UNESCO World Heritage Site Cappadocia: Hot Ballon Ride

Hello Dear Readers! Happy Lunar New Year!🧧 Well I guess it’s kinda late for saying so?Not really! I was just back from Penang, Malaysia, where people still follows the tradition, celebrating the New Year until Lantern Festival (March 3rd)! I had so much to share about Malaysia, but hold on, we will continue the Turkey journey first! 😄

After visiting Pamukkale, we headed to Izmir airport to take a flight to Cappadocia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site known for its unique landscape shaped by volcanic activity and erosion. By the time we arrived, it was 10PM already. And we still needed to take a 1-hour Uber to the town Göreme, where people take a hot balloon ride. Thinking back, the whole journey of going to Izmir and then Cappadocia was quite intense. Maybe because I’m getting old 🥲?

Table of Contents

• Tips for Logistic

• My experience

  • Can the price be justified?

Tips for Logistic

1. ✈️ In Kayseri airport, there would be a staff responsible for allocating taxis, including Uber. At the beginning the person asked if we would take a taxi, we shook our hands slightly to say no because we thought he wanted to recruit us as his customers. However, we found out he’s actually an official staff who helped drivers to find passengers when he called our name from Uber.

2. ⛈️ Save at least 2 days in Cappadocia because your ride could be canceled anytime due to weather condition. We were supposed to take a ride the next day when we landed but were informed the ride was canceled. (Thank god it got canceled because we were so tired that couldn't afford taking only 4.5 hour sleep)

3. 💰 Riding a hot ballon costs about $300 USD. A woman we met in Göreme said some of the Chinese run hot ballon companies offer ride under $50 USD/per person. I am not sure how trustworthy it is but $300 USD seems to be the standard price when I searched online.

4. ✈️ There are 2 airports close to Göreme, one is NAV, the other is ASR. NAV is actually closer but we chose ASR because of the direct flight options. Flights going to NAV from Izmir usually have 1 transfer in Istanbul.

5. Uçhisar and Göreme are both towns where people take hot ballon from.

My experience

It really felt like being in a fairy tale when flying in the sky overlooking the erosion terrain paired with a bunch of hot balloons on top of it. The view seems to be the theme that you can only see in a video game, but now it’s vividly in front of you. That’s amazing. Ohhh a supplement note here - your feet may feel sore because you will be standing during the 1 hour ride. And because the space is limited, so you are not able to move much. Honestly, when I hopped on the basket of the hot ballon, I felt like I was a sandwich packed in a picnic basket 🧺🤣

The tour we joined offered us some snacks and water before the ride, and also held a champagne celebration session after we landed and gave us a certificate, which is lovely.

Can the price be justified?

A hot balloon costs around 300USD, which I think is worth the price because there are many preparations before and after the ride.

Before the ride, 2-3 staff need to get the balloon blow by getting the heat into it, which doesn’t look that easy. While getting the heat inside, they have to make an effort to drag the gigantic balloon from time to time to ensure there’s a space for the heat to go in. After the ride, the staff had to communicate with the pilot to get to the right location where we were about to land. And 5 of them pulled the rope hard to help the balloon anchored. There were at least 5 people involved to make the ride happen.

Stay tuned! Next week, I’ll show you around the cute town Göreme!