Mount Babadağ: Tandem Paragliding and the Babadağ Skywalk Cable Car

Rising almost vertically from sea level to 1,969 metres right behind the Ölüdeniz lagoon, Mount Babadağ ("Father Mountain") is widely considered the premier commercial tandem paragliding site on earth. Nowhere else in Europe can you launch at nearly 2,000 metres altitude within five kilometres of the sea and spend 30 to 40 minutes gliding silently directly over a turquoise lagoon before landing on the beach beside the cafés. And since the opening of the Babadağ Skywalk Cable Car (Babadağ Teleferik) in 2021, non-fliers can now enjoy the exact same summit views and alpine restaurants without strapping into a harness.

1. Tandem Paragliding from Babadağ: What to Expect and Best Time Slots

You do not need any prior experience: you fly seated in a comfortable armchair-style harness in front of a licensed commercial pilot. On takeoff from one of the four altitude-graded paved runways (1,200m, 1,700m, 1,800m or 1,965m, selected according to the wind direction), you simply walk and jog forward for five or six steps down a gentle slope until the wing lifts you smoothly into the air, there is no jumping off a cliff:

• Which of the 5 daily time slots is best? Flights operate in five waves (roughly early in the morning, in the late morning, around midday, in the afternoon and in the early evening). Book the early in the morning or in the late morning morning slots if you are nervous (when thermal air currents are calmest and the morning sun lights up the Blue Lagoon directly below into vivid turquoise without afternoon haze), or the in the early evening slot for golden sunset light.
• What to wear and bring: even when it is 33°C on the beach, the air at 1,800 metres is 12°C to 15°C cooler. You must wear closed-toe laced trainers (flip-flops are not permitted on the runway), sunglasses and a light windbreaker.

2. Riding the Babadağ Skywalk Cable Car (For Sightseers & Sunset Diners)

The lower cable car station sits on the main road in Ovacık / Hisarönü (10 minutes by dolmuş from Fethiye or 5 minutes up from Ölüdeniz). Swiss-built eight-person gondola cabins glide up through cedar forests to the main terrace at 1,700 metres in 16 minutes. At the 1,700m station, a wooden boardwalk wraps around the cliff edge beside the 1,700 Grill & Wine Bar, a cliffside pond and the main paraglider launch runway. From 1,700m, your ticket includes riding an open chairlift (telesiyej) up to the 1,800m Burger House and walking or riding to the 1,969m Summit Restaurant, where on clear days you can see all the way to the Greek island of Rhodes.