Which ballooning company should we use in Cappadocia?
 

There are so many ballooning companies in Cappadocia, it's hard to to decide on who to hire. The place we are staying recommended Goreme Balloons at 150 Euro each for 1 hour. TA has Kapadokya Balloons listed as #1 and Goreme Balloons as #2, however, there are not any reviews of Goreme Balloons for 2011.

TTP recommends Royal Balloon and Butterfly Balloons. He says that you are supposed to receive a $15 Euro discount with Royal if you mention TTP.

Although many have recommended the longer 1.5 hour flight at 250 Euro each, the 1 hour flight is already a major splurge for us. And we have been ballooning before in Namibia over the stunning red dunes and dessert landscape. I'm hoping this will be as good or better, if that's even possible.

Thank you,
Nicci

Not this company:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...on-accident.do

We went with Goreme Balloons last summer. The 45 minute flight lasted 90 minutes. The last 20 minutes or so were spent trying to land on the back of the service truck. That was fun. We paid 130E through our hotel.

One negative was how crowded the balloon was. I think there were 20 or 21 people in our balloon (they had said there could be up to 20). Combining the hot flame of the balloon with that many people I found the experience good but a touch less than comfortable.

Thanks for the replies, they were helpful. We've booked with Butterfly Balloons for Sunday morning. Hoping their smaller basket and and max capacity of 16 makes it more comfortable. It's 150E each with the mention of TTP and cash discounts. They are also #1 on TA with 100% positive reviews...many of them recent.

Nicci,

I know you have made your decision, but we went with Kapadokya Balloons and had the best time ever, last summer. There were 8 in our basket and our pilot,Graham, originally from Australia was the most experienced, delightful man. He had been flying for over 25 yrs all over the world and Cappadocia was his favorite to do. you just glided ithe air with no feeling you were up in the air and then you look around and you are just in awe of it all!!

You will love the experience, it remains one of my fav things in over 20 yrs of international travel.

Have a ball!

We used Butterfly last week & the experience was top notch. Mustafa was our pilot & we really enjoyed it. We had only 12 people on the flight with only 3 of us in our compartment.

Ian

I just came back from Turkey and used Kapadokya Balloons when I was in Gorome. I had a great time with them. There's always some risk involved but I felt safe with them, because they seem to have a good reputations among the guide books.

We went with Butterfly Balloons and our basket only had 14. We were in the air for about 1 hour 20 minutes. We took off from Love Valley and our pilot, Mike, was great. We dipped down into the valleys which made it more fun.

Another highlight is that Rick Steves was with us too! I wasn't sure if I was more excited to meet him or go ballooning, especially since we just spent 4 days following his Istanbul guidebook.

>>Another highlight is that Rick Steves was with us too!<<

Oh how neat was that! Was he on vacation or a working trip?

I think a little of both. He joined one of his tour groups that has a guide to do a quality check and scouting updates for future filming.

It was pretty surreal. The ballooning company van picked us up first at 4:20AM and then the next stop was a group that included Rick Steves. It was so early, I wasn't sure if it was really him until he got in the van. We arrived from Istanbul the night before where we had just spent 4 days following his guidebook, so it was strangely ironic. Plus we watched all of his PBS Turkey episodes and listened to his podcasts planning the trip. On the ride, I acted like I didn't know who he was and tried not to stare while the excitement in me was building up. We had a chance to talk to him at the breakfast orientation and from what I understand, it was his first ballooning experience. Super friendly, as you would expect.

We have a library of his guidebooks from over a decade of traveling throughout Europe, so it was definitely a highlight:)

We had a very good experience with Urgup Balloons. Their pilot was absolutely great, and the flight was a memorable one.

Our pix:
http://onelittleworld.zenfolio.com/p87385194

Love your Turkey pictures mr_go.

Ditto - really enjoyed your photos, mr_go.

Thank to both. We had a lot of fun taking them!

Nicci, Or anybody else
What is TTP?
Thanks

Sassafrass

TTP = Turkey Travel Planner http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/

Ian

I'm planningn a 2 week trip to Turkey for 2012 after having spent 3+ days in Istanbul last month and being blown away. I will likely do a packaged tour to Cappadocia and use the balloon company offered by whichever tour package I choose. Here's my question. It sounds from a couple of you that even though you selected the 45 minute flight, you were actually up in the air much longer. I'm wondering if that's common? Should I choose a 45 minute tour anticipating I'll be in the air well over an hour? Would the 90 minute tour likely last 2 hours or would that one probably only last 90, making the 45 minute tour a much better deal??

We took the shorter tour and I felt like it was plenty. I don't know exactly how long we were in the air, but our group of five all agreed it was enough.

Our flight was 1 hour and I agree it was enough.

I recommend against Urgup Balloons. Seemed very disorganized, with no promised safety briefing, which meant that no one knew what position to get into when the pilot yelled "Landing positions!" as we bounced and skidded to a landing. Also, we were on the balloon's second flight of the morning (picked up at 6:40 am), which meant that we took off where the early morning flight had landed. With the winds that arose after sunrise, the pilot couldn't maneuver the balloon over the most interesting part of the area (the rock valleys); we flew mostly over the plain, ending up in a field near a housing development. Still it was a fun trip--best part was that we had only 12 people in the basket so there was plenty of opportunity to get good views.

Thanks for the feedback Althom and Aprillilacs. Aprillilacs, if you had had a better organized balloon company,and had been able to fly over the rocks, would that have impacted your feeling that one hour was enough? I'm just thinking I'll probably never do this again and so want to make it as memorable an experience as possible.