I was in a hot air balloon over Cappadocia, Turkey. Sometimes, I have to pinch myself to believe this is even my life. A hot air balloon in Cappadocia!
This adventure has become a classic, a legend, a bucket list item. But is paying for a hot air balloon in Cappadocia even worth it?
I am no stranger to hot air ballooning. You may remember my disappointment here or my redemption here. A hot air balloon has long been a powerful draw for me. To be weightless – to be floating with the breeze – to be connected to nature – to be moved by a powerful feat of fire and gas while around you the wind cannot be heard – to rise up in a balloon full of remarkable colors, unique and individual – it is all very romantic to me.
When my friend and I were off to Cappadocia to meet up with an Intrepid tour around Turkiye, we knew this was one thing we wanted to try.
The Internet has not yet decided when hot air ballooning started in this area. Some accounts say the late 18th century, some say 1985, some 1989, and some 1991.
What is confirmed is that the first hot air balloon festival took place in Cappadocia in 2002 and it seems that is when things took off (pun!).
The area started to see increased tourism in the 1960s due to the remarkable cave dwellings and unique rock features (more on that in an upcoming post). Göreme National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985 and Göreme National Park was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985. Göreme, the town that is the base for most of the Cappadocia region, began being bought up by investors in 2000. There is a burgeoning tourist business here now.
The government issued a statement that in the first 10 months of 2024, they had already seen nearly 4 million visitors to this area. In 2014, there were 2.85 million tourists to the same spot; in 2017, 2.2 million tourists. (For those interested: Instagram launched in July 2010.) That is a two-fold increase in a few short years. Which is remarkable considering Cappadocia isn’t that easy to get to.
The balloon industry has swelled under the dollars coming to the area.
If the weather is convenient to take off for all regions of Cappadocia, more than 150 hot air balloons take off every day. Considering the average basket size of 16 people and the suitable fly days of 200, over 500,000 tourists experience such a captivating hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia every year.
Source
That’s a lot of people – so you won’t be alone. And, while like the “special cheesecake” in Istanbul, this is actually a relatively new experience for the region, it still is, indeed, special.
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What to know about taking a hot air balloon in Cappadocia, Turkiye
As I’ve mentioned before about hot air balloon rides, this isn’t a cheap excursion. It will be anywhere between 140 Euros and 300 Euros per person. A lot is dependent on 1) the time of year you are going and 2) which package you pick.
But this is a pretty standard range for all the companies.
All of the tours leave very early in the morning, and most have packages where they will pick you up at your hotel (we opted for this). Be ready to get up in the dark!
We elected to fly with a company called Butterfly Balloons. This company came recommended to us by other travelers, and we liked it because of its smaller basket size. Butterfly Balloons flies with a maximum of 16 tourists per basket. Other companies pack their baskets with more riders (up to 28 people per basket at at least one other operator), but we liked the smaller crowd size. We purchased the Butterfly flight package.
As mentioned, Butterfly Balloons picked us up incredibly early, but we had a lovely breakfast buffet available to us at the check-in hall. We enjoyed pastries, coffee, and fruits while we waited on everyone to arrive and eventually for our vans to head out.
You should pick your tour operator by looking at the length of the flight (you can purchase longer flights if you want – although I thought our 60-minute flight was the perfect length and didn’t feel the need to stay up longer), the package deals (the transportation, breakfast, and champagne toast were awesome), the size of the basket, and the experience of the pilot.
You can book private tours if you’d like with nearly any of the balloon companies.
Pilots are formally trained and have requirements they must meet in order to fly. But you can always reach out to the tour companies and ask how many flight hours their pilots have. Generally, hot air ballooning is a fairly safe endeavor but you can ask your intended tour operator for statistics and reports.
You will eventually be driven on bumpy, unpaved roads outside of Cappadocia to fields upon fields of balloons beginning to inflate.
We were in Turkiye in mid-October, and it was cold! While my first balloon ride in Virginia was on a very cold fall day in November, the heat from the flame kept us toasty. That was not the case on this trip. The balloon was much bigger and we were farther from the effects of the flame. (We especially felt the cold after our ride, as we had the traditional post-hot air balloon champagne toast while waiting for the pick-up crew to load the balloon and drive us back to our hotel.)
Bring warm clothes – Cappadocia is the desert.
Passengers are expected to climb into and out of the basket, using ill-placed toe holds to hoist themselves over the top and into the balloon. If you have concerns about mobility or anyone in your party has limitations, you will want to contact a balloon company that can accommodate you in advance.
The balloons are up by sunrise. Rides last a minimum of 60 minutes unless you pay for more (which, as I said, felt like enough time to me). How high you go and your path are determined solely by your pilot but there wasn’t a need to go too high to get the full effect of the landscape. Each pilot treats the experience differently.
As I’ve experienced many times, hot air balloon rides get cancelled – frequently. In fact, when we were in Cappadocia, the area was just coming out of a couple of back-to-back days of grounded balloons (no flights at all). We were told to feel lucky we went up (we did).
If you can, book your balloon ride on the first morning available and try to leave extra days in Cappadocia in the event there is any need to reschedule your hot air balloon ride.
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Is taking a hot air balloon in Cappadocia, Turkiye worth it?
Yes! The landscape and the rock formations in this area of the world are truly remarkable, unlike anything I have ever seen. While we hiked in the area later during our stay, walking through valleys, it means something different to see things from up high. It was beautiful to see brightly colored bands popping up over rock arch formations and caves.
Plus, a hot air balloon ride never disappoints. To be moving with the wind current is a crazy experience. You know the wind is blowing yet you never feel the breeze because you ARE the breeze. It is a sense of peace and stillness.
We’ve discussed overtourism, what makes a place “pop” (see here, here, and here), and what makes a place “famous” to visit. Surely, social media and the smart phone are a big piece of that. While up in the balloon, it is tough to be in the moment, to put down the phone and stop recording, and just look out. Everything around is so engrossing, unique, and different – and you know you will probably never see it again, words will never do it justice, and memories will fade.
But the amount of people recording this entire adventure, living behind the lens, is pretty annoying. The jockeying in the balloon between other tourists looking to get to the edge of the basket to get the perfect photo was also annoying.
I am so glad I did this. I can see why people make this a bucket list experience. My wish is that more people would put down the phone for part of the ride that is life and just “be here now.” Capturing it isn’t bad (the photos in my post – I love these and am so glad I have them), but taking a moment to put the camera down is so important to enjoying this experience. Make it worth it to do a hot air balloon in Cappadocia by actually living it, not just documenting it.
There is no doubt that the hot air balloon industry has put Cappadocia on the map in a major way. A lot of the beauty of this sunrise ritual is that there are hundreds of colors dotted against the sky. The sheer volume is The Thing. You never have to leave the ground in a balloon to enjoy the colors and the spectacle. But, ultimately, I am sure glad I got in that balloon.
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