Cappadocia Balloon Photo Shoot: Flying Dress, Sunrise and Inclusions

With Get Turkey Tours, a professional photo shoot among the Cappadocia balloons begins at $399 per person; the season, the date and the inclusions all change the figure, so check the current rate with us. You get a photographer who takes you to three spots at sunrise as the balloons lift off, one flying dress, 250 photos of which 15 are edited by a professional, two Instagram Reels videos, and transport from and back to your hotel.

What you get with the shoot

From pick-up until you are back at the hotel, plan on roughly three hours. Pick-up covers hotels in Ortahisar, Avanos, Uchisar, Urgup and Goreme. These inclusions match what the balloon photo shoot page listed in October 2026.

A few pictures on that page feature a horse and a red vintage convertible. Neither one appears in the inclusions, so if you would like them in your shots, raise it before booking, not on the morning itself.

Shoot, flight or watching tour: which one?

You do not fly during the photo shoot. Your feet stay on the ground and the balloons fill the background. That is exactly why it exists: in a basket, there is no way to get a picture of yourself with a hundred balloons in the sky behind.

Plenty of couples book both, flying one morning and doing the shoot on a different one. They cannot share a sunrise, since both take place at the same hour. For a full comparison of the flight types, see our guide to the Cappadocia balloon price in 2026.

Monthly sunrise times in Cappadocia

Everything is planned around sunrise, the moment the balloons fill with air and go up. Turkey uses UTC+3 throughout the year. These are rough sunrise times for Goreme in the middle of each month, worked out for 2026:

We pick you up a good while before these times, so a June shoot means leaving the hotel in darkness at about four a.m. Winter mornings start later, but a thin dress on an exposed clifftop feels cold.

Some mornings the balloons stay grounded

Cappadocia's balloons go up only in suitable weather, and the call is made every morning according to the rules of SHGM, Turkey's civil aviation authority. Rain, snow, wind and low cloud all stop the flights. When that happens the sky is empty, no matter what time you arrive at the viewpoint.

This affects your planning more than with any other tour. Schedule the shoot for your first morning in Cappadocia rather than the last, so you keep extra mornings in reserve. When you send us your dates, ask what happens to your booking if the balloons do not fly; it depends on the season and on availability. The cancellation terms on the tour page are straightforward: cancel at no cost up to 7 days ahead, with no refund inside 7 days.

The best months for balloon pictures

• April to June: gentle mornings, green valleys and more days with flights. This is peak season, with the most balloons in the air.
• July and August: dependable weather and very early pick-ups. The land is dry and brown.
• September and October: warm days, soft light and generally good conditions for flying. We recommend this period for photos.
• November to March: cancellations are most frequent, yet snow on the fairy chimneys gives the rarest shots. Pack a coat to put on between photos.

Clothes and what to pack

Your flying dress is part of the price. It is long, with a train that the photographer's assistant tosses into the wind. On our page the dresses come in blue, green and red; strong colours show up well against the pale stone. Men look good in simple light shirts and dark trousers beside a long dress. Walk to the viewpoints in comfortable shoes and change before the photos. Even in summer, pack something warm, since the plateau is cool at dawn. Make-up is not provided, so get ready at your hotel.

Travelling from Istanbul to Cappadocia

Because the shoot begins at your hotel in Cappadocia, you have to stay there one night at least. The quickest way to include it is our 2-day Cappadocia flight package from Istanbul, and the page on our Cappadocia tour from Istanbul sets one-, two- and three-day options side by side. Every tour we run in the area is listed on the Cappadocia tours page.

Frequently Asked Questions