About Peak District
Balloon Rides
A specialist guide to choosing where, when and how to experience the Peak District from a hot air balloon.
Explore the locations
One Landscape.
Four Ways In.
Peak District Balloon Rides is built around one simple idea: if you are going to see the Peaks from the air, it helps to understand the place you are choosing to fly from.
Bakewell, Buxton, Tissington and Sheffield each put you beside a different part of the landscape. The wind still decides the route, of course, but your launch area shapes the beginning of the adventure and the scenery that surrounds it.
This site brings those choices together, explains the different voucher options and gives you the practical details you need before deciding where you would most like to take off.
More Than A
Pin On A Map
Ballooning is unusual because you choose where to begin, but not exactly where you will go. A flight from Bakewell can feel completely different from one beginning near Buxton, even though both are unmistakably Peak District experiences.
That is why our location pages go beyond a postcode and a price. They look at the character of each launch area, the surrounding landscape, what the day involves and the differences between the three main flight vouchers.
Peak District Balloon Rides is a specialist guide rather than the balloon operator. When you are ready to buy, your voucher purchase is completed with Virgin Balloon Flights, who operate the flights themselves.
Compare flight vouchers
Find Your Part
Of The Peaks
There is no single Peak District view. Each launch area starts the story somewhere different, from limestone villages and spa-town hills to the meeting point between Sheffield and open countryside.
Bakewell
A classic Peak District starting point, with the River Wye, limestone country and some of the region’s best-known estates and valleys nearby.
Explore Bakewell
Buxton
Spa-town elegance gives way quickly to higher ground, open moorland and the broad views of the western Peak District.
Explore Buxton
Tissington
A quieter village setting close to Dovedale, with stone-walled fields, gentle limestone country and the Tissington Trail nearby.
Explore Tissington
Sheffield
A distinctive city-edge launch where Sheffield’s skyline and suburbs sit beside the hills and open country of the eastern Peaks.
Explore SheffieldHow It Works
You do not need to choose a flight date before buying. First choose the location and voucher flexibility that suits you, then arrange your flying date with the operator.
Choose Where
Start with Bakewell, Buxton, Tissington or Sheffield and see which part of the Peak District appeals most.
Choose When
Pick from weekday mornings, weekday mornings or evenings, or maximum flexibility with any-day flying.
Buy And Book
Complete the voucher purchase with Virgin Balloon Flights, then use the voucher to arrange a suitable flying date.
The Wind
Writes The Route
A balloon is not following a road, rail line or sightseeing circuit. The direction comes from the wind – and that is a large part of the magic.
Your pilot can change altitude to work with different air currents and will choose a suitable place to land, but there is no fixed route to follow. A landmark that appears directly ahead one day might sit far off to the side on the next.
That means every flight has its own shape. The launch location gives you a starting point and a landscape to explore, but the exact journey only reveals itself once the balloon is in the air.
The Practical
Side Of The Dream
Flights are operated by Virgin Balloon Flights. Their current standard Peak District voucher options share the same core ballooning experience, with the price changing according to when you want the flexibility to fly.
