Somebody else flies the wing. You just run off the mountain.
Which take-off actually lands on the beach. What a flight off Babadağ costs against one over Lauterbrunnen. Whether the video is worth the extra. Reviews of the tandem paragliding flights you can book, wherever the wind is good.
Three countries doing most of the flying
TurkeyBabadağ, Alanya, the Mediterranean coastfrom $18SpainTenerife volcanoes down to the Atlanticfrom $74SwitzerlandInterlaken, Mürren, the Matterhornfrom $232Four flights that made everyone else book one.
The take-offs that come up first whenever somebody asks where to do this. What each one costs and what the air is like when you get there.
01The famous oneParagliding Oludeniz – Fethiye, TurkeyOff Babadağ above Ölüdeniz, with the lagoon underneath and a landing on the beach at Belcekız.
02The alpine oneInterlaken: Tandem Paragliding Flight with PilotOut of Interlaken between the Eiger wall and two lakes. The glide everyone in the hostel is talking about.
03The city oneCape Town: Tandem Paragliding AdventureSignal Hill to the Atlantic seaboard. Fifteen minutes, Table Mountain over your shoulder the whole way.
04The one on filmFrom Medellín: Paragliding Tour with GoPro Photos & VideosThe Colombian Andes above Medellín, with the camera already mounted on the wingtip.
Six take-offs worth planning a trip around.
A Turkish mountain that drops onto a beach, a Swiss valley with waterfalls at wing height, a volcano in the Atlantic, a South African headland, the Andes above a city, and the ridge over Phewa Lake. Pick a place, then pick a flight.
Turkey sells more tandem flights than anywhere else, in four different shapes.
Babadağ above Ölüdeniz is the reason most people book at all. Alanya flies cheaper and lands on Cleopatra Beach. Work out which shape of flight you want, then compare prices inside it.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Paragliding Oludeniz – Fethiye, Turkey
The standard tandemTwenty to forty minutes, pilot flies, you sit and look.
Transfer includedThe take-off is up a mountain road. Somebody drives you.
Licensed pilot namedListings that put the pilot qualification up front.
Off the high launchThe Babadağ launches, higher start and a longer glide.
All 64 flights in Turkey →
Four things that decide whether you fly at all.
Tandem paragliding is the rare adventure booking where the operator, not you, does the hard part. What is left to get right is weight, wind, timing and what the price actually includes.
- 01Weight, not nerveEvery wing has a working range, and most operators quote a passenger band somewhere between about 25 and 110 kg. Outside it you need a specific wing, which means telling them before the day.
- 02Wind closes the hill, not rainTandems need light, steady air coming up the slope. Too much of it, or from the wrong side, and the launch shuts. Operators normally move you to another slot rather than refund.
- 03The camera is usually extraThat wingtip GoPro footage is a paid add-on more often than it is included. Listings that bundle photos and video say so in the title.
- 04Morning air is the smooth airThermals build through the day. First slots are glassy, midday is bumpy, late afternoon settles again. Which one you want depends on your stomach.
The most booked paragliding flights on the site.
Every flight in the book →Ölüdeniz, Interlaken and Cape Town take the top of this list every time, and the prices between them run three to one.
1
Paragliding Oludeniz – Fethiye, Turkey
Launch from Mount Babadag with a private tandem pilot and glide above Oludeniz, Butterfly Valley, and the turquoise coast. Hanuman Paragliding provides transport, equipment, insurance, and national park entry. Pilots including Baris, Torehan, Nida, Deniz, and Izzet are praised for calm guidance. Photos and videos cost extra.
From · $165
Read our review →
2
Interlaken: Tandem Paragliding Flight with Pilot
from $233
3
Cape Town: Tandem Paragliding Adventure
from $109
4
Tandem Paragliding Experience from Interlaken
from $252
5
Alanya: Tandem Paragliding with Hotel Pickup
from $77
6
From Medellín: Paragliding Tour with GoPro Photos & Videos
from $109
7
Marrakech: Paragliding, Camel Ride & Berber Villages Trip
from $90
8
Tenerife: Paragliding with National Champion Paraglider
from $153
A tandem flight costs what the mountain under it costs.
Every flight on the site sorted by price. The cheap end is not a worse flight, it is a cheaper country with an easier road to the launch.
Turkey, Nepal, Colombia and the Moroccan desert. Short drive to the launch, short flight, same view of the ground going away.
The middle of the catalogue. Cape Town, Tenerife, the Austrian valleys, and most listings that include the transfer.
Interlaken, Zermatt, Chamonix, Rio. Big mountains, long glides, and a lift or a road that costs the operator money.
Not every flight hangs from a paraglider.
A hang glider runs off a ramp and flies faster and flatter. A paratrike takes off from flat ground on wheels with an engine behind you. Acro pilots spin the thing on purpose. Same air, three very different twenty minutes.
Three flights that cannot be had anywhere else.
Wings fly the same way everywhere. A launch at nearly two thousand metres that lands on a swimming beach, a valley with waterfalls at wing height, and a concrete ramp above a city beach do not repeat.
Babadağ, and the beach landing
The launch sits high on Babadağ above Ölüdeniz, reached by a long minibus climb, and the flight finishes on the sand at Belcekız with the Blue Lagoon off to one side. Nowhere else combines that much height with a landing you can walk off into the sea from. Flights run most of the year and stop when the wind turns onshore.
- 1Paragliding Oludeniz – Fethiye, Turkey★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 2,128 traveller ratings
- 2Tandem Paragliding Fethiye, Oludeniz★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 612 traveller ratings
- 3Tandem Paragliding Flight Experience Babadağ Mountain Fethiye★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 92 traveller ratings
The Lauterbrunnen walls
Take off above Interlaken or from the Mürren side and the valley below is a trench with waterfalls coming off both rims. The air is cool, the glide is long, and the landing field sits between two lakes. This is the flight that fills the Swiss hostels every summer, and the one that books out first.
- 1Interlaken: Tandem Paragliding Flight with Pilot★★★★★★★★★★ 4.9 · 2,117 traveller ratings
- 2Tandem Paragliding Experience from Interlaken★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,655 traveller ratings
- 3Mürren: Paragliding over the Lauterbrunnen Valley★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 522 traveller ratings
The ramp above São Conrado
Rio does this with a hang glider rather than a paraglider: a wooden ramp on Pedra Bonita, a short run with the pilot strapped alongside you, then a flight out over the forest and a landing on the beach below. It is faster, flatter and noisier than a paraglider, and there is a queue for it most mornings.
- 1Rio de Janeiro: Hang Gliding Adventure★★★★★★★★★★ 4.6 · 760 traveller ratings
- 2Rio de Janeiro: Hang Gliding Tandem Flight★★★★★★★★★★ 4.8 · 426 traveller ratings
- 3Rio de Janeiro: Hang Gliding or Paragliding Flights★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 132 traveller ratings
Tenerife flies all winter, which is most of the point.
While the Alps are shut, the trade wind is still working the Tenerife slopes. Launches run from the Teide side down to Puerto de la Cruz and from the ridges above Costa Adeje, and there is an acro scene here that exists almost nowhere else in Europe.
Every flight in Tenerife →
Newest reviews, straight off the ridge.
The rest of the new ones →
KLOSTERS: Paragliding For 2 – Couples (Video &Photos Incl.)
Read our review →
St. Moritz Paragliding Flight Experience
Read our review →
Sunset Paragliding in Agafay – Tandem Flight from Marrakech”
Read our review →
Tandem flight with paramotor from above ioannina zagori
Read our review →
Lisbon Paragliding with Instructor No Experience Required
Read our review →
Paragliding Bali at Uluwatu Cliff with Photos/Videos
Read our review →
From Fethiye/Oludeniz: Mountain Paragliding Trip with Pickup
Read our review →
Oludeniz: Blue Lagoon Paragliding Flight Fethiye
Read our review →