“This festival was scheduled to take place in 2022, but for technical reasons, it was not possible to carry out this initiative. We will kick off the event on the 27th to the 30th of April, in Baixo Sabor and Vale da Vilariça. This festival promises to be a reference in this area in the south of the district of Bragança”, AMBS president Eduardo Tavares told Lusa.

The ballooning festival will cover the municipalities of Alfândega da Fé, Torre de Moncorvo, Mogadouro, Macedo de Cavaleiros, and Vila Flor, in the district of Bragança.

“This festival is now being prepared by Turismo do Porto e Norte together with AMBS, in partnership with the five partner municipalities of this initiative, including Vila Flor, which is very present in this tourist and leisure activity”, stressed the president of the Alfândega da Fé Chamber.

According to Eduardo Tavares, the objective of this ballooning festival is “to carry out an activity that attracts people to this territory of Lagos do Sabor and Vale da Vilariça, in order to promote culture, tourism, landscapes or local products, in order to reinforce the Northeast Transmontano identity”.

“We have conditions of excellence in this territory for the promotion of this activity [ballooning] that will be open to the local population and tourists who intend to take hot air balloon captive flights, which promises to be a weekend full of activities around ballooning”, indicated the head of AMBS.

According to pilots, contacted by Lusa, in a captive flight the hot air balloon is tied by cables and performs the movement of ascent and descent, “and with this technique the aircraft can climb to a maximum height of 30 metres”.