If Bagan is the famous balloon flight, Ngapali is the secret one. Oriental Ballooning offers flights over this stretch of coast and jungle — set up by the same aviation team that helped the BBC film its overhead jungle sequences for the 2013 Wild Burma series. It reaches a part of the country fewer than one in a thousand travellers ever witness.
Into the dark
It begins before sunrise, with a 30–45 minute shuttle to the launch site near Thandwe. There's a safety briefing and the usual warm drinks and light bites while the balloon inflates. As ever, the flight path is the wind's to decide — out towards the coast, over neighbouring valleys, or inland over the jungle.
What you might see
Aloft, you may spot hilltop stupas, rare birds and, with luck, macaques moving through the canopy. The pilot eases down towards a clearing chosen in advance, and the crew greets you on landing with juice, fresh fruit and sparkling wine — back at the hotel in good time for a late breakfast. Flights run November to mid-March.
