Urgup Balloons — Local services in Urgup

We booked the “ Best Package” for what was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime hot air balloon ride in Turkey. Sadly, the experience was poorly managed, over-commercialized, and fell far below expectations especially considering the premium price.

While the pickup was on time, we were left sitting in a van for 45 minutes before boarding. This would have been the ideal time to collect payment, but instead, they waited until we were literally about to launch to ask everyone to pay, creating unnecessary stress and delays.

There was also complete disorganization around seating. I was directed to one corner of the basket, only to be told to get out because it was “reserved” for a group of four even though the booking did not mention seating allocations. The baskets are all the same, and everyone pays the same rate, so this made no sense.

The worst part of the experience was how they handled a payment dispute with an elderly man. He was allowed into the basket without paying, and then they stopped everything to demand his payment before takeoff. Instead of resolving it beforehand or after the ride, they made over 20 people wait for 20–30 minutes while they insisted he pay on the spot. The balloon didn’t take off until that was done which was incredibly unfair to those of us who paid in advance and specifically booked for the sunrise. By the time we lifted off, the sunrise was already over.

Because of this, I was also crammed into a section that was supposed to hold three people but they added a fourth (me), while the elderly man’s section only had two. They clearly didn’t want to address the conflict, so others had to deal with the discomfort. It was frustrating and unacceptable.

Once in the air, our balloon stayed low behind hills while other (even cheaper) balloons soared high with beautiful views. Our pilot never rotated the basket, so if you were on the “wrong” side, you barely saw anything. And they made no attempt to fix it.

The pilot spent most of the flight using a 360 camera stick to take videos and photos clearly focused on selling them afterward in USD. It actually blocked views at times and made the whole thing feel like a money-making setup rather than a genuine experience.

The “glass bottom view” was just a foggy, scratched piece of plastic. Totally useless and misleading in the description.

The included “breakfast” was another letdown. It wasn’t a proper meal or portioned per person it was a tiny setup on a folding table shared by people from two vans. A few pastries and water, no variety, and nothing clearly communicated. Just something thrown together for the sake of saying breakfast was “included.”

If you’re planning a hot air balloon ride in Cappadocia, avoid this company and book with Kalsedon instead. Their balloon flew the highest, covered a wide area, and landed last. From what we observed, Kalsedon passengers had the experience we were hoping for.

To top it off, at the end, the staff even asked for tips pointing to a cup and suggesting we show “appreciation” after all that went wrong. It felt like one last cash grab in what was already a very money-minded and disappointing operation.

Everything from start to finish felt rushed, impersonal, and focused on business rather than the experience. For the price we paid, I absolutely believe a partial refund is warranted and I hope this review saves others from making the...

It was my FIRST ballon but it was the worst! Very unorganized, the team was trying to collect balance payments just before loading ppl to the balloon instead of sorting it out while we were waiting in the bus for about an hour. Which held me back from getting the spot I wanted.

Then, I was shoved as the 4th person into a 3 person basket. Was told that the bigger baskets on the corners were only for FAMILIES of four. Did not see such description on their website but they pulled my sister out of the corner basket and put her in the middle.

Next, there was some payment discrepancy with a senior couple and the teams incapability to handle it left us all waiting for another half hour on the ground and our sunset was in the ground rather than in the air. Extremely unprofessional.

As the icing on the cake, we were the only ballon (Urgup Balloon) that was hovering behind a rock mountain and never flew high up when the rest of the balloon were mostly up, going over the mountain and around. Thanks to Pilot SADI SENTURK, he was mostly focused on taking pictures of the passengers so that he could sell it once we were on the ground rather than giving passengers a life time experience.

Paid a premium price just to be treated as a passenger on a regular balloon and a worst experience. I think the passengers on the regular balloon would have got a better experience than me flying high, over mountain and around! For everything I’ve gone through URGUP BALLOON should give me a full refund. BEWARE of this company, as their reviews and stars are nothing close to what I’ve...

We found this hot air balloon agency on the internet as one of the famous agencies. Having had this in our minds, we’d think it was one one the best. But guess what? Our experience was just 50/50. Let me explain. Let’s start with good stuff first. They were on time for hotel pick up, gave us good instructions, pilots were quite experienced and the landing back to ground was smooth.

Now the not so good thing. I think we paid quite expensive (€250) for this hot air balloon, so you would normally expect something that would make your money worth it. We were positioned in the middle of the basket, the crew were using an insta 360 camera with a very long pole, which obviously was blocking our view/ photos/ videos. We later found out that the video they were taking from that camera was being sold at the end of flight.

Additionally, the site where the balloon flight took place seemed to be not from the middle of the valley because when the flight was launched, we did not have much view as we are far away from the rest of the balloons. Most of our views were just mountains and the sunrise which were not too bad, but would have been nicer with the hot air balloons around us plus the pilots did not even turn the basket so we could have a good view. So in the end, we didn’t have much amazing photos or videos.

For the money we paid for, I think it was not worth it. If that was cheaper, then my feedback might have been different. So Id rather book a cheaper price to other balloon agencies and experience...