A hot-air balloon is probably one of the oldest forms of aviation technology and the first successful human-carrying flight. Hot air balloons carry a long history, now in modern day it is mostly used as a recreation and entertainment.
There are quite a lot of hot air balloon festivals in the world. But here are our top 5 picks for the must-go hot air balloon festival:
1. Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Available: Early October
The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is the world’s premier hot air ballooning event. It’s also one of the most photographed events in the world bringing more than 700,000 visitors each year. Albuquerque is a unique place because there is a phenomenon known as the “Albuquerque box”- a set of predictable wind patterns allowing pilots to land close to their launch sites, which is a very rare thing happening in hot air balloon flight, normally it is almost impossible for this to happen.
2. Bristol International Balloon Fiesta
Location: Bristol, England
Available during: August
Bristol International Balloon Fiesta is Europe’s largest annual gathering of hot air balloons. What is more interesting is that, this year the locals can actually vote to help pick the locations of where the balloons will take off from. People should be able to enjoy the view of hundreds of hot air balloons filling the sky across Bristol.
3. Saga International Balloon Fiesta
Location: Saga, Japan
Available during: Early November
Saga International Balloon Fiesta is one of the most popular and largest hot air balloon festivals in Asia bringing more than 800,000 visitors a year. Part of the festival is a hot air balloon competitions.The most popular event is the ‘La Montgolfier Nocturne’- night mooring with fireworks and music. Another highlight of the event is the hot air balloon school, where you get to try the experience from the inflation to finishing with pilots and crew and touching the balloon yourself. Also, you can see a unique shape of the hot air balloon such as animals or popular cartoon characters at its Balloon Fantasia event.
4. Taiwan International Balloon Festival
Location: Taitung City, Taiwan
Available during: June
The Taiwan International Balloon Festival is one of the most anticipated events every year in Taiwan for locals and international tourists. Visitors are looking forward to seeing the special-shaped balloons. The festival started in 2011 as an opportunity to enhance the tourism activity in southern Taiwan, Taitung city and a year later, it challenged the world record in terms of length of time and scale of event. Taiwan International Balloon Festival includes many fun activities such as balloon rides, flying shows, mooring activities, a night-glow music concert, and etc.
5. International Hot Air Balloon Festival, Switzerland
Location: 1660 Château-d’Oex Schweiz, Switzerland
Available during: End of January
Nearly a hundred balloons from over twenty countries have been participating in this festival every year during the last 9 days of January since 1979.One of the particular things that make this festival special is because, unlike many other festivals in common, it takes place in a snowy valley in Switzerland. Can you imagine how surreal the experience could be?It is also famous for the night-glow show where all the balloons are exposed on the mountain, lit by burners, during the evening of the 7th day.
Hot air balloon flight is a weather-dependent experience. The decision whether to fly or not largely depends on the weather condition. Get real-time wind speed, wind direction, air pressure, and temperature using Scarlet’s WL-21 Wireless Anemometer.
For customization request, please email to info@scarlet.com.tw
