Cappadocia Hot Air Balloon Ride Over Fairy Chimneys

Fairy chimneys are the reason this flight exists. Cones of soft volcanic rock left standing under harder caps, they run in clusters across the ground around Goreme, and people cut houses and churches into the same stone wherever it was workable. On foot you meet them one valley at a time. From a basket, Love Valley, Devrent Valley and the cave dwellings between them line up as one continuous stretch of eroded country. This is the standard Cappadocia morning, and none of the good part starts in daylight. The crew spreads the envelope while it is still dark, the burners fire, the balloon comes upright, and take-off is timed so the sun clears the ridges soon after you leave the ground. Height is the only control a pilot has. Wind at each level decides direction, which is why the exact line over Peri Bacalari and the rock cut churches comes out different every morning. No region on earth flies more balloons than Cappadocia, and the regulator keeps the daily count in check, so you will not have the sky to yourself at any point in the flight. Take-off happens at dawn and at no other time of day. Conditions allow something like 250 to 300 flying mornings in a typical year, with the cancelled ones bunching between December and April, the stretch of the calendar where a spare day in reserve is worth planning for.