My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our flight with Kapadokya Balloons. From start to finish, husband and wife team Lars and Kaili run a class act. The morning started with a 4:30 a.m. pick up from our hotel. Then we were brought to their headquarters, paid, and were given coffee and cookies while waiting to be transported to the take-off site. There were about 12 people in our balloon, but the baskets are big and subdivided. It was a real thrill to watch as the balloons were inflated and the experience in the air is hard to describe. We were so surprised by how quiet it is up there! Lars was our capable pilot, and the control he and Kaili exercised over the balloons was remarkable. The views of this otherworldly place were spectacular! Afterwards, we enjoyed fresh pears, apricots, and cake with the campaign toast.

My husband and I spoke at length with Kaili while we all mingled after the ride, and really liked them as people. We were impressed by the sense of commitment and responsibility she and Lars seem to have for their employees. They also have taken in two street dogs and embedded them with micro-chips to avoid quarantine when they travel to their other home in France (my kind of people!). Their balloon rides are a bit more expensive. We paid 210 Euro per person (and that was the discount price for paying in cash) for a flight that lasted between 1.5 and 2 hours. However, their safety record is apparently impeccable and the two have tons of experience between them. We thought the entire experience was romantic, thrilling and well worth the cost.

If you have paid for a trip to Turkey don't skimp and miss out on a chance to take a hot air balloon ride. I know there are many different balloon companies but this one is worth paying extra for. lars and kalli the pilots are amazing, talented, informative, and I felt very safe. There are some upstart companies that have questionable pilots. These guys have been around the longest and I think its worth paying extra for the safety and service they provide. You get some early morning coffee and cookies (not very good) but what you are paying for is their skill to drift deep into canyons and skim across plateaus.

If you are going to Cappadocia & have been wondering about taking a hot air balloon ride, my advice is - "don't hesitate a moment longer, fly with Kaili & Lars & this will be the highlight of your holiday." I flew with them in May & can only describe it as one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life. It was my first ever balloon flight & I had decided several years ago if I was ever going ballooning it would be in Cappadocia. After looking on TripAdvisor & similar sites I also decided I would splurge on the longer flight & am very pleased I did so. I think we may have been in the air for the best part of 2 hours, rather than the 90 minutes advertised & the entire operation was extremely well organised.
Lars & Kaili fly in tandem, taking turns to fly low through the valleys & are in constant radio contact with each other & also with the ground crew when it's time to land. They are both incredibly skillful pilots & make you feel completely confident to be in their hands. What amazed me at the end of our flight was that Kaili landed our basket right four square on the trailer parked in the field below us & although she was very quick to pass credit on to the great work done by the ground crew I think it was a pretty remarkable feat!
It was just incredible flying over the unique landscape of Cappadocia & was the highlight of a wonderful trip through Turkey.
Just do it!!

There are a few hot aır ballon operators, but we had a fantastıc tıme wıth the Kappadokyıa hot aır ballon. You could take the shorter trıp, but we were advıced (and rıghtly so) to take the longer one whıch lasted for one an a half hour. I suppose the best thıng about the trıp were the husband and wıfe owners - Lars (who ıs from Sweden) and Kallıe (who ıs Brıtısh). After havıng done thıs for 20 years, they clearly stıll loved ıt, theır passıon showıng as they show you round and were so wıllıng to answer all our questıons. They have quıte a few balloons and they would personally fly the longer trıps. Lookıng at Cappadoccıa from the top gıves a dıfferent vıew of thıs amazıng place as you see the dıfferent rock formatıons.

Best of all, Lars and Kallıe end the trıp wıth a champagne toast and lıttle postcards. What a great touch to ıt. We felt that thıs was one of the hıghlıghts of our trıp and would hıghly recommend ıtç