You run off an alpine ridge under a soft wing and ride thermals for hours, turning a mountain into your launchpad and the sky into open country.
This is the cradle: the first modern paraglider launched off the Pointe du Pertuiset in 1978, and the world's first club, Les Choucas, still flies the same ridges where the sport was born.
BirthplaceLiving sceneMeccaUnbroken lineageLaunch from 1,960m Babadağ over the turquoise Blue Lagoon: the densest tandem-and-pilot scene on Earth and host of the long-running Ölüdeniz Air Games.
Living sceneMeccaRecord holderAsia's flying capital and the site that hosted India's first Paragliding World Cup in 2015, where Himalayan thermals carry a fast-growing cohort across the Dhauladhar range.
Living sceneMeccaRecord holderFly between the Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau over Lakes Thun and Brienz: a year-round alpine scene where world-class instructors sharpen pilots in serious mountain air.
Living sceneVerified schoolsI'm Arnaud. I cook for a living, and I've spent fifteen years on the water — so I know the difference between a real school and a good-looking website. I built the Atlas because I got tired of the second kind. Here is what a place has to clear before it goes on here, and what I'll tell you straight when it doesn't.
If a place dodges these, that's your answer. It costs you nothing to ask, and it tells you everything.
This is the short version. The full method is here — the six questions, in order, for any craft anywhere.