50 hot air balloons to compete in Igualada between July 11 and 14

The city of Igualada, in inland Catalonia, will see 50 hot air balloons competing at the European Balloon Festival between July 11 and 14, coming from different countries such as England, France, Brazil, Monaco, Switzerland, Italy, Tunisia, and Morocco.

All these balloons and around 30 Catalan and Spanish pilots will compete during the four days of the event.

The European Balloon Festival will also be the stage of one of the latest worldwide innovations: the Near Spacecraft that will be ready to fly at 20,000 meters altitude. Commercial planes fly at 10,000 meters.

The capsule has been designed by the company Zero 2 Infinity and adapted by Ultramagic, a company from Igualada specialized in hot air balloons.

One of the other novelties in this year's event is the 'Les Nits de Llum' (nights of light), which will see many hot air balloons flying at night.

Organizers have also launched a contest to win one of the 150 free hot air balloon trips on their social media.

This will be the 28th European Balloon Festival edition and will see many flights scheduled between Thursday and Sunday in the morning, and between Thursday and Saturday in the afternoon. Friday morning, however, will be one of the most special days of the festival, as flights will take off from different parts of the city, rather than just the Parc Central park.