Best Places to Paraglide in the World (2026)

Ten sites, chosen from OutDare's database of 13,900+ flying launches in 135 countries: Annecy (France) for the most all-round consistent flying on Earth, Bir Billing (India) and Pokhara (Nepal) for the Himalayas, Governador Valadares (Brazil) for cross-country distance, and Bassano (Italy) for the site pilots fly when everywhere else is frozen. Each entry below lists launch altitude, season and who it suits — not a claim that these are the only great sites, just the ones with the strongest pilot consensus.

The 10 best paragliding sites in the world at a glance

Site	Country	Level	Best season	Why it's special
Annecy – Planfait	France	All levels	Apr–Oct	The all-round world capital
Interlaken	Switzerland	All levels	May–Oct	Twin-lake tandem capital
Ölüdeniz (Babadağ)	Turkey	All levels	Apr–Nov	1,700 m straight into a lagoon
Pokhara (Sarangkot)	Nepal	All levels	Sep/Oct–May	Budget Himalayan classic
Bir Billing	India	Intermediate+	Oct–Nov, Mar–May	Himalayan XC pilgrimage
Governador Valadares	Brazil	Intermediate+	Aug–Mar	Brazil's XC capital
Bassano (Monte Grappa)	Italy	All levels	Sep–Apr	Winter's answer in Europe
Saint-Hilaire du Touvet	France	Intermediate+	Apr–Oct	Home of the Coupe Icare
Fonte da Telha	Portugal	All levels	Apr–Sep	Easiest coastal soaring in Europe
Pegalajar	Spain	Intermediate+	Year-round	Competition proving ground

France: the world capital, twice over

Annecy earns the "world capital" title from sheer consistency: the lake regulates the thermal cycle, the morning breeze is soft enough for a newly-rated pilot's first solo flights, and afternoon thermals off the Tournette massif give cross-country pilots real distance — all above turquoise water, with a landing field at Talloires big enough that nobody worries about traffic. See our full Alps roundup for how it stacks up against Chamonix and the rest of the range.

Saint-Hilaire du Touvet, above Grenoble, is the other French claimant: not the easiest site here, but the most culturally important one. Every September it hosts the Coupe Icare, the largest free-flight gathering on the planet, and its cliff-edge ramp launch has trained generations of French pilots.

Switzerland and Italy: postcard scenery, and the winter answer

Interlaken is the site most non-pilots have actually heard of — wedged between two lakes under the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau wall, it runs one of the densest concentrations of tandem operators anywhere, at a price that reflects the view (roughly €150–260 for a tandem flight).

Bassano del Grappa, on Italy's Monte Grappa, answers the question every European pilot asks from November to March: where can I still fly? Its south-facing 1,564 m launch catches sun while the main Alps sit frozen, drawing pilots from across the continent through the whole autumn-to-spring window — a Fly Card is required to fly it, and it's the one site on this list built specifically for winter. The wider Alps this cluster sits in are continuous enough that the Red Bull X-Alps adventure race crossed five countries — Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France and Italy — entirely on foot and by paraglider in 2025.

Turkey: the biggest tandem town on Earth

Ölüdeniz, under the 1,726 m summit of Babadağ, is where more first-time tandem passengers fly than almost anywhere else in the world. A cable car built specifically for pilots serves launches stacked at different altitudes, so something is usually flyable, and the descent — nearly two kilometres of vertical drop to a beach landing on a turquoise lagoon — is the single most photographed paragliding flight there is. Budget tandems here run $80–120, among the cheapest premium scenery on this list.

The Himalayas: Nepal and India

Pokhara is the budget entry point to Himalayan flying. Launching from Sarangkot at around 1,590 m and landing near Phewa Lake roughly 800 m below, pilots get 25–30 minutes over green foothills and traditional villages for some of the lowest tandem prices anywhere ($60–120). The main season runs September/October through May, avoiding the June–August monsoon.

Bir Billing, launching from around 2,400 m in Himachal Pradesh, is serious mountain flying rather than a tandem sightseeing flight: big thermals, long ridge lines and a pilgrimage status among cross-country and acro pilots that has made it a regular international-competition venue. Snow peaks on one side, the Kangra valley on the other — experienced pilots only, flying with local guidance.

Brazil: the cross-country capital

Governador Valadares, launching from Pico do Ibituruna at 1,070 m in Minas Gerais, is where distance records get set. The mountain fires strong, well-organised thermals over open flatland below, and on the best days of the August–March season pilots ride them for hundreds of kilometres. It has grown a genuine flying culture around it — infrastructure, community and a season that pulls cross-country pilots from across the globe. For the rest of Brazil's coastline and flatlands, see our Brazil sites roundup.

Portugal and Spain: Europe's easiest soaring, and its proving ground

Fonte da Telha, half an hour from Lisbon, is the gentlest site on this list. A long sand-cliff on the Costa da Caparica catches the Atlantic "Nortada" sea breeze and turns on steady ridge lift for hours — no thermals to manage, just a west-facing dune and the ocean, which is why it's been the first coastal-soaring site for generations of Portuguese pilots.

Pegalajar, in Spain's Jaén province, is where the sport's top pilots test themselves: it's hosting the 2026 Paragliding World Cup Superfinal, a launch that works across a wide range of wind directions and rewards precise flying over a forgiving one. Not a first-trip destination, but worth knowing if competitive cross-country flying interests you.

How to pick, if you're planning a trip

Match the site to your rating, not the photos. A newly-rated pilot belongs at Annecy or Fonte da Telha, not Bir Billing or Governador Valadares — the difference between those pairs is the difference between a forgiving lakeside sled and a serious mountain thermal that has produced distance records. Wherever you go, fly your first day at a new site with a local school or club: local knowledge about launch quirks, landing hazards and airspace limits doesn't show up in a travel blog, and every site on this list has rules that change with the season.

The gap most traveling pilots hit is that this local knowledge is scattered across forums in languages they don't read, for sites they've never flown. OutDare's free site database covers 13,900+ launches in 135 countries and territories — including every site on this list — with wind directions, altitude and access notes in one place, so landing somewhere new doesn't mean flying blind on your first flight. It's free, with no subscription, on iOS, Android and the web.

If cost is what's holding you back from your first trip, our paragliding cost guide breaks down tandem and course prices by region. And if you're hunting for something closer to home first, paragliding near me covers how to find a local site and school before you book a flight halfway round the world.

When in doubt about conditions at any unfamiliar site, don't launch — the mountain, the lake or the lagoon will still be there tomorrow.