Croatia, a small country located in South East Europe, has become tourists favorite summer spot for its fun-filled festivities.
The event in the small town of Prelog, Croatia, is now visited by thousands of locals and people around the world who love to see the colorful spectacles in the sky.
This year marked the fourth edition of the hot air balloon event, cementing its status as a beloved late-summer tradition in Croatia.
In the northern Croatian town of Prelog, balloon crews from around the world gathered for a race that has become one of the country’s most distinctive annual events.
The fourth hot air balloon Championship 2025 was held between August 28 to August 31, 2025.
The event was formally organized by Croatia’s oldest Balloon Association, Balloon Club Zagreb.
Moreover, up to 20 competition teams were accepted, with several pilots listed including Helmut Pöttler (Austria), Bojan Kugler (Croatia), Viktor Palocz (Hungary), and others from Italy, Slovenia, and the Netherlands.
Furthermore, the colorful festival of buoyant balloons has become one of Croatia’s key late-summer attractions, drawing thousands of visitors to the airfield near the Hungarian border.
The aerial display of vibrant colorful aerostats in flights was a treat to eyes.
The event was a combination of competitive races, fiesta fights, concerts, and a rich social program made it both thrilling and festive.
Alongside modern competition, the vibrant event was also the first of its kind in the country, combining competition with displays of ballooning history, including a replica of the Montgolfier brothers’ first flight from the 18th century.
A hot air balloon is a type of aircraft that flies using heated air to lift off the ground.
Hot air balloon is lighter than aircraft, consists of a large fabric envelope (the balloon part), a burner system, and a basket or gondola that carries passengers or cargo.
The inflatable balloon is the first successful human-carrying flight technology. These hot air balloons are also known as "thermal airships", propelled through the air rather than simply drifting through the wind.
Hot Air Balloon was first invented by French brothers Joseph and Etienne Montgolfier, and was first publicly demonstrated on September 5, 1783, along with a duck, a rooster, and a sheep as passenger.
Moreover, the first untethered manned hot air balloon flight in the world was performed in Paris, France created by the Montgolfier brothers.
It was carried by Jean-Francois Pilatre de rozier and Francois Laurent d’Arlandes on November 21,1783.