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In the Alpes de Haute-Provence, balloon travelers let their gaze run from the Luberon to the Mediterranean. - Jean-Claude Urbain

With the wind, without a specific itinerary, a balloon flight allows you to touch the clouds with your finger without the slightest impression of vertigo. Like Samuel Fergusson, the hero of Jules Verne in Five Weeks in a Balloon , the balloonists float in the absolute softness of a limpid air over a 360-degree panorama. A particularly moving experience at dawn, when the rays of the sun wake up the elements of the landscape one by one.

However, a balloon flight remains subject to the vagaries of the weather. Since its invention in 1782 by the Montgolfier brothers, this type of aerostat has hardly changed. Under a monumental balloon, the passengers are installed in a wicker basket capped with a burner, itself connected to fuel tanks. It is the interaction between the heated air, contained in the balloon, and the colder ambient air, which allows the assembly to gently tear itself from the ground by lifting.

Suspended between earth and clouds, the passengers of the hot air balloon seem to glide over the landscape. - Jean-Claude Urbain

A friendly adventure

Specialist in tourist balloon flights for thirty-five years, France Montgolfières offers to try the experience this summer through France. The ticket, purchased online, is valid for two seasons, from April to October, on all flight bases: in Auvergne, Burgundy and Champagne, but also in the Loire Valley, in Île-de-France, in the Pyrénées-Orientales or in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, Périgord and Ardèche.

The proposal has something to attract the admirers of Samuel Fergusson, who can in turn let themselves slide over the reliefs crisscrossed by rivers, on the multicolored fields and other sites of the architectural heritage of the country. The getaway generally lasts an hour. But flying in a hot air balloon is not only a contemplative experience, it is also a moment of conviviality.

Each morning flight is preceded by a welcome breakfast and a briefing dedicated to safety and the impressive inflation of the balloon. After landing, a toast traditionally rewards daring travelers. But they always have their heads in the clouds. They will dream for a long time as the hero of Jules Verne.

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