Around 30 ballooning teams from six European countries will fill the skies above Portugal's Alentejo from November 7 to 12, as the International Hot-Air Balloon Festival (FIBAQ) returns for its 29th edition.
Run by Publibalão with the Alentejo sem Fronteiras ballooning club, the festival rotates through a string of small towns in Portalegre district: Ponte de Sor, Montargil, Benavila (Avis), Monforte, Fronteira and Alter do Chão. Crews come from Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium and Switzerland.
Flights happen twice daily, at 7am and 2.30pm, always weather permitting. This being Alentejo in November, expect crisp autumn mornings, golden plains and cork oak silhouettes below — conditions that have made the region a ballooning favourite since the festival launched in 1997.
If you'd rather keep your feet on the ground, the programme still delivers. Two "Night Glow" shows synchronise burner flames to music: the first on November 7 at 7.30pm in Ponte de Sor, the second on November 11 at 7pm in Fronteira. Both are free to watch and genuinely photogenic after dark.
Want to fly? Public flights are sold via charity wristbands — €99 per person on weekends, €75 on weekdays — with proceeds going to local charities, associations and the towns' volunteer fire brigades.
This edition carries some emotional weight. Organisers describe it as the end of a chapter before the festival's 30th anniversary in 2027, when they plan to deepen ties with local municipalities and push the Alentejo as an international event destination. The festival's legacy is real: it helped spark Portugal's first hot-air balloon pilot school, opened in Fronteira in 2012.
For travellers, FIBAQ is a low-cost, high-atmosphere reason to visit one of Portugal's least crowded regions in shoulder season. Alentejo towns like Alter do Chão and Monforte pair the festival with quiet streets, hearty food and some of the country's best value accommodation. Combine a morning flight with an afternoon of wine tasting or a visit to nearby Evora, and you have a very solid autumn break.
