Balloons over Pamukkale

After our one night in the Venus Suite Hotel in Pamukkale, on Thursday 19th February, we were picked up at 6am (in the dark but at least it wasn't 5am!) for our much anticipated hot air balloon flight after recently spectacularly failing in Marrakech and Cappadocia due to poor weather!

Well in the end this was truly the most spectacular experience and was well worth the wait. It was also cheaper in Pamukkale than either Cappadocia or Marrakech, which was an unexpected bonus. We had paid £25 on Airbnb Experiences for the deposit and then 65 euros each in cash on the day. The cash was a very minor issue but there was a huge row of ATMs which our driver had kindly stopped at the night before to stock up on Euros.

As it turned out we were visiting Turkey during Chinese New Year. This was particularly evident on our hot air balloon flight as we were in the basket (which held 18 people plus 1 pilot) where only us and the pilot were not Chinese! Everyone was very friendly despite the language barrier!

I counted about 40-50 hot air balloons going up over Pamukkale that day and it must be said that this is a very professional operation indeed with well oiled crews to board you, the pilot who took photos and videos (to sell to us afterwards!) and trucks upon landing. Compared to Virgin Balloon Flights (my only other hot air balloon experience) this was completely different. First of all the basket held a lot more people (in the UK this would be 12 to 16 people) and the landing was considerably different. I had been expecting to land with a bump and be dragged across a field, as per my UK experiences, but it was smooth and when we landed we were completely upright and straight back onto the trailer, strapped down by the ground crew.

The views from the air were absolutely glorious. We were up in the air for about 07:30, we saw the sun rise and it was incredible floating over the UNESCO World Heritage site of Pamukkale - and to have our first glimpse of its famous bright white calcium terraces.

Children can go on these hot air balloon flights a little earlier than in the UK (around 110cm) meaning you can probably go at age 5/6 in Turkey versus age 7 in the UK. Tiger could see over the edge of the basket but could also sit down in the basket and look through little windows in the basket.

Upon landing we were treated to 'non alcoholic champagne' - or essentially carbonated fruit juice and dropped back to our hotel. We had a quick one hour nap before heading out to see Pamukkale from the ground. The hotel were amazing and ran a free taxi shuttle to the top entrance to Pamukkale. The ticket price for non-Turkish residents was 30 euros for me but happily, children aged under 12 are free.

We wandered down through the ruins of Hierapolis (the ancient city) to marvel at the white travertine terraces formed by mineral-rich thermal waters which was the main draw of this place. We took off our shoes and socks, rolled our trousers up and had a lovely paddle in the hot springs. We did have a little wander around the museum, before slowly walking down through each of the little hot spring pools. It was very special, and such a unique place. I realised that we missed visiting Cleopatra's Pool, and seeing the major Hierapolis ruins but for us, arriving at about 11:30 and getting back to the hotel at just before 3pm in the scorching sun just worked out perfectly.

Although the hotel had dropped us to the top entrance, we were able to walk down through all of the thermal pools (bliss!) and back to the hotel very easily. The only thing I'd have done differently here was actually to bring a swimming costume for us both! I just didn't really think it was warm enough but with the hot springs, it definitely was!

After picking up our bags from the hotel, we then took the transfer back and were boarding the Turkish Airlines flight at 17:30. This flight was so quick and quite cheap 5534 TRY (£58) - departing at 18:00 and landing at 19:25 - but I'd splashed out on seats 500 TRY (£8) each (!) so we felt like royalty in the Business Class seats of Row 3!

After landing in Istanbul (IST) airport, we headed back to our Istanbul hotel, the Sadaret Hotel and our now familiar tried and tested transfer for 50 euros booked via their website, meeting point E1 (exit 14).

This time we paid £114 for the two nights in the hotel. We got to our room at 8.45pm and it was all great but I'd inadvertently booked the Junior Suite A Block. This was a lovely apartment around the corner with a living room and kitchen but I was quite frustrated at the time that we didn't have a washing machine as I was really looking forward to blitzing our clothes! This was completely my mistake though but, nevermind, we were back in Istanbul safe and sound.