New tourist attraction panoramic balloon to start service in City Park on May 1

The balloon has been installed as part of the large-scale Liget revamp project in City Park, Benedek Gyorgyevics told reporters at the site. “The panoramic balloon service will symbolise Budapest, and Hungary’s re-emerging tourism sector in the post-pandemic period,” he said. For setting up the balloon’s base on the ground, a 10,000sqm land area has been greened, Gyorgyevics added.

Zoltan Zavodszky, director general of BallonKilato, the company operating the balloon, said the French company modelled it after the one depicted by 19th century painter Pal Szinyei-Merse in his famous oil-canvas Balloon.

The balloon has capacity to hold up to 30 people aged older than 6. It scales the 150 metres in about 5 minutes and spends around the same amount of time in the air, Zavodszky said. The balloon is fixed with cords to the ground and has been equipped to meet the highest safety standards, he said, adding that it is only operated under appropriate weather conditions.