There are many reasons to love the Southern Alberta City of Medicine Hat!
From the fact that this city has the highest average of sunny days compared to any other city in Canada, to being home to many delicious, family-owned restaurants and cafes you can experience, to its many unique experiences like its Sunshine Trolley AND because Medicine Hat is home to Alberta’s Biggest Hot Air Balloon Festival:
Rise Up Hot Air Ballon Festival in Medicine Hat, Alberta
As someone who regularly visits The Hat (as the locals call it), the hot air balloon festival has been on my list to check out for many years but timing never worked out, until this May 2026 when I drove down to Medicine Hat to experience the Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival. The festival takes place annually, typically on the second last weekend of May (Thursday through Sunday).
What a joy it was to experience this festival, and such a privilege to be able to actually take flight in a hot air balloon with one of the festival’s seasoned pilots!
Read on for everything you should Know Before You Go to Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival in the southern Alberta city of Medicine Hat!
Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival at a Glance
- Location: Medicine Hat, Alberta
- Dates: Second-last weekend of May
- Duration: 4 days
- Opportunities to view balloons: Daily sunrise and sunset launches, and balloon glow events
- Is it family-friendly: Yes
- Can the public ride in a hot air balloon? Depends on the year! Limited rides may be available.
- Medicine Hat Distance from Edmonton: ~530 km (approximately 5.5 hours drive)
- Medicine Hat Distance from Calgary: ~295 km (approximately 3 hours drive)
If you are headed down to Medicine Hat, whether for this festival or anytime of year, be sure to check out ALLLLL of my previous Medicine Hat Travel Guides (along with this one!)
I’ve got a ton and you should read them all to help plan your visit!!- Browse all of my Medicine Hat Travel Guides
- Explore Medicine Hat, Alberta: Plan Your Itinerary Using This Experience Guide (June 2024)
- A Weekend in The Hat: Food + Drink + Shops + Experiences in Medicine Hat (July 2023)
- Video Blog: Lindork Does Life – Ep. 40 – Things To Do In Medicine Hat (July 2022)
- Video Blog: Lindork Does Life – Ep. 39 – Red Rock Coulee Near Medicine Hat (June 2022)
- Guide To Dog-Friendly Patios In Medicine Hat, Alberta (June 2022)
- Copy My Itinerary: A Weekend Of Fun In Medicine Hat (July 2021)
- Plan Your Float Down The South Saskatchewan River In Medicine Hat (July 2021)
- Travel Guide: Only In Medicine Hat, Alberta: 8 Unique Experiences To Try (July 2020)
- A Day In Downtown Medicine Hat: Food Stops And Shops To Visit (July 2020)
- UPDATED Guide To Instagrammable Walls Of Medicine Hat (July 2020)
- Explore Alberta: 7 Things To Do (Including Where To Eat) In Medicine Hat (Feb 2020)
What is the Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival?
The Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival is a FREE hot air balloon festival take that places each May in Medicine Hat, Southern Alberta. Depending on the year, there are up to 35 balloon + pilot/team partipants that float above the city.
The festival first started in 2022 by hot air balloon pilot Willy and his wife Cindy. Like most hot air balloon pilots, Willy started flying after going for a ride and falling in love with it. When he created the festival, he partnered with a non-profit organization named Our Collective Journey, and together the idea of “rising up” was formed.
Rise Up is not only about celebrating hot air balloon culture and bringing people together through the stunning spectacle of balloons, but it’s also intended to “raise awareness about how we can work collectively to enhance mental wellness and rise to great heights together” (part of Our Collective Journey’s mission).
There are actually only two hot air balloon festivals in Alberta, Rise Up, which takes place in May and Heritage Inn International Balloon Festival which takes place in High River (near Calgary) each September.
Medicine Hat is an excellent location for ballooning because of the city’s wide-open prairie landscapes, tons of sunshine, typically calm morning conditions, and lots of space for launching and landing. Add in spectacular sunrise views over the South Saskatchewan River valley and a passionate local ballooning community, and you can see why this city makes great sense to host this festival!
When is Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival?
Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival typically takes place on the second last weekend of May, from the Thursday through Sunday. For 2026, the festival dates were Thursday, May 21 to Sunday, May 24.
Each day of the festival includes a Sunrise and Evening Flight time (6 a.m. and 6 p.m.) except the final day Sunday, which only features the surnise flight.
It’s important to note that hot air balloon flights are always dependent on weather (safety first!) so there is always a chance the flights may be cancelled if weather conditions are not just right.
The locations for each flight / take-off is also determined the morning of based on wind conditions and other weather factors, so if you’d like to come watch the balloons take-off, or know what direction they may be flying, checking the festival’s Facebook Page is the best way to stay informed!
In addition to the morning and evening fly times, there are also community events and opportunities to get up close with balloons while they’re tethered to the ground.
Below is the schedule for May 2026’s festival for your reference
(note: schedule subject to change each year!)
Thursday, May 21
- 6 a.m. – Flight
- 6 p.m. – Flight
Friday, May 22
- 6 a.m. – Flight
- 6 p.m. – Flight (launching @ Kin Coulee Park)
- Dusk (approx. 8:30 p.m.) – Balloon Glow @ Kin Coulee Park
Come early to the Balloon Glow and enjoy the park. Food Trucks, Entertainment, Community! A variety of Rise Up/OCJ merchandise will be available at the OCJ tent!
Saturday, May 23 – Community Day
- 6 a.m. – Flight
- 9-11 a.m. Free Pancake Breakfast at Medicine Hat College
- 9:30 a.m. – Hues for Humanity Colour Run (5 km)
- 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. – Rise Up Market at Medicine Hat College
- 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. – Youth Art Party at the Medicine Hat College (For All Ages of Youth)
- 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. – OCJ BBQ at Medicine Hat College
- 6 p.m. – Flight launching @ Kin Coulee Park
- Dusk (approx. 8:30 p.m.) – Balloon Glow @ Kin Coulee Park
Come early to the Balloon Glow and enjoy the park. Food Trucks, Entertainment, Community! A variety of Rise Up merchandise will be available at the OCJ tent!
Sunday, May 24
- 6 a.m. – Flight
Flights may be delayed or cancelled, that’s normal!
Do you (the public) get to ride in a hot air balloon during this festival?
Short answer: it depends. But probably no.
In previous years, Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival had offered some flight packages for the public to book but the year I went they weren’t offering those rides. This may change depending on what year you head down to the festival, but it is so much logistically to coordinate! The festival also prioritizes ridealongs for sponsors who help fund the actual festival, pilots and balloons, and with all of the potential flight cancellations due to weather, you can imagine how difficult it might be to guarantee someone a spot on the balloon basket!
During my visit working with Tourism Medicine Hat to highlight the festival, I didn’t even know if I would be going up in the hot air balloon, and if I hadn’t, that would’ve been totally fine because I get it, sponsors have to come first there are only so many balloons, so many flights, so many spots.
I recognize that I was extremely lucky that the festival was able to find a spot for me in a 1-passenger balloon, with an amazing pilot named Johann-Francois Frève of Team Montgolfières Freedom from Quebec! More on my experience riding in a hot air balloon below!!
Balloon Glow is your best opportunity to see balloons up close.
If you’re in the area or coming down, the festival’s BALLOON GLOW events on Friday & Saturday evening are amazing ways to see the hot air balloons up very close (plus food trucks, entertainment and more). That is a really nice way to “guarantee” to an extent, that you will at least see balloons—even if they don’t fly, and even if you don’t get a chance to fly in them. I learned there are some festivals where pilots will go up and down in the balloon with passengers while the balloon is still tethered to the ground, which I think is super cool, but not all pilots love to do that because most hot air balloon pilots want to fly! Not go up and down while tethered to the ground lol.
If you pay attention to the flight launch location announcements, you can also see the balloons get set up and take off!
The public isn’t allowed too too close to set-up but if you follow along and balloon chase so to speak, many people including families did show up at the launch site I was at in order to watch the teams set up and take off. Very cool to see these balloons up so close!
All of that to say, if you’re headed to the festival, you’re probably not going to get to ride on an actual hot air balloon … (womp womp)
BUT there are plenty of opportunities to see the balloons in the sky and up close at Balloon Glow or at launch site / set-up / take-off.
And if you do ever get a chance to ride the balloon, definitely take it! It was an incredible and unforgettable experience and I really can’t stress how smooth and stable it felt too.
What is it Like to Fly in a Hot Air Balloon?
As mentioned, during my visit working with Tourism Medicine Hat to highlight the festival, I was fortunate enough to for the festival to find a spot for me in a 1-passenger balloon, with an amazing pilot named Johann-Francois Frève of Team Montgolfières Freedom from Quebec!
Many pilot teams come with multiple pilots, crew and/or family members, so when you take up a spot as a passenger, you’re also potentially taking up spots from co-pilots, hardworking crew or even family members (as well as sponsors), so I am seriously super grateful to have had this work opportunity to go for a ride! It was great to meet Julie, Annie, Philippe and more members of Johann’s team throughout the experience too. It takes a lot of dedicated and passionate people to balloon!
View this post on Instagram
I had such a great experience flying in a hot air balloon with Johann!
Johann has been flying since 2001 and got his pilot license in 2007. (Officially, he’s been “flying” since his mom was pregnant lol). His mother was actually the first woman hot air balloon pilot in Quebec.
He’s also the President of the Canadian Balloon Association!
His passion for ballooning was so evident really in the first moments we went up.
I loved how Johann described to me that being in a hot air balloon feels like being a bubble that you blow as a child.
“We are like a bubble in the sky, lighter than air!”
There was some serious whimsy being up there. I have to say it was a lot more stable than I was expecting! I’ve been on some different size planes now in my travels and a hot air balloon seriously felt more stable than some of the planes I’ve been in! lol.
The balloon Johann and I went up in only had enough room for him as a pilot and me as a passenger, though I later learned that there are varying basket sizes. I believe the largest basket / biggest passenger capacity at this year’s festival could accommodate up to six people.
Here’s a few things you might be wondering about the ride:
- How high did we go? We were nearly 4,000 ft. in the sky during our ride (I was told that the level take-off was already about 1,000 ft. above sea level though).
- Was I scared? It wasn’t scary! I have felt more nervous on other plane rides lol.
- What does riding in a hot air balloon feel like? Literally it just felt like I was standing on something in the air while it moved lol. It was such a smooth ride!
- Did anything surprise me about the ride? I think how smooth the hot air balloon ride felt was the most surprising thing. Also learning that there are MASSIVE hot air balloons out there! The one I was in with Johann was possibly one of the smallest of the festival. It’s incredible to think that there are balloon and basket sizes big enough to take up more people at a time.
- Did I learn anything I didn’t know before? Seeing as how I didn’t know anything about hot air balloons before this festival, I would say I learned SO many new things, including:
- The actual balloon part of the hot air balloon is called an envelope.
- Pilots categorize balloon sizes by cubic feet. The one I went on with Johann is 70 cubic feet (they say 70, but it actually meant 70,000). This is considered a smaller balloon!
- The physics of hot air balloons: hot air rises and is lighter, so when you heat a hot air balloon, the light air rises inside the envelope helping lift the basket!
- In hot air ballooning there is a maneuver called “Splash and Dash” where pilots intentionally. dip into water for fun before lifting back up again! Several pilots did this on the South Saskatchewan River during our ride over Medicine Hat. Johann said he was going to but didn’t because I was interview him on camera LOL. I would have very happily stopped asking questions if I knew a Splash and Dash was on the table!
- Every balloon team has a crew who follows along in a vehicle to your landing spot to help with tear-down. Festival organizers get permission from farmers to land in their fields.
- There are different balloon / envelope shapes. You have the typical balloon shape (which we were in), but some balloons are designed rounder or with special shapes. Like there was a dog shaped balloon participating in this year’s festival, it had ears! Out in Quebec, some of the balloon festivals there specifically feature special characters or shaped balloons. Johann shared that of course the shape of your balloon affects how it flies or how you as a pilot may fly it.
- Many pilots purchase their balloons but Johann shared that he and his team actually made their balloon by hand! Super cool. Again, so clearly passionate.
- Power lines are a balloon pilot’s worst nightmare. That’s often what they are most keeping an eye out for when they ride.
- Most balloons are made of nylon, which is the same material parachutes are made of!
- Balloon wear and tear is typically associated with hours flown. A lightweight balloon, smaller envelope / cubic feet size, can maybe get you 300 hours of fly time for example.
- How long was the flight? Less than an hour, maybe 30 minutes, I can’t fully remember now and I didn’t write it down lol. With waiting to hear if the flight was a go, to travelling to the launch site, set-up (preparation), flight, then landing and tear-down, the whole experience was maybe 2 hours long. We were wrapped up pretty much 8 a.m. and then you have the rest of the day to explore Medicine Hat! (more on places to visit + where to eat below).
Balloon Glow is really cool!
Super family-friendly, like this evening event with all the balloons lit up will blow some young minds. In the ballooning community I also learned that pilots make pilot/team/balloon cards that you can go around and collect (particularly during Balloon Glow). With food trucks, entertainment and more, the vibes (and views) are just amazing.
Balloon Glow is a big highlight of Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival!
Where Should You Stay in Medicine Hat, Alberta?
For this trip, I had the pleasure of staying at the same hotel as all of the pilots and their teams!
Best Western Premier Executive Residency Medicine Hat
The Best Western Premier Executive Residency Medicine Hat was actually the host venue for Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival 2026.
In addition to the really nice extended-stay suites they offer, the Best Western Premier Executive Residency Medicine Hat boasts a water park with 25-foot water slide, hot tub, and steam room. Here you’ll get complimentary full hot breakfast, including a made-to-order omelet station. It’s also pet-friendly and includes electric charging stalls. I appreciated how spacious this hotel felt and loved that it was home base for all the ballooning action.
That’s certainly one way to track where the balloon launches are going to take place (just follow the steady stream of people bolting out of the hotel once the launch is confirmed a ‘go’ lol!) Though fair warning, the typically ample parking lot fills up quite quickly with all of the balloon teams lol.
This hotel is very conveniently located near a bunch of amenities, shopping strips, and is a very short drive (really, everywhere is in The Hat) to downtown and other cafes and restaurants I checked out during my festival experience. It’s also very close to Medicine Hat College (7 minute drive), which was the site for the festival’s Community Day activities, and to Kin Coulee Park (9 minute drive), where the Balloon Glow activities took place in the evenings of the festival. Convenient!
And I just love the spacious, amenity-full suites!
Where should you eat while you’re in Medicine Hat?
Aside from all of the important ballooning information, I know you want to know where to eat when you’re exploring The Hat! I cover off a lot of suggestions, really at length, in my previous Medicine Hat Travel Guides, but also wanted to share my food itinerary for this May 2026 trip that you may want to replicate. These locations are listed in the order that I visited them in between Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival activities!
D’carlo Pasta House
📍501A 4 Ave SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 2N5 | Website | Facebook | Instagram
Because I’ve visited Medicine Hat so frequently over the last decade, there are few restaurants I haven’t tried in the city, so I always get really excited when a visit includes trying a new-to-me restaurant! For this May 2026 trip, that was a stop at D’carlo Pasta House. Although it is new-to-me, D’carlo is not new to the city. The restaurant is named after the owner and chef and is something of a long-standing institution in the southern Alberta city (it operated for a long time a long time ago, then shut down and recently reopened to much fanfare in the last few years).
D’carlo specializes in BUILD YOUR OWN PASTA and a must-order wedge Caesar salad. I love build-my-own anythings so these personally prepared custom pasta creations were right up my alley! Select your pasta noodle, sauce, protein, and vegetables for a very customized dish. I loved my Spaghetti Rose with Chicken, Mushrooms and Zucchini. Rose is one of my favourite pasta sauces and it is not offered at nearly enough restaurants, lol. There are also some set pastas you can order but people definitely come here to build their pasta. Portion sizes are big at D’Carlo as well!! I ended up packing leftovers to enjoy a second meal later. This restaurant also has some nice Italian soda options on the menu and Thursday nights are their live local music nights so it made for the perfect first evening in the city enjoying a hearty pasta meal set to live music. Service was excellent (shoutout to Leeann!) and the decor/interior spaces are a lot of fun to look at all the colourful details.
Swirls Ice Cream
📍 2 4 St SW, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 4E1 | Website | Facebook | Instagram
Swirls Ice Cream calls itself a Medicine Hat Original. This is a popular ice cream stand that’s been around for nearly 40 years in The Hat. Specializing in soft ice cream, hard ice cream, sundaes, milkshakes, swirls, slushes, ice bergs, floats, parfaits, and more, Swirls is a great summer stop especially if you have a sweet tooth! Expect a line-up but it does move pretty quickly.
Country Crumbs Bakery & Cafe
📍 417 3rd St SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 0G8 | Facebook | Instagram
Country Crumbs Bakery & Cafe in downtown Medicine Hat was bustling when I stopped in after the Friday morning balloon flight! It was really nice to see. There’s plenty of sweet and savoury treats to try here, from cinnamon buns to doughnuts, sausage rolls, scones, cookies, all sorts of breads and buns, and more. I’d like to come back to try their homemade soup too!
I was also so pleasantly surprised with the quality of my matcha latte that I got here! Matcha has become so mainstream that you can typically find it on any cafe menu now and for the most part, I’ve found that if the place is not an Asian-focused, specialty spot, the matcha lattes are a bit lacking however that was not the case at Country Crumbs Bakery & Cafe. It was very well done!
Takumi Japanese Restaurant
📍 23 8 St NW, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 6N9 | Website | Facebook | Instagram
If you only make one food stop in Medicine Hat, it’s got to be Takumi. I’ve mentioned in my previous Medicine Hat Travel Guides before that my golden rule for visits to this southern Alberta city is to ensure my visit dates align with Takumi Japanese Restaurant’s open hours. They take time off every July to go back to Japan so make sure you don’t visit when they’re closed LOL. Luckily, the Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival takes place in May lol, so they should be open!
Chef SeHo and wife Sohee are just wonderful. This place is so teeny and they don’t take reservations so try to go at odd hours (late lunch / early dinner) to improve your chances of getting a spot. I have only had incredible bites for anything I ever order here.
On this trip I was happy to try for the first time their special Smoked Duck Ramen (available while supplies last daily only). Perfect. New Style Sashimi (seared albacore tuna with hot olive oil and yuzu/ponzu sauce) is typically on the order, as well as Salmon Aburi (seared salmon), torched Spam Nigiri (no other Japanese restaurant I’ve been to does this! lol) and various specialty rolls.
I tell everyone I know that Takumi is one of the best Japanese restaurants in all of Alberta, if not Canada, it’s so good. How do I get the people who do their best restaurants lists to include them? lol.
Bloom N Bites
📍 Home-based, licensed, AHS approved business | Instagram
As part of Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival this year, out-of-town guests were able to book a Sunset Trolley VIP Experience. This includes a one-night hotel stay, evening and morning VIP trolley transportation, front row access to Rise Up festival moments, and curated goodies aboard the trolley which included balloon festival swag items, Medicine Hat gifts, and a super cute and tasty charcuterie box from a local home-based gift/catering business Bloom N Bites. This was lovely!
Avenue Coffee
📍 3062 Dunmore Rd SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1B 2X2 | Website | Facebook | Instagram
In 2024, I tried a new cookie / bakery in The Hat called Kookie Bites, which I loved! The really cute space was owned by a Filipino baker named Kaela. She made super soft, flavourful and pretty Kookies. During this 2026 visit, I was pleased to learn that Kaela had also opened up a second business, Avenue Coffee! Focused on “Coffee. Comfort. Community,” Avenue Coffee is bigger and has a wider menu than Kookie Bites, including a big variety of specialty drinks, bubble tea, plus sandwiches and some Filipino savoury dishes like a sweet-style spaghetti. Their pancake sandwiches (literally what it sounds like lol) were pretty unique and made for a tasty breakfast, along with some waffle sticks. They also do an excellent strawberry matcha latte (with jammy strawberry, my favourite!) and a variety of sweet kroffles (croissant waffles).
McBride’s Bakery
📍 1791 Dunmore Rd SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 1Z8 | Facebook | Instagram
I really love McBride’s Bakery from a local community perspective. Their owners are amazing community organizers. They do a lot for the city and for great causes. And they just spread positive messages (see chalk art/sign in their store above).
McBride’s Bakery is also very popular for their freshly baked breads, doughnuts, “spud nuts” and other treats. You can find a selection of take-home soups here as well and be sure to check their daily specials on their social media!
POCK POCK Lounge Thai Cuisine
📍 16 3 St NE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 5L8 | Website | Facebook
I was so happy to get to try Medicine Hat’s newest Thai restaurant POCK POCK Lounge during this May 2026 visit. The interior of this restaurant is really nice. It’s a big brick building, they have this cool circular hobbit doorway inside leading to stairs that take you to the second floor. It’s nice and spacious and most importantly, the food is incredible. Super authentic, spicy (!!!), bursting with flavour Thai dishes. I got my food to go and was so happy with all the flavour in my Larb spicy salad with roasted rice powder, shallots, mint, lime juice, and chili flakes, as well as the Pad See Ew stir-fried flat rice noodles with chicken, Chinese broccoli, and egg in a Thai soy sauce. Can’t wait to keep coming back to POCK POCK!
PLUS: While I didn’t get to stop in this visit, I always, ALWAYS recommend Jj Kitchen in downtown Medicine Hat when you’re in this city…
Jj Kitchen
📍 635 3rd St SE, Medicine Hat, AB T1A 0H4 | Website | Facebook | Instagram
Located in downtown Medicine Hat, Jj Kitchen was on my list to pop in for lunch (it literally is a must-stop anytime I’m in town lol), but they were closed (weeps forever lol). The Korean family-owned eatery serves delicious homemade dishes including beef, chicken or pork cupbap (in a cup) or jipbap (like a bento, this is my preferred order) plus a perfect tuna triangle gimbap (Korean onigiri!), Korean corn dogs and weekly rotating Korean specialties. Truly excellent, comfort food and wife/husband owners Jane and Brian are literally so sweet. They’re a great local food success story, having started selling Korean items at the Medicine Hat Farmers’ Market before opening the restaurant downtown in 2022. LOVE THIS PLACE! (Jj Kitchen photos are from previous visits!)
Medicine Hat Pairs Well
Just prior to my visit to The Hat this May 2026, the city had launched for the first time their “Medicine Hat Pairs Well” campaign, a a spring dine-around that invites locals and visitors to taste some of the city’s best food and drink pairings. The first edition included 20 participating restaurants, coffee shops and tasting rooms with suggestions on dishes or drinks that pair well together at each spot, making your ordering really easy.
For instance, D’Carlo, Country Crumbs, and Takumi were all participating restaurants in Medicine Hat Pairs well, so some of my orders this trip were inspired by that Pairs Well suggestion. Fun!
You can use the Pairs Well restaurant list and suggested menu items to help plan your meals and orders for when you visit too.
What else should you do while you’re in Medicine Hat?
Gosh, where do I start?
I know I’ve mentioned it many times throughout this post but if you are planning a trip to The Hat, or need more convincing, you’ve got to read my previous Medicine Hat Travel Guides to get a fuller picture of all the possible activities and places to eat.
For this guide, I’ll just mention a few things you might want to include in your itinerary!
(linked to previous blogs that share a bit more details about each)
- Take a ride on the Medicine Hat Sunshine Trolley
- Explore Downtown Medicine Hat Murals/Instagrammable Walls
- Hang out at Echo Dale Regional Park
- Go on a Medicine Hat Cafe/Coffee Crawl
- Play a Game of Giant Chess
- Drive just out of town to check out the unique Red Rock Coulee Natural Area
- Plan a stop into nearby Elkwater in Cypress Hills Provincial Park
- Go on a Downtown Stories self-guided walking tour
- Plan a float down the South Saskatchewan River
- Rent e-bikes to explore the city
- Visit the Saamis Tepee
- Explore the Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre
- Check out The Butterfly House
Soooooo… should you make the drive down to Medicine Hat for the Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival?
My answer: Absolutely, yes!
If you’re looking for a uniquely Albertan weekend getaway, Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival is a must-experience. Watching dozens of colourful balloons lift off against a Southern Alberta sunrise is reason enough to visit, but paired with Medicine Hat’s sunny weather, lovely downtown, excellent local food scene, and plenty of cool southern Alberta attractions in and around the city, this festival makes for a very memorable road trip destination. I love exploring Medicine Hat and timing it around this festival and the uniqueness of the hot air balloons speckling the sky + opportunities to get up close and personal to the balloons makes the May timing a really excellent time to visit.
Congratulations to the organizing team + volunteers + everyone involved in putting on the Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival in Medicine Hat! What a logistical feat, and such a joy these balloons bring to onlookers.
It’s a beautiful community event and definitely a festival everyone should experience!
Hope you found this Travel Guide helpful to plan your Rise Up Hot Air Balloon Festival visit to Medicine Hat in southern Alberta!
Remember to check out my other Medicine Hat Travel Guides to help plan your itinerary:
- Browse all of my Medicine Hat Travel Guides
- Explore Medicine Hat, Alberta: Plan Your Itinerary Using This Experience Guide (June 2024)
- A Weekend in The Hat: Food + Drink + Shops + Experiences in Medicine Hat (July 2023)
- Video Blog: Lindork Does Life – Ep. 40 – Things To Do In Medicine Hat (July 2022)
- Video Blog: Lindork Does Life – Ep. 39 – Red Rock Coulee Near Medicine Hat (June 2022)
- Guide To Dog-Friendly Patios In Medicine Hat, Alberta (June 2022)
- Copy My Itinerary: A Weekend Of Fun In Medicine Hat (July 2021)
- Plan Your Float Down The South Saskatchewan River In Medicine Hat (July 2021)
- Travel Guide: Only In Medicine Hat, Alberta: 8 Unique Experiences To Try (July 2020)
- A Day In Downtown Medicine Hat: Food Stops And Shops To Visit (July 2020)
- UPDATED Guide To Instagrammable Walls Of Medicine Hat (July 2020)
- Explore Alberta: 7 Things To Do (Including Where To Eat) In Medicine Hat (Feb 2020)
Linda
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Disclaimer: Thank you to Tourism Medicine Hat for partnering with me to experience and share about the many wonderful things visitors can do to explore the southern Alberta City of Medicine Hat! This partnership does not impact opinions stated in this post. I love exploring Alberta, supporting local businesses, and sharing ways to get the most of your travels!
