Cappadocia Hot Air Balloon Tours

There is a reason Cappadocia is famous for its hot air balloons. Every morning at 7am the sky is filled with balloons of all colors floating lazily across the valley. This in itself is a sight to behold, but to actually be up in a balloon above the city is purely magical.

Visitors are picked by service mini Vans early morning from their accommodations and brought to the main office. Visitors are checked off a guest list, given a balloon pass/safety information card and registered. After registering, guests are served a buffet breakfast, which includes fruit, cereal, crackers, cakes, and drinks. Close to 5:45am, the driver calls guests out to the travel vans and they drive out to their balloon takeoff site, about a 10-minute drive.

Guests generally arrive to the balloon while it is being inflated with large industrial-sized fans. At this point the sky is still dark, and tourists can see dozens of balloons throughout the valley randomly illuminating with orange flames as they inflate.

The balloon basket is divided into four sections, and there are generally five people per section. This layout guarantees the weight of the basket is evenly spread out, and that no one area is too crowded. The friendly balloon crewmembers help guests climb into the basket, and then the balloon is ready to take flight! Take off is so smooth, guests often don’t feel themselves leave the ground. They are suspended in the air with one hundred other balloons above, below, and around them. It’s hard to beat a view like that! The ride lasts about an hour, with the sun rising over the valley about halfway through the ride, and slowly filling the landscape with a warm glow as the valley gets lighter.

Visitors are often amazed at the pilots’ ability to land the balloon directly on the truck trailer bed. Handles are fixed on the inside of the balloon basket for guests to hold when the balloon lands, but they are more of a safety precaution than a necessity.