Sunrise Balloons over Cappadocia: A Morning Flight with Royal Balloon
3 January 2023, Cappadocia, Türkiye. We flew with Royal Balloon, one of the region's best-known and most expensive operators, for one reason only: safety. A pre-dawn breakfast, inflation in the dark, rising with the sun, a low pass through Love Valley's spires and a landing on frosted grass — the full record of that morning.
Destination Data
PlaceRoyal Balloon 熱氣球飛行 Royal Balloon Balloon Flight
Location土耳其・卡帕多奇亞 Cappadocia, Türkiye
Best Season冬季 Winter（1 月）
Sharp Index
安全 Safety95
飛行體驗 Experience90
景觀 View91
Cappadocia is one of the world's most famous places to fly in a hot-air balloon. For this flight I chose Royal Balloon — one of the two best-known, and most expensive, operators here. The reason is simple: safety comes first. On a trip that takes you into the sky, an operator's reputation, the state of its fleet and the experience of its pilots are exactly what the fare should be paying for.
The day starts before dawn. The shuttle arrives in the dark, and first there is a simple breakfast: a bread roll, a poppy-seed bagel, a flaky börek and a plate of strawberries — the photo carries its own date stamp, 3 January 2023.
Breakfast before departure: a bread roll, a poppy-seed bagel, a flaky börek and a plate of strawberries — the photo still carries its January 3, 2023 date stamp.Before dawn, the white shuttle vans line up at the meeting point, name boards on their noses.
At the launch field it is still dark. The envelope lies spread on the winter ground; a fan fills it with cold air first, then the burner takes over. Around us, other companies' balloons light up in the darkness one after another.
Before first light, the Butterfly Balloons envelope spreads on the ground and starts to inflate, the basket still on its side — butterflyballoons.com printed across the fabric.In the distance another operator's balloon glows as the burner fires, the whole envelope lit from within; shuttle headlights in the foreground.Two Butterfly balloons inflate side by side, the butterfly logo and TC-BBB standing up in the dawn light, a sharp rock spire behind them.The Butterfly balloon beside us is inflating too: the burner flames into the mouth of the envelope, already mostly full, cones and a sign by the basket.
One by one the envelopes stood up, and the early balloons were already drifting over the canyon. Ours was ready too — from inside the basket, the blue fabric rose to the round crown vent, the burner waiting right overhead.
Looking up from inside the basket: deep-blue fabric rising to the round crown vent, with BOD printed beside it.Another balloon's orange underside passes overhead; in front of us two Butterfly balloons stand ready, fairy chimneys behind.The burner fires: a jet of flame into the blue envelope, the round crown vent overhead like an eye.
Our basket was a VIP balloon — only a few passengers, and never crowded. That is what made the flight feel so unhurried: whenever I wanted a photograph there was an angle in every direction, and the lens was never blocked. Other operators, by contrast, pack their baskets to the brim — it may bring the fare down, but in practice it leaves passengers with a restricted view, barely able to move inside the basket. The pilot fired, flame rushed into the blue envelope above us, and we left the ground in near silence.
Leaving the Ground with the Sun
Take-off is quieter than you expect. No engine shove — just the occasional roar of the burner, and below us the dirt roads, vehicles and launch field slowly shrinking. As the altitude builds, the fleet spreads out over the canyons and white ridges, fairy chimneys right beside us.
Two Butterfly balloons lift off one after the other, baskets just clearing the hill, the shuttles still lined up below.Just after liftoff — our own envelope overhead, a dozen balloons scattered over the ridge, the dirt road still visible in the valley.Straight down from the basket: frosted shrubs, a dirt road and a small sign — still low, everything on the ground sharp and clear.A neighbouring balloon passes overhead, its underside lit orange by the burner; below, a valley folded by erosion.Above the fairy-chimney fields, dozens of balloons find their own altitudes in the morning light; the Göreme townscape lies beyond.
Before the sun appears, the sky grades from deep blue to pink. Whoever fires a burner lights up like a lantern; dozens of balloons line up along the gold band on the horizon, all waiting for the same moment.
The balloon on the left fires its burner and lights up like a lantern, the deep-blue Sultan balloon beside it.The view opens up: layer upon layer of flat-topped mesas and white valleys, all the way to the horizon.Inside the basket: the pilot's radio hangs on the upright, a company balloon faces us, and the blue balloon at lower left is firing its burner.The sun is about to appear: the horizon burns gold, a blue-and-white Butterfly balloon in the centre, every balloon a silhouette.
Sunrise: A Sky Full of Balloons
When the sun rises beside Mount Erciyes, every balloon in the sky becomes a silhouette. It is Cappadocia's most classic morning image — and watching it happen around you, mid-air, is nothing like watching it from the ground.
Sultan's blue balloon flies low over the valley as we watch from upper right, the dawn band on the horizon.A cream balloon with a round logo drifts past at close range, fairy chimneys below.The whole sky is balloons — high ones, low ones, some hugging the rock spires; the one at upper right is a Butterfly.Sultan's balloon so close it fills the frame — blue, red, and the black lettering sharp — its basket just above the white ridges.On the far horizon, conical Mount Erciyes with snow on its summit, morning mist still lying in the valleys.The sun is up — rising right beside Mount Erciyes, one balloon a silhouette in front of it.
After sunrise, the light and the view open up together. Mist still lies in the valley bottoms while the fleet drifts slowly east in a clearing sky; only from this height do you grasp how many balloons are up at the same time.
Fog has covered the valleys — only two cream balloons and the far mountains float above the sea of mist.Only from this height does the scale land: dozens of balloons across the whole plateau, the town's rooftops at the left.Sunrise at full strength: the sun, Mount Erciyes and a whole field of balloon silhouettes in one frame, the valleys shining.
Flying Low: Through the Canyons and Love Valley
Later in the flight we come down low, skimming the white-rock valleys and fairy chimneys. Altitude gives you scale; low flying gives you distance — or the lack of it. Rock spires slide past the basket, and other balloons pass close enough to see the people in their baskets.
Descending into the white-rock valley: the purple-and-yellow cola tour balloon at left, the checkered one at right, frost still on the rock walls.The checkered balloon — You Deserve The Best — passes close over the ridge line, its basket just above the crest.The sun rises right behind the Sultan balloon; frost coats the fairy chimneys and the fleet spreads into the light.The yellow cola tour balloon drifts past a sharp fairy chimney, its tip lit by the morning sun.A huge rock spire slides past right beside the basket, the yellow Giant Tour balloon at left — low flying is all about this closeness.Love Valley's stone pillars: balloons thread between the tall spires in golden morning light.
The tall stone pillars around Love Valley are the finest stretch of the flight. Balloons thread between the spires while the ridge-top viewing terraces fill with sunrise watchers — and we drift slowly past, just above their heads.
A Butterfly balloon leads over the white ridges, a Phoenix Tour balloon following behind.The cola tour balloon crosses ridges gilded by the sunrise, tiny watchers standing on the crest.Three balloons in close formation — Sultan, a striped balloon and the checkered one — close enough to see the figures in each other's baskets.The landing field: chase and shuttle vehicles wait along the road on the frosted plain, a Butterfly balloon descending at left.
Back on the Ground
We land on a frost-covered field. The chase and shuttle vehicles are already waiting by the road; one by one the balloons come down, deflate and are gathered in, shadows stretched long by the morning sun. It was still night when we climbed in; by the time we are back on the ground, the day is fully bright.
Looking down on a teammate's blue balloon as it descends toward the frosted landing field, its shadow stretched long.Back on the ground: balloons dot the frosted grass, shadows stretched by the morning sun, a shuttle waiting nearby.After landing, one last look up: the crown vent stands open and the envelope hangs slack — the flight is over.The landing field in full daylight: balloons coming down one by one, the ground still holding the morning's frost and long shadows.
My score for this flight: 90. Choosing one of the most expensive operators in the region buys safety and steadiness — and that morning's weather, light and sheer number of balloons carried the experience the rest of the way. One small warning: a winter morning here is genuinely cold. The frost on the ground in these photos is not decoration — dress warmer than you think you need to before you climb into the basket.
SELENE
