Wine Country Balloons with them on the San Francisco,CA Day 2015 with my wife. They were Very professional, Pilot seemed experienced and answered our questions well. Location is very good. Once we landed in a field, the owner of the farm welcomed us with a bottle of wine and apparently this is a custom there :)

Was such an amazing experience! It was a beautiful morning, as we we made our way over the Santa Rosa area. Our pilot was outstanding, soft landing. Overall best ballooning adventure can’t wait to come back!

Great experience for lifetime. It’s a very smooth ride all over and never felt scary. The pilot has given some good narration about how the hot air balloon rides started. Scott and Ben have been very nice through out the process of booking slot and until completing the ride. I recommend this ride for everyone to see some great views in Sonoma County.

I called the week of to see if they could squeeze me in last minute and luckily they had someone drop out. The gentleman on the phone was extremely nice, he also said he would honor the Groupon price. Great!***I feel like there are many negative reviews, but if you read closely most of the reviews deal with issues regarding Groupon.Its never too early to get high! Well Maybe, I live out in Oakland and you have to be in Santa Rosa at 6am. The whole experience is about 4-5 hours. You are actually in the air for 1 hour. You meet at Starbucks, which is a win to get some coffee and use the bathroom before you get on the bus. You drive about 30 minutes and stop at a general store for another bathroom break and snacks. Another 15 minutes after that and you arrive at the take off location. The balloons are absolutely majestic and beautiful. You finally get up in the air around 8:30 am. There are about 20 other people with you, you get split up in 2 different groups. Each balloon holds about 10 people. Although there are several other people on the hot air balloon, you never feel crowded. You still can have your own private time and enjoy feeling like youre the only ones one there This activity is perfect for groups, couples, families, etc.Scott was our guide, he was hilarious and very knowledgeable, and has been flying balloons for over 35 years. Its a very intimate experience, Scott greeted us at Starbucks, drove us, and was our guide up in the air. The company is very small and not many employees. I am all about supporting our local businesses.Being is the air is incredible, amazing, and breath taking. Not once did I ever feel unsafe. After the balloon ride they take you back to where you originally met, where you can eat at a cafe and they provide a complimentary glass of champagne. A perfect way to end the whole experience. All the workers are extremely nice and they walk around and talk to you. I would highly recommend the hot air balloon ride. I loved it so much, Im going to do it again.

Awesome experience! Weather was perfect. Thanks Scott

Had a fantastic time. Pilot was very knowledgeable about the local history and occupants. And ballooning. Ended up launching out of the secondary sight (Middleton) due to fog in the main launch area. Flight was well executed and about 2-2.5 hours in the air. Winds we not too aggressive today so we really got up there! Be advised if you end up out of the secondary launch area it is about a 50 minute drive through VERY windy roads so if you experience motion sickness from driving be prepared

We had an absolutely fabulous time! Scott has a very dry sense of humor which I appreciate. He made the experience very fun for our family but he also obviously knows what hes doing. It was a great family outing and I would highly recommend.

We had a wonderful time with out pilot Scott flying over Santa Rosa. He had lots of interesting information about the area we were in as well as the history of hot air ballooning. We spent nearly two hours up in the air and felt very safe the whole time. The champagne toast at the end is a really nice touch and it was a great first experience.

My wife and I had a good experience here yesterday. It was our first balloon ride. Im glad the weather was perfect. The two packages they offered us is: option 1, $20 dollars cheaper is if they have a bad weather cancellation you can reschedule up to 8 months. Option 2, for $20 more you can get a refund if its a bad weather cancellation before the day of, but the $20 is non refundable.The pilots are professional and they take safety seriously. They said they have never had a crash ever. Our landing was good. I would recommend this company for your balloon ride. The whole staff are nice as far as I see it.It was an overall worthy experience! Michael was our pilot and made us feel safe and answered our questions professionally. :)

We had an AMAZING TIME!!

Ignore the negative reviews on here... WORTH EVERY PENNY. The nature of this business is weather, so when conditions are bad, you cant go. Our original date was postponed, but we were able to go up the next morning. What an absolutely fabulous ride!! We took off north of another company, so we got many more miles than the competitor provided. Gorgeous morning, Scott and the crew are awesome. Felt completely safe and enjoyed the gorgeous ride through the valley. Amazing experience. Thanks team!!!

This was my first balloon ride and definitely wont be my last - what a great experience! Our pilot, Scott, was so knowledgeable and entertaining with a lot of trivia and stories tossed in along the way. The ground crew members were so fun and helpful, too. This is a definite must do if youre in the area!

This was my first balloon ride - A great experience! Our pilot, Scott, was so knowledgeable and entertaining. The ground crew members were so fun and helpful, too. A must do if around this area !!

Best experience! The crew was friendly, fun and professional. Scott, our pilot, was incredible and made the experience that much more fun! Not only is he experienced and skilled at what he does, but he was a joy to be around and talk to. I want to thank Wine Country Balloons for all they did to make this flight as enjoyable as it was.

Appreciated the communication and repsonsiveness from Scott as we were on vacation, and didnt live there is complete the ride at any time. Scott was professional and courteous, and it was fun being involved in the set up and take down as well. Wonderful flight, great views, great time. If you havent done this at least once, you need to. Scott and his chaser were nice people to be with, and we even enjoyed breakfast with them after the flight.

It was my first time in a balloon, celebrating my 40th birthday, we were met with great enthusiasm as we arrived at 5:30 in the morning, which is not an easy task in itself! First off from the customer service on the telephone I was sold by what a kind and personable conversation we had, Ben was wonderful!Captain Scott is an amazing and fascinating individual with over 50 years of knowledge flying and operating balloons all over the world! It was an absolutely delightful day with many other wonderful guests as a part of our experience and I couldn’t have been more pleased! Of course following the balloon ride a champagne brunch was absolutely delicious!!!

Exceptional service and ride. A bit hard to find the start location but not bad.

Very disappointing experience. We have done hot air balloon rides with other operators in Napa that were much better. Do your research before you book with this company.We ended up driving in a bus for over an hour each way, only to arrive at a field right next to a water treatment facility. There was clearly not enough wind for an enjoyable experience. The balloon went up and we stood almost motionless over the field overlooking waste water for about an hour. The operator then decided to land the balloon early because he wanted to show that he could land in the same place he launched (while the other balloon on the trip kept going and covered much more distance).The worst part was the trip was advertised as taking up to 4 hours but it ended up taking 5.5 hours, making us late for other plans we had. This was due to over 2 hours of round trip driving to the field and then the guests having to sit around while the driver/owner helped the crew pack up all the equipment (at other hot air balloon companies the guests don’t just sit and wait for the gear to be packed up). It ended up being a massive waste of time.

Epic experience! Michael Vargas sure knows how to fly a hot balloon. He kept us informed as we flew over ALL Santa Rosa, up to 2600 ft high. Perfect landing and overall wonderful experience.Will recommend to all my friends to come over and check Wine Country Balloons ride!

My 83 year old Mother and I had a wonderful experience flying with Wine Country Balloons. From start to finish, the office staff, crew and pilot were all courteous, fun and very informative. Some of the negative reviews relating to cancellations are confusing to me. I would much rather have a cancellation if the flight is potentially dangerous, than fly just to take my money. While having to cancel was disappointing the first time around, I’m glad our safety was the priority. Waiver and agreement outlines very clearly whats involved and what to expect. Our pilot, Scott was hilarious and really put my Mom at ease. She was really nervous at the beginning but by the end of the flight, was ready to go up again! I did not deal with Groupon, because I had more freedom to schedule directly with the company and it only cost me a few dollars more to do so. I would definitely recommend them to my friends and family. Great flight, great memory with my Mom!

Great adventure with Wine Country Balloon. It was all that we could of asked for. JEFF our pilot was fun, friendly, very professional and really made our trip one that we will never forget.Thanks for the memories 7/26/17CarlosCaroline

Great group of guys that run this business. The pilot was friendly and accommodating. Prices are the best that I could find (Groupon) and just had to call them in advance to let them know when I was heading there. Highly recommend them.

Absolutely disastrous experience. Met at the Kaffe Mocha at 6:30 AM, waited until 8am and no one showed up. Called the phone, No answer. No courtesy call regarding weather or equipment issues. Woke up at 4am to leave SF to make it here for my girlfriends birthday and would have at least appreciated a courtesy phone call. Literally been speaking to the lady at the Kaffe Mocha trying to figure out what to do and helping me contact Ben/Scott. Terribly ruined our day. Spent almost $400 and looking at the website they wont offer a refund. I feel as if I was scammed. Save your precious time and money and never book with these unprofessional scam artists. If they had given me a courtesy call due to weather conditions or anything if that sort I would not be upset at all. Thanks for robbing me, making us wake up at 4am, drive an hour and a half and ruining my girlfriends birthday.

Pilot Wim was excellent, professional and performed the marriage ceremony. We had a private wedding flight we will never forget on 10.25.2017. Perfect weather, beautiful countryside flyover. NO sign of fires in this part of Sonoma county. Highly recommend this company.

My wife and I rode with Scott last week and the experience was amazing. Scotts sense of humor is refreshing. If we are ever in the Sonoma area again we will take another ride with these folks.

If the driver of the white truck is any indication of how this company is ran, beware!

We enjoyed a spectacular balloon ride over the wine country on Thanksgiving morning!!! Our pilot, Scott, and the entire team was wonderful and professional! Highly recommend!!!

Carefull with this business. They charged us over $400 with no refund, no trip due to weather. Do not recommend to use. Book your flight with any other business. Owner is not professional at all and manage a sketchy business.

Hot air ballooning has been on my bucket list for several years now. My husband, 10 year old daughter, and I finally went. I was alway hesitant to go because of the cost. After going, I realize why the cost is expensive, but it was totally worth it! I didn’t realize how much effort goes into ballooning. I didn’t realize how much the balloons themselves cost and the amount of gas they need to get those balloons in the air. I also didn’t realize how many people you need on a team to make it all happen. We had bad weather the day we went, so the team drove us in a nice shuttle 45 min away for a better spot. Then the crew sets up the ballons and followed us when we landed. They take care of everything and it seems like a lot of work for them. The crew was friendly and also helpful with info of what to do in Sonoma after our ballon trip. The view was really pretty from the sky and the Ballon Captain explained what mountains and lakes we were looking at and gave some history. At the end of our trip we were toasted with champagne. I would go again and I would use this company again. Thank you for a wonderful experience.

What a disappointment. My vision was that we would float serenely 1,000 or 2,000 feet in the air, drift gently above the beautiful sights of Sonoma County. Not even close. There was virtually no wind and we spent two hours 3-400 ft above Windsor and its uninteresting surrounding landscape, looking down at semi-rural homesteads. They should have forewarned us that with such modest wind the ride would be contained (Im assuming this was a wind problem and not a pilot problem.) The pilot was experienced and good humored but gave zero information regarding what we were seeing or the surrounding points of interest. I live in Santa Rosa and was totally discombobulated, in addition to being bored. It might be fantastic another time but well never bother again.

Well done! I took my family up for my mothers 70th birthday and the whole experience was fantastic. These people have been flying balloons for many years and it shows! The pilot put us down so gently we hardly new it happened and the views over Sonoma Valley were spectacular. The crew was very friendly and helped us learn about wineries to visit later on, while we had a great brunch with champagne. I would do this again in a heartbeat and these people were great hosts from the start. Highly recommended.

Flight was great. Scott is a really good guy. After reading reviews on yelp I was nervous but afterwards I agree with the business, I think the majority of bad reviews on yelp are competing businesses. Flights get cancelled for conditions out of their control but they worked with us to reschedule.

Terrible experience with this company. They took us to middle town after making us wait for the 1hr followed by windy road and the scenery was just burnt trees. Not worth it.The owner Scott and his team were totally unprofessional and it was waste $$ and 6hrs of our anniversary day. Avoid these guys

This is a total scam. The flight was cancelled due to weather twice. I had purchased a Groupon so when I asked for refund and they referred me to Groupon. Fair enough - I got my refund through Groupon. However the company charged a $32.40 per person for transportation directly and refused to refund that to us. They referred us to Groupon for that (Really?). Note that this charge was made directly to the company for transportation to launching and landing site. The receptionist (who says her name was Tasha) was extremely rude and not willing to help. She asked us to call back and talk to manager Scott. This is not a customer focused company and are only interested in getting down to nickel and dime and get your money. Avoid at all costs.

I really wish I could give this person or whoever is behind this no starts at all. Lets start by saying how unprofessional this people are. Talked to them and communicated with them regarding the reservation for the hot air balloon on my bday day. Me and my bf Drove from San Francisco at night to wake up at 5AM and meet them up at 6. It was a real heart break when we waited and waited until 8:30 and they didnt show up call nor they let us know the flight wasnt going to happen or anything at all when just a day before THEY CONFIRMED THE FLIGHT and talked about it.. I was really exited about making it happen on my bday day and we had even mention it was my bday we took the day off and everything to come and find out you guys have no type of compation, sympathy or respect for your customers especially knowing we were here for my bday. Is very messed up for you guys to not even call back and or give us not type of update. On top of everything no refunds or anything for the price you guys are charging I think your customers deserve it. On my 23th bday We could have used the money for something else... UPDATE ABOUT THE COMMNET THE OWNER LEFT: YES WE DID CALLED THE PILOT SEVERAL TIMES FROM 6AM-8AM NO RESPONSE.YOU CALLED US BACK APOLOGIZING SAYIND OUR INFORMATION WAS MISSING SOMEHOW EVEN THOUGH WE HAD CONFIRMED OUR RESERVATION THE PREVIOUS DAY. PLS DONT TRY TO PUT THE FAULT ON THE CUSTOMER. WHEN IT WAS CLEARLY ON YOUR PART

Unfortunately, I did not research this company before spending hundreds of dollars for the flight driving in from out of town and paying for accommodations. My bad. The whole experience has been unprofessional at best, incompetent at worst. Too complicated to detail here. But I DO NOT RECOMMEND doing business with Scot. There are other companies, I am sure, who will deliver a much better user experience. Dig around a bit. Scot will not value your business or hard earned money.Update 9/29/15: Scot continues to contact me, pressuring me to remove my published opinion regarding my experience with his business/him. In a word-for-word quote from one of Scots texts to me yesterday, it was stated that there is a journalist (who he refuses to identify) who has grown tired of people using the internet as a weapon and wants to show certain people what it feels like to be attacked socially. Shes doing quite a job of it!, he said. And, he said, ...and she wants to write a defamatory review on various social media sites describing Barry in the same way you anonymously described our company and me.. He also let me know that, She now asks us if youve taken down your review... If so she would not be inclined to make Barry one of her examples. What should I tell her Meredeth?.What you should tell her Scot, is that using the internet as a weapon for social media terrorism is sketchy business, at best. Condoning it is, as well. Especially when you try to hurt an innocent party (i.e. not the person who published the review). I wrote the review and it is not anonymous, so she can bully me directly, if she wants to give it a shot.For the record, I do agree that anonymous hate reviews are malicious and irresponsible, however, this is the only review I have published about my experience. My name and photo and a link to contact me are all attached to it, so it is not anonymous. And I do not hate Scot. I dont know him well enough to like or hate him. My review is not based on third party conversations or reviews made by other people. It was generated from my own real-time exchange with him directly. I have not put a review, cloaked, anonymous or otherwise, on Yelp or on any other site or directory service I booked and paid for the flight and I am the only person in my party who has published any opinion about this incident. Barry, who was simply my guest, has neither commented nor publicized an opinion about this event anywhere or ever. For the record, I did ask for a refund the day of this debacle and have not pursued it or initiated contact with Scot since.Finally, I stand by my opinion about Scots handling of my business transaction with him and my review will not be removed. Outside legal process wherein all the issues, documentation, text correspondence and voice mails can be evaluated without bias, this is the last public commentary I intend to make about this whole incident or my negative review.

I booked this hot air balloon ride directly. I picked this company because I had heard positive reviews from friends and the flights left from my backyard. The booking process was easy and the difference in refundable and non-refundable tickets was clearly explained.Unfortunately, this hot air balloon ride was not only a disappointment due to weather conditions, but was also plagued with unprofessionalism. While unideal weather conditions are understandable and beyond the companys control, there are several issues I hope will be improved upon, primarily related to communication and operations.First, the weather conditions, which we had been told around 5am via text appeared to be good, were not ideal. The pilots had a backup plan, and told us that we would instead go to a launch site about 45 minutes away. We assumed we would still be in wine country,however, after waiting about an hour in a Starbucks, we were taken to farmland in Lake County. The area below our flight was dry and dead and all we could see were farmlands, hills, and a small flat vineyard. Overall, we had essentially the same view the whole time. It was similar to going up in a much less pricey teathered flight. The views were not as promised. The booking information promised views of Napa and Sonoma, and described the pacific coast, San Francisco, forests, rivers, and lush rolling vineyards.I wish we had been told that where the backup location was and that the plan was to go to Lake County (where numerous wildfires ravaged the landscape last year). Our party would have opted to rebook a different day had we been given the option.However, the largest reason for the one-star review was the general unprofessional nature of the entire experience. When being transported via bus to the new site, our driver was going approximately 20 miles over the speed limit on winding mountain roads. Many passengers suffered ill effects from the journey. The other adult with me threw up.Next, the privatized compartments of 2-5 passengers werenot as expected. Our compartment had 6 people, two parties of 3. Due to the capacity, our group was tightly jammed together by the end of the ride. Our pilot did not stop other passengers in our compartment from playing music that the other groups did not appear to enjoy. In general, our pilot was content to let some groups affect the experiences of other groups.More importantly, the pilot did not notice that my 7-year old was on the flight until we landed. My child said hello to him as we walked into the basket. I was aghast to find that the pilot was unaware of one of eleven passengers. I hate to think what would have happened had there been an emergency.At landing, our pilot landed in a cow field. The owner appeared very upset with our presence. The cows started towards us in what appeared to be a threatening manner, but were redirected by the land owner. I was very concerned, given my knowledge of how individuals in Lake County protect their land. Listening to the conversation between the follow-crew and the pilot, I learned no one attempted to smooth things over with the land owner. The pilot then spoke with the land owner and appeared to minimally appease him. However, it is undisputable that we were trespassing for over an hour and the land owner was unhappy with it. I was, and am, very upset that we landed on someones private property and had to hike over a mile on their land to return to the road. If it were me, I would be very upset with the company for landing a hot air balloon on my gated-property.On the ride back, the floor of the bus was so hot several passengers, including myself, reported searing temperatures. Additionally, part of my party was almost left behind on a bathroom stop despite clearly telling our driver we were going inside and asking him to wait on us.Finally, I was surprised that we were expected to tip the follow crew on top of the charge of the ride, and that the follow crew is unpaid.The worst thing of all is that my 7-year old has soured on all hot air balloons.

I received a framed poem from my children that said at the end Balloon ride for you and pops. I was instructed to just call and give the name of the purchaser to redeem Groupons for me and my husband. As luck would have it, numerous problems arose because my daughter failed to give the Groupon # before she left more Mexico. Well Scott went above and beyond to locate 2 Groupons but only found one. I thought I must have misunderstood my daughter, so Ill pay for the second ticket. Just 2 days before, my other daughter heard me talking to my husband about the cost and immediately said OH NO, WE PAID FOR YOU BOTH! She scrambled to find both #s and discovered it WAS NOT SCOTTS FAULT, but the second Groupon had simply MOM for the customer name. So I called Scott and he was so nice; reassured me not to stress at all. Although the Groupon had expired, he reactivated it for a small fee which is to be expected. I appreciate businesses making such an effort and making the customer feel as if they matter. Such a great quality that seems rare these days!

Beware if you are from out of town and book this trip - you WILL NOT GET YOUR MONEY BACK if they cancel due to weather conditions, even multiple times.Let me start off by saying I am a business owner. I have policies and procedures such as no refunds, no returns, etc... BUT how you adhere to your policies is completely your decision on a case by case basis. If one of my customers had a situation where they literally would not be able to use something they paid for due to circumstances out of their control, I would ALWAYS refund my customer, because as a business owner and good person, its the correct thing to do. It is true - we agreed to the terms when she paid and signed. However as a business it is at their discretion whether or not they refund in any circumstance. They are using their policies as a shield to the fact that they are keeping $400 for services we will never be able to receive. Reading the owners responses to the negative reviews, its clear the customer service here is extremely poor and snarky. I only wish I would have read these reviews and responses before deciding on this company. There are many other balloon companies in the area that we could have chosen instead.My friend and I booked a girls weekend to Napa (she booked the air balloon for us, not myself - so dont bother with the defense of This Char C person has never booked a balloon ride with us). We also arranged the Napa Valley Wine Train the same weekend. We received a call the day we arrived to Napa that our air balloon ride in Santa Rosa would be cancelled due to flooding. Ok - so we were lucky enough that we could still move our Wine Train booking around to attend the air balloon a day later than planned. We woke up at 430 AM to get ready for the balloon (1.5 hours from our hotel) and received a call at 5 AM that it would be cancelled again for today due to fog. They stated that we could use it the following day (the day that we had our flights home) - and my friend told him that we cant, because we live many states away and would not be returning. Their response was that we signed the contract stating no refunds and we could come back later. Well - being as we are 2 young working moms, we do not plan to return to the same vacation destination twice... but thanks. After numerous phone calls, numerous emails and conversations explaining our situation that we want our $400 back, my advice is DO NOT book an air balloon ride from here unless you are local, or are the type of person who likes to travel to the same destination twice in 1 year... Or, make sure you pay the crazy (even higher) price so that you can get your money back if the flight is cancelled... mind blowing. They received $400, and we received nothing in return. Sounds like a pretty great deal for them if you ask me, but sucks for us.

We loved it and they did a great job.

Its a rip off