Soganli Valley Hot Air Balloon Ride, 1 Hour at Dawn

The rating is 3.8, from twelve reviews. That is the lowest figure on any Cappadocia listing on this site, where balloon operators mostly sit between 4.5 and 5.0. Twelve is a thin sample and the average could move either way with the next few, but it is the only feedback this flight has, and it belongs in the decision. The price is 92 euros, cut 20 per cent from 115. The discount is genuine, though it does not make this the cheapest way into Soganli: two other flights over the same valley are listed here at 70 and around 84 euros. What the 92 covers is the whole morning. Pickup from your Cappadocia hotel, the minibus south into Kayseri province before first light, coffee and snacks on the launch field while the envelope fills, then the drive back. Reckon on being back at the hotel about three and a half hours after pickup. Underneath the basket are monolithic churches cut whole from the rock and monasteries carved into the cliffs, with fairy chimneys standing between them. The flight runs about an hour. Take-off is at dawn because that is the window commercial flying uses in Cappadocia, and the region is held to 100 balloons in the air at the same time, which is why every balloon here goes up for the same sunrise.