Very special views, an amazing flight and excellent service
Golden Eagle Ballooning were fantastic at every step of the way. We were picked up from our hotel at 5:30am and taken to the launch site where we had a mini-breakfast of croissants and coffee. Plenty of opportunities to use the toilet etc before you take off.
This was our first time in a hot air balloon. We paid for the premium balloon that holds 8 passengers and the pilot. Our pilot Fred was fantastic and gave us a very good briefing before the flight. Fred also gave us good information while in the air and we had a perfect landing. The views of Bagan during sunrise are absolutely incredible. Obviously you get this on a flight with any balloon company but it's an amazing setting.
Once we landed, we had another bigger breakfast together including fresh fruits, banana bread and champagne. Since you can never be sure where the balloon is going to land, the crew follow the balloon by road and meet us at the landing spot. The balloon landed in a field and loads of local kids and farmers ran over to see the balloon and meet us, which was really sweet.
At the end of the day, Golden Eagle Ballooning gave us some gifts and souvenirs, including a USB flash drive containing footage from the day. I proposed to my other half in the balloon (luckily she said yes so plan B, i.e. jumping out of the ballon, was not required) and we requested the raw footage from Golden Eagle so we could make our own mini video. They responded within 24 hours with links to download all 5GB of the video footage and flight images!
Amazing service. If you're looking for a ballooning company in Bagan, don't hesitate to use Golden Eagle. We'll do it again when we can afford it!
jameswhitaker89
Manchester, United Kingdom
Date of experience: February 2020
Amazing views, pilot, crew, experience!
My mom and I absolutely loved our experience with Golden Eagle Ballooning! We were the first group to take flight and got to enjoy the sun rise and saw all of the other balloons rise. Pick up is early with this company but it’s worth it for sure to get the best view for this incredible spectacle. Jason our pilot was also super knowledgeable about the area and gave detailed explanations about the main sites we overflew. We are so glad we picked this company and I can only recommend them! Such a fantastic experience all around and great banana bread at the end!!
xeniacs1
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Date of experience: February 2020
Incredible Experience!
Our pilot Jason expertly navigated the balloon over many of the key temples, giving us background about them during the flight. Top guy. Exceeded my high expectations, all four of us were smiling from the breakfast briefing, through the hour flight and finished off with a couple of glasses of champagne after landing. Plus the company is owned by a local. Thanks to all for this fabulous experience.
dee_lw_36
Manchester, United Kingdom
Date of experience: February 2020
Best Experience with Golden Balloons!
It was the best experience so far in whole Myanmar for us. We flew with our golden balloon through the sky and like eagles we spotted the great temples and pagodas. Our pilot Jean-Pascal (JP) showed us with great passion the beautiful scenery around Bagan. We always felt safe and can definitely recommend this company and especially JP!
MarcelloPaulino
Khao Lak, Thailand
Date of experience: February 2020
Absolutely Amazing!
Exceptional experience, especially thanks to Blake, our captain on the flight (7th feb 2020) ! Obviously a very skilled flyer but also awesome at explaining and showing us around the most gorgeous temples of Bagan, seen from the sky ! Thank you Blake, you are the best.
The local staff was also absolutely amazing to us, given that we had a surprise birthday planned that day and everybody made sure that our group member had the most fantastic celebration.
Thank you guys ❤️
dg_swisstraveler
Geneva, Switzerland
Date of experience: February 2020
Amazing Balloon Experience!
We enjoyed taking balloon by Golden Eagle in Bagan.
Best company! And we enjoyed amazing view and experience.
Those services included in our trip.
- Pick up and drop hotel.
- Before take balloon. We can enjoy coffee and bread.
- Best balloon experience.
- Champaign and breakfast wait for you after take off the balloon with enjoying happy guitar live performances.
- We got souvenirs cap, lacquerware vase, Certificate of merit and their staff give us USB that recorded us.
- It was first experience taking balloon. But I was not scared at all.
The captain was very kind and unique. So we enjoyed a lot.
Amazing experience and perfect service.
TTTamasang
Date of experience: February 2020
Must do when in Bagan!
We had an amazing experience with golden eagle! They pick you up at your hotel in the morning and bring you to the site where they have arranged breakfast for you and you can see them preparing the balloons while it’s still dark. As soon as there is some sunlight they get you to board the balloon and that’s when the amazing ride starts. You’ll be up in the air within seconds and you’ll have the most amazing views from up there. It truly is a unique, once in a lifetime experience that I wouldn’t wanna miss! Definitely choose golden eagle too since they have amazing pilots that are very experienced and have been flying balloons for years. They also chose to have only 12 passenger baskets which gives you a more familiar atmosphere with your group, while some of the other companies have changed to having 16 passenger baskets. So if you’re in Bagan it’s a must and I definitely recommend choosing golden eagle as your company since we had a great experience with them!
Passenger38915792679
Date of experience: February 2020
I would do it again and again!
I am hooked! This was my first balloon flight and it was so amazing I am sure nothing can really top this! The whole experience was great, from pick up over breakfast and the wonderful flight with our pilot Jason! Thank you so much for this wonderful experience ❤️
NiciSeelig
Potsdam, Germany
Date of experience: February 2020
Perfect Proposal
Words can't describe how wonderful our experience was, though I'll certainly try!
Our flight was captained by the wonderful Blake. He gave us a sublime experience, floating through the sky above Bagan. Blake answered any and all questions we had, in addition to acting as our aerial tour guide. He was fantastic company and we felt safe and well cared for throughout. Every element of the experience from pickup to drop off was seamless, professional, and warm.
We were served coffee and pastries before our flight, and a lovely champagne with fruit and cakes after.
The service didn't stop here however. Blake (our pilot) and the customer service representative Kwayt helped me arrange a proposal of a lifetime for my partner. I had originally selected Golden Eagle Ballooning over the other Ballooning groups because of the smaller passenger groups and I am delighted that I did. Thank you to Blake, Kwayt and the ground crew for giving me an unforgettable experience, and a picture perfect proposal.
edpM667CI
Date of experience: February 2020
Unforgettable Experience
We decided last-minute to do the Ballooning the day before and signed up super-easily through the web-page, paying online and receiving immediate confirmation from Golden Eagle. They also called our hotel to confirm pick-up the next morning, putting us at ease that everything was well-organized. And so it continued absolutely seamlessly right from the pick up in the early morning to the drop off back at our hotel!
The company is professional with high standards and paying attention to details, which became visible when we gathered around a candle-light breakfast on the site, watching the skilled ground crew lining up the balloons, during the safety briefing and the take-off and landing (with a second breakfast & the traditional champagne toast).
The weather that morning was excellent and the 8 of us spread nicely over the 4 baskets, everyone having their “own” little balloon. Nick Dunnington, our pilot, guided us smoothly over the temples of Bagan, ensuring that we get to see everything from different heights and angles. It was awesome and we felt super safe. Nick gave us some interesting facts about air-ballooning and the site of Bagan during the ride, at the same time leaving enough time for us to enjoy the view and the incredible silence & serenity up there in the air. Our ride took eventually much longer than anticipated, and it was wonderful! Thanks again Nick for this lifetime experience.
Yolo124
Date of experience: January 2020