time and 10,839 reviews behind it, and the only thing you give up is the earliest slot in Marrakech. Take The best quad ever if you want that 4.50am departure at $146, want the cheapest seat here at $145, or need a priced private basket at $1,329, and you're happy shooting the morning on your own camera.

FAQ

Is The best quad ever the cheapest hot air balloon in Marrakech?

Of the seats collected here, yes. Its 6am flight at $145 is the lowest per-person price on this site, with 4.50am and 5am both at $146. Every price is compared side by side on the prices page.

What's the earliest hot air balloon departure in Marrakech?

The best quad ever's 4.50am slot, at $146. Nothing else collected here goes before 5am, and BallOOning Marrakech's earliest is 5am at $149.

How long is the actual flight with BallOOning Marrakech?

40 minutes. It's published in the inclusions and again in the itinerary, alongside roughly 50 minutes in the van each way and an hour for breakfast. The best quad ever doesn't publish a flight length at all.

Does The best quad ever include a photographer or flight certificate?

No. Its included list is hotel pick-up and drop-off, the balloon flight, a professional pilot, a traditional Berber breakfast and light refreshments. Instead you're invited to watch and photograph the balloon being inflated. BallOOning Marrakech includes a photographer, a drone, insurance and a personalised calligraphy certificate.

Can I fly if I'm scared of heights?

The best quad ever lists people afraid of heights as not suitable, so that listing rules you out. BallOOning Marrakech's restrictions are children under 4 and pregnant women, with no heights clause.

What happens if I miss the pick-up?

With BallOOning Marrakech the driver waits five minutes past the scheduled time, after which it's a no-show that can't be refunded or rescheduled, which is why they ask you to be ready 10 minutes early. Both operators confirm the exact time by WhatsApp after booking.

Can I cancel either flight for free?

Yes. Both listings offer free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance for a full refund. The best quad ever also states that if weather forces a reschedule and you decline the alternative date, you get a full refund.