Having soared through the skies above Rajasthan since 2008, Sky Waltz Balloon Safari is now offering hot-air balloon flights from Lonavala, a hill station in the Western Ghats of Maharashtra, India’s third-largest state. A 90-minute drive from Mumbai (return transfers are included in the US$196 ticket price), the Lonavala area confers views of patchwork fields, verdant valleys, rock-cut cave shrines, and shimmering lakes, made all the more thrilling during hour-long sunrise ascents that carry passengers as high as 1,500 meters or so low that they’re just skimming the treetops. –Christi Hang

This article originally appeared in the February/March 2014 print issue of DestinAsian magazine (“Basket Case”).