Flying in a Marrakech Balloon When Heights Worry You

Only one Marrakech listing refuses passengers afraid of heights

The best quad ever puts it in writing: its flight is not suitable for people who are afraid of heights. Marrakech By Air, BallOOning Marrakech and Marrakech Dream Ballooning publish no such rule, and their exclusion lists cover other things entirely. That's not a comment on how brave you are. It's a booking condition, and if you buy that ticket knowing you're uneasy, you've agreed to something the operator has already told you doesn't apply to you. The other three leave the decision with you, which is the position you probably want to be in at 5am with your hand on the basket.

Worth knowing before you spiral: a balloon takes away the thing that usually triggers height fear. There's no edge to peer over from a fixed platform, no railing wobble, and no wind in your face, because the balloon travels with the air rather than through it. Plenty of people who won't go near a glass lift are fine at 1,000 metres in a wicker box. Plenty aren't. The listings below differ in ways that matter if you're the second kind.

Basket layout: one open basket, four compartments, or 16 to 19 people

Who you're wedged against changes the flight more than the altitude does, and the three operators split the basket three different ways.

Listing and option	What you stand in	Price
Marrakech By Air, standard	One open shared basket	$152 at 5am, $146 at 6am
Marrakech By Air, Comfort Flight	Four compartments of 3 to 5 passengers	$169 at 5am, $157 at 6am
BallOOning Marrakech	16 or 19 passengers per balloon	Shared

If heights worry you, the Comfort Flight is the one to pay for. The gap over the standard basket is $17 at 5am and $11 at 6am, and what it buys is a compartment of 3 to 5 people instead of a crowd, a corner of the basket that's yours, and space to stand facing inwards if you'd rather not look down for a minute. A shared basket with 19 people in it gives you nowhere to go. More on what actually changes on the Comfort Flight page.

Marrakech Dream Ballooning is the only listing that publishes a safety briefing

Dream Ballooning's itinerary names a safety briefing as part of the 2 hour block on the ground, alongside the break, breakfast, balloon flight and sunrise. That sounds like a small thing until you're the person who wants to know what happens if the pilot lets the burner off and what landing looks like before it's happening. Being told the mechanics is the single most reliable cure for the nervous head, and Dream Ballooning is the only one of the four that commits to it on the booking page.

It costs $233 at either 6am or 7am, so you're paying about $80 more than the cheapest Marrakech By Air seat for a briefing, a longer flight and a 4 hour morning rather than a 5 hour one. See the rest of what that money covers on the Dream Ballooning page.

Airborne time: 40 minutes at BallOOning Marrakech, 45 minutes to 1 hour at Dream

If your plan is to grit your teeth and get through it, the shortest published time in the air is the number to book on.

• BallOOning Marrakech: 40 minutes, the shortest airborne figure collected
• Marrakech Dream Ballooning: 45 minutes to 1 hour

Twenty minutes doesn't sound like a lot until you're counting them. That said, most people who dread the take-off have stopped noticing by minute ten, because the ascent is slow and there's no sensation of speed to react to. If you want the full breakdown of transfer, flight and breakfast for each listing, that's on how long a Marrakech balloon trip takes.

Booking the whole balloon: $1,284 at Marrakech By Air, $1,329 at The best quad ever

Two operators will sell you a balloon with nobody else aboard, which solves a specific problem: not wanting strangers to watch you have a moment. Marrakech By Air's private flight with breakfast as an option runs $1,284 at 5am. The best quad ever charges $1,329, but that's the listing that says it isn't suitable for people afraid of heights in the first place, so paying more for the privacy of a flight you've been warned off is a strange way to spend a morning.

At $1,284 you'd need a group to make it sane, and the same money buys eight Comfort Flight seats at $157 with $28 left over. Compare the two ways of doing it on private charter vs shared flight.

Watching the inflation first, at The best quad ever and Dream Ballooning

Two listings put guests in front of the balloon while the crew fills it, and it's genuinely useful preparation. You see how big the envelope is, how deliberate the crew are, how long it all takes, and how solidly the basket sits on the ground. It reframes the thing from a stunt into a procedure. Since The best quad ever isn't taking you anyway, that leaves Dream Ballooning as the one to book if you want to watch the machine get made before you get in it. Marrakech By Air's description also has you watching the crew prepare the balloon over pastries and mint tea.

The order the morning happens in

Knowing the sequence removes most of the dread, so here's how it runs across these listings.

1. A WhatsApp message the day before with your exact pick-up time and place, around 6pm at Marrakech By Air.
2. Pick-up from your hotel in the dark, roughly an hour before the activity starts at Dream Ballooning.
3. Tea, coffee and pastries at the launch field while the crew works.
4. The inflation, which you watch.
5. The safety briefing, published by Dream Ballooning.
6. Boarding and take-off, which is slower and duller than you're imagining.
7. 40 minutes to an hour in the air.
8. Landing, then Berber breakfast under a tent and a flight certificate with your name on it.

Full detail on each step is on how a Marrakech balloon morning runs.

Insurance is included by Marrakech By Air and BallOOning Marrakech, not listed by The best quad ever

Marrakech By Air lists insurance in its inclusions, and so does BallOOning Marrakech. The best quad ever doesn't list it at all. For an anxious booker, that's a second reason to skip the same listing, and a small piece of reassurance on the two that do. It won't change how the basket feels, but it does tell you something about how each operator writes its own terms. Everything each one actually provides is set out on what's actually included.

The health rules that overlap with fear of heights

Fear of heights is the rarest exclusion here, but three physical ones come up repeatedly and are easy to miss.

• Heart problems: excluded by Marrakech By Air
• High blood pressure and back problems: excluded by Marrakech Dream Ballooning
• Age and size: no children under 3 or under 90cm at Marrakech By Air; no babies under 1 or anyone over 95 at Dream Ballooning

Marrakech By Air also caps weight at 110kg per person and asks you to get in touch in advance if you're over it. All of it, operator by operator, sits on the safety and restrictions page.

What Marrakech By Air reviewers say about nervous passengers

Marrakech By Air carries 13,734 reviews at 4.8, which is by far the biggest sample collected, and among them are reviewers describing a pilot working to put a companion who doesn't like heights at ease, and repeated mentions of smooth take-offs and landings. That's not a guarantee, but it's the closest thing to evidence you'll get about how the crew handles someone wobbling. Dream Ballooning sits at 5.0 from 2,987 reviews, a smaller pool but a cleaner score. What those two numbers are worth against each other is unpicked on the ratings page.

So which one should you book if heights worry you?

Book Marrakech By Air's Comfort Flight at $157 on the 6am slot: a compartment of 3 to 5 rather than an open basket, insurance included, and 13,734 reviews behind the crew, for $11 more than the standard seat. If you'd rather be told exactly what's about to happen before you leave the ground, pay $233 for Marrakech Dream Ballooning and take the published safety briefing, and either way, don't book The best quad ever, because it has already told you not to.

FAQ

Which Marrakech balloon operator won't take you if you're afraid of heights?

The best quad ever. Its listing states the flight is not suitable for people afraid of heights. Marrakech By Air, BallOOning Marrakech and Marrakech Dream Ballooning publish no equivalent rule.

Does any Marrakech balloon flight include a safety briefing?

Marrakech Dream Ballooning names one in its itinerary, inside the 2 hour block on the ground that also covers the break, breakfast, flight and sunrise. It's the only collected listing that publishes a briefing.

What's the shortest Marrakech balloon flight if you want it over quickly?

BallOOning Marrakech, at 40 minutes airborne. Marrakech Dream Ballooning publishes 45 minutes to 1 hour. If a shorter flight is the difference between going and not going, BallOOning is the one.

Can you get a Marrakech balloon to yourself?

Yes, from two operators. Marrakech By Air's private flight is $1,284 at 5am with breakfast as an option, and The best quad ever charges $1,329. Both are whole-balloon charters with nobody else aboard.

How many people share the basket on a Marrakech balloon flight?

It depends who you book. Marrakech By Air's standard flight uses one open shared basket, its Comfort Flight splits the basket into four compartments of 3 to 5 passengers, and BallOOning Marrakech carries 16 or 19 passengers per balloon.

Can you watch the balloon being inflated before you board?

Yes, at The best quad ever and Marrakech Dream Ballooning, both of which have guests watching the inflation and preparation. Marrakech By Air's description also has you eating pastries while the crew gets the balloon ready.