Hot Air Balloon Flight in Chianti, Tuscany

Chianti is the landscape that defines Tuscany in the world's imagination — a tapestry of vineyard-draped hills, cypress-lined roads, and stone farmhouses perched above valleys cultivated since Etruscan times. The Chianti Classico appellation, designated in 1716 by Grand Duke Cosimo III de' Medici, is one of the world's oldest defined wine regions. Today the black rooster (Gallo Nero) on every Chianti Classico bottle marks wines that capture the essence of this storied terroir.

The hills of Chianti from 600 metres at sunrise are one of the rare travel images that genuinely lives up to the photograph. Flights take off shortly after dawn — the air is calmest, the light is golden, and the shadows of the cypresses stretch for hundreds of metres across the vineyards.

The full experience runs about three to four hours from pick-up to drop-off: a 60–75 minute flight, followed by a champagne breakfast in a vineyard at the landing point, then transport back to your villa. Flights run April through October, weather permitting. Maximum 8–10 passengers per basket.