The Rocamadour Balloon Festival

In the Dordogne region of France, the medieval town of Rocamadour hosts a hot-air balloon gathering in September. The village lies on top of a cliff overlooking the Alzou canyon. The church of Saint-Sauveur and the crypt of St. Amadour are classified world heritage UNESCO sites. This is one of the most visited sites in France with over 1.5 million visitors a year, after the Mont-Saint-Michel, the city of Carcassonne, the Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles.
The annual hot air balloon festival has participants from all over Europe and watching the balloons rise up from the foot of the sacred city is sheer magic, and there’s a good brocante (vintage market) too!

As this is a really popular event, if you want to see the whole show from the preparation of the balloons to their take off, you need to be in Rocamadour before 8 am!