One of the more interesting tours available in the San Jose area is to look down on the city from a lighter than air ship. Unlike the Goodyear blimp, Airship Ventures is using zeppelin. A zeppelin has a rigid frame while a blimp is mostly just a bag of gas. (Unlike the most famous zeppelin, the Hindenberg, this zeppelin is filled with helium which is not flammable.)

The Airship tour is one of the newer guided tour options in San Jose. Airship Ventures’s zeppelin (named Eureka) arrived in 2008 at its home base of Moffett Field which is just north of San Jose just off of highway 101.

At 246 feet, Airship Ventures’s craft is just a little longer than a Boeing 747, but holds only 12 passengers and 2 pilots in the cupola. The Eureka flies lower (500-1000 feet) and much slower than a plane which makes it a great experience for photographers.

San Jose Tours

Because of the small number of passengers the tour is not inexpensive. Tours start at $199 for a 30 minute tour of San Jose and the Silicon Valley. They also offer a longer Geek cruise which flies over familiar companies in the Silicon Valley.

San Francisco / Monterey Tours

Cruises above San Francisco or Monterey are $495 (Buy one ticket at regular price and receive $100 off the second ticket. This special is good through 12/31/2009 and is valid on regular priced fares only). Cruises for San Francisco leave from Oakland North Field and for Monterey they leave out of the Monterey Peninsula airport.

What’s it Like?

Airship Ventures says:

Cruising at around 1300 feet, you are high enough to be non intrusive, but low enough to see amazing details. Your speed is around 35mph, which is a stately and serene speed to view the world at. Take off and landing are very rapid and you are only in your seat for the minute or so it takes us to reach cruising altitude.??Surrounded by huge windows, two of which open, and with the comforts of leather seating and an onboard restroom, this is a real skybox!

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