Middle Tennessee · Central Time
Sunrise for two: reserve a private Franklin balloon flight with a cottage stay in September
This is a private Franklin balloon flight with a cottage stay for two, set on a September weekend. You arrive on Friday, September 17, 2027, at a farm guest cottage outside Franklin, Tennessee, the county seat of Williamson County on the Harpeth River. Saturday, September 18, 2027, is the flight day: a private sunrise flight in which the basket carries your party alone, about an hour in the air if the pilot finds the wind and weather right that morning. You head home on Sunday, September 19, 2027, after two nights in the country.
From $1,060 per person, double occupancy, flight included, lodging tax extra
- Dates
- September 17 to 19, 2027
- Stay
- Two nights
- Flight
- September 18, sunrise
- Leave at
- 5:50 a.m. CT
Saturday at first light in Franklin
Set an alarm well before dawn on Saturday, September 18, 2027. You leave the cottage at 5:50 a.m. Central Time, while the farm is still dark and the grass is wet with dew. The meeting area is in Franklin itself, and the office allows 10 minutes for the drive in. The office plans your meeting with the balloon company for 6:01 a.m. Central Time, thirty minutes before sunrise, and the company's crew readies the balloon while the sky turns gray. Sunrise that day is at 6:31 a.m. Central Time. If the pilot judges the wind and weather right, you lift off into that early light with nobody else in the basket for about an hour. Below, low mist often lies in the hollows, late summer pastures still hold their green, and rolled hay waits at the field edges. If your phone still shows Florida time, remember that Middle Tennessee is one hour behind.
The flight morning, hour by hour
| 5:50 a.m. | Leave your lodging in Franklin |
|---|---|
| 6:01 a.m. | Planned meeting with the balloon company, Franklin area; the company confirms the time the evening before |
| 6:31 a.m. | Sunrise |
| about one hour | In the air |
| about three hours | From meeting to being back at your car |
Sunrise for Franklin; drive 10 minutes from Franklin (a planning allowance inside the town).
Included in the $1,060 figure for September 18
- Two nights in a farm guest cottage outside Franklin, double occupancy, at the office's planning figure for a room night, before tax
- The private sunrise flight for two on September 18, 2027, in a basket for your party alone
- The ride back from the landing field to the Franklin meeting place on September 18
- The office's written quote for September 17 to 19, 2027, then the confirmation
Not in the figure: road, taxes and tips around September 18
- The drive to Franklin by September 17 and home again, which you arrange
- Tennessee sales tax, Williamson County lodging tax and any city tax on two nights
- A tip for the chase crew on September 18, if you choose to leave one
- Meals and other outings during two nights in Franklin
A cottage pasture and a flight for two alone
This weekend suits a couple, or two friends, who want the basket to themselves and a quiet farm to return to afterward. It can also work for a parent flying with one child, as long as the child is at least 6, the youngest age the office plans this flight for. The balloon company asks each flyer for what it needs to know before it confirms the flight. Think twice if a 5:50 a.m. Central Time departure sounds hard, because the flight depends on that early start. The stay also holds one later morning, Sunday, to move the flight to if the pilot calls off Saturday, so travelers who want several chances may prefer a longer stay.
Settled with the balloon company and the lodging
| Franklin lodging | Rate for September 17 to 19, 2027, and whether it holds the room |
|---|---|
| Franklin balloon company | A place in the basket on September 18; flyers aged 6 and up, as the office plans it; its weather and change rules |
| Basket plan | The company plans each basket by the passengers' combined weight and asks each flyer for their own before it confirms |
| Weather date | One later morning of the stay, asked to be kept open |
| How $1,060 is built | $750 per person for the flight, plus half of a $306 room night for each of two nights |
Anything that cannot be refunded is marked in the quote, and the total there replaces the starting figure. See balloon vacation package prices and the balloon flight weather cancellation policy.