Drone Videos of Crete

Here's a magnificent aerial tour of the Greek island of Crete, compliments of PureCreations.pl. The video features some amazing footage from along the coastline of the island, the Mediterranean's fifth largest. In addition to Crete's stunning beaches (including Balos Beach), the video features bird's eye views of some of the island's other hallmarks, such as its hilltop forts and shipwrecks. Other spots featured include the tiny island of Elafonisi, the capital city Heraklion, and more. This video won DVOW in July, 2019.

Crete is the largest of the Greek Islands, the fifth-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the 100 largest islands in the world.  The island is home to numerous ancient ruins and stunning white-sand beaches.  Contributor and pilot Mitch Pappas used his drone to create this brief but altogether memorable aerial tour of the island which has been occupied for several millennia.  Crete was the home of the Minoan Civilization, generally considered Europe's first indigenous proto-empire.

Explore the Greek island of Crete from the perspective of a first person view (FPV) drone in this amazing piece by top AirVuz content creator Jturner.  Featured locations include the city of Chania with its old Venetian port, which lies on the island's northwestern coast; Balos Beach, which lies on a peninsula west of Chania; the small town of Paleochora, on the southern coast; Gialiskari Beach; Loutro; Agia Roumeli; Knossos Palace; and Skinaria Beach near Plakias.  This was a Drone Video of the Week Finalist in September, 2021.  

Check out these amazing aerial views of the fabled Greek island of Crete, compliments of AirVuz contributor fakefaketv.  The video features footage from the following spots on the fifth-largest island of the Mediterranean by land area: the harbor city of Chania, on the island's northwestern coast; the lagoon and beach of Balos, a half-hour northwest of Chania; the island of Elafonisi, off Crete's southwestern coast; the mountain masif of Psiloritis; the southern coast village of  Matala; and the western mountain villages of Elos and Topolia.

The largest of the Greek islands, Crete is ancient, majestic, and mysterious. The most populated island in Greece and the fifth-largest in the Mediterranean by land area, it is known for its fine-sand beaches and white mountains like Mount Ida. According to Greek mythology, Mount Ida is the birthplace of Zeus, God of Thunder, while Heraklion, Crete’s capital, is home to the renowned Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Drone pilot Wilman gives us an aerial tour of the island he recently visited in this fabulous, 4K video.

This aerial film of Crete documents cinematographer Giorgos Dadanas’s journey to the island in August of 2018. Greece’s largest island is known for its terrain, archaeological sites and museum, and traditional architecture. The island, which is home to some of the oldest ruins in Europe, is the fifth-largest island in the Mediterranean after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and Corsica.  It is one of the most popular holiday destinations in Greece, with over 2 million tourists visiting per year.  

Former Drone Video of the Week Winner Jan Barančík - DronistaCZ
  brings us this fantastic drone video from the Greek island of Crete.  Shot with a DJI Mavic Pro 2, the video opens with a shot from the island's surrounding waters, followed by views from the mountains which cover much of Crete's interior.  At about the :43 mark, there's a great shot of the Venetian Fortress of Rethymno, on the island's northern coast.  At 1:05, there's a magnificent view of a kiteboarder off Elafonisi Beach, on Crete's western side.  

AirVuz contributor Pashalis Doumanis brings us this excellent drone video of the harbor town of Chania on the Greek island of Crete.  Located on the northwestern shore of the island, Chania is Cretes's second-largest city after Heraklion, which lies about 90 mi (around 145 km) to its east.  Chania was an independent city-state during much of the Antiquity.  During most of the Middle Ages, Chania was an important outpost of the Venetian Empire, and from the mid-17th century it spent over 200 years under Ottoman control.  

Contributor Grigorelis created this memorable drone video of a little-known Greek island called Spinalonga.  Located just a few meters/ft from the island of Crete, Spinalonga wasn't originally a separate island.  It was created by the Venetians, who controlled Crete for a time and "disconnected" Spinalong from the thin peninsula which had connected it to the Crete mainland, building a large fortress upon it.  In the 20th century, Spinalonga served as a leper colony, the last such instance to remain active in Europe.

Contributor Taleporos created this aerial view of a famous  Ottoman fortress on the Greek island of Crete.  Izzedin was built on Souda Bay in 1872, during the waning days of the Ottoman Empire.  It moved to prison use during Crete's brief period as an independent country in the early 20th century, and it continued to be used as a prison once Crete became part of Greece in 1908.  During the decades when the country was ruled by a series of military juntas, it became notorious as a detention center for political prisoners. 

Contributor Alexandros Ktistakis created this drone video of a beautiful village on the interior of the Greek island of Crete.  Dionisi is located in the administrative region of Heraklion, one of the four into which the island is divided.  The village is located in the southern third of the region, which is the second from the easternmost of the four.  The village lies within the Asterousia Mountains, a range which covers parts of southern Crete.  The range's highest peak is just over 1.2k meters (around 4k ft.).

Contributor and drone pilot Marco Miele created this beautiful aerial video of the island of Crete, the largest island of Greece and the third largest in the Mediterranean.  The video features footage of Kavros beach (a town on the northern side of the island), the city and port of Chania (an old Venetian port city, which lies on the island's northwestern coast), the natural lake of Kavros, and Rethymno (another Venetian city on the northern coast of the island).

Heraklion is the largest city on the Greek island of Crete, as well as the administrative capital of the region.  It is situated roughly in the middle of the island's northern coast.  With a population of just under 150,000, Heraklion is home to about one in four Cretans.  Famously, the city underwent a 20+ year siege by the Ottoman Empire in the late 17th century, which is believed to be the longest in history.  In this drone video, you'll get a bird's eye view of this ancient city on Greece's largest island.

The Greek island of Crete has a number of small islands surrounding it, which are part of the Crete administrative region.  One of these islands is called Elafonisi, which lies off the western tip of the main island.  The waters separating the two islands are extremely shallow such that it's often possible to walk between them.  The uninhabited Elafonisi was recently named as one of Europe's top beaches by Travel + Leisure.  You can check it out from above in this drone video by contributor Marco Miele.  

Take a tour of the ancient Greek island of Crete in this excellent travel piece.  The video, which combines drone and ground camera footage, hits some of the key spots in this Mediterranean land which lies to the south of the Greek mainland and is Greece's largest island.  The first stop is Balos, a famous beach on a peninsula in the northwestern corner of the island.  Then it's on to Elafonisi, a tiny island off the southwestern coast.  Finally, you'll see Phalasarna, a harbor town on Crete's western end.

Check out this beautiful drone video of a remote spot on the Greek island of Crete, compliments of contributor grigorelis.  The centerpiece of the video is an abandoned mountain village called Aradena.  It's located atop a gorge of the same name in the region of Skafia, which covers a portion of the southwestern part of the island.  While the village was abandoned in the 1950's, in the 1980's it was connected to the other side of the gorge by the Bailey Bridge, which you'll see clearly in the video. 

Contributor Dmitriy used a DJI Phantom 4 to create this marvelous aerial tour of Crete, Greece's largest island and the home of Europe's first true civilization.  The video features footage from across this island, which is situated below the mainland of Greece in the Aegean Sea.  The highlight of the video is probably the footage of the island of Spinalonga; located on the northeastern part of the Crete mainland, Spinalonga was the site of one of Europe's strongest forts and later served as a leper colony.  

Rethymno is the third-largest city on the Greek island of Crete, after Heraklion and Chania.  It's located on the northern coast of the island, between the two larger cities.  The city was built by the Minoan Civilization, considered the first "true" civilization in Europe.  With its fine natural harbor and a strategic position astride the main routes into the Aegean Sea, it became an important Venetian outpost and later an Ottoman position.  You can see ancient Rethymno from above in this drone video by Island Videography. 

The Out of the Blue Capsis Elite Resort is one of the most luxurious travel properties on the Greek island of Crete.  It's located on a private peninsula near the town of Agia Pelagia.  Agia Pelagia was an old fishing village which has become a popular tourist destination in Crete. It's less than a half-hour drive northwest of Heraklion, the island's largest city.  Contributor Tom Drones put together this beautiful aerial promotional video of the five star resort, which offers a range of lodging, dining, and recreation options.   

The brilliant colors of the Greek island of Crete are on full display in this excellent aerial mini-tour by nikybwd.  The video includes footage of a variety of locations, including (1) the Lasithi Plateau, an elevated area in the north central part of the island where over 10,000 cloth-bladed windmills popped up in the early 20th century to pump irrigation water; (2) the ancient port city of Rethynno, Crete's #3 city, which sits in the middle of its northern coast; and (3) the island of Spinalonga, in northeastern Crete.

Take an aerial tour of the Greek island of Crete with this excellent drone video by new contributor That Greek Guy.  Produced with a combination of drone and ground camera footage, the video will take you all over this ancient land, considered by many to be the birthplace of modern civilization in Europe.  Some of the highlights include the harbor town of Chania (on the island's northern shore), Rethymno (another port city on the northern coast), Balos Beach (in the island's northwestern corner), the tiny island of Elafonissi, and more.

If you have a hard time associating the word "snow" with "Greek island", you have to check out this amazing drone video by grigorelis.  The video captures a small church in the mountains of Greece's largest island. The mountaintops are unmistakably covered with snow, which stands in stark contrast to the blue waters of the Mediterranean below.  While snow is not uncommon on Crete's highest peak (Mt. Ida, which has a peak altitude of 2.45k meters or almost 8.1k ft.), it is quite rare at lower altitudes.  

Check out this fantastic first person view (FPV) drone video from the mountains of Crete, the largest Greek island and the fifth-largest in the Mediterranean Sea by land area, compliments of AirVuz contributor That Greek Guy.  The video was filmed over the White Mountains (Lefka Ori), which cover much of the western part of the island.  Named for the color of their peaks (off-white limestone during the warm months and snow during the winter), these mountains reach altitudes of up to just over 8k ft. above sea level (just under 2.5k m).  

Take in these stunning aerial views of the Greek island of Crete, compliments of AirVuz contributor and pilot phildrone.  The video opens with shots of a town perched on the island's coastline before heading into its mountainous interior.  Here's you'll be treated to some excellent views of the canyons and giant rock formations which dot the island.  The video continues to alternate between coastal and interior scenes, including some great shots of the tiny Elafonisi Island at the western tip of Crete.  

Top contributor Badios has used the art of aerial dancing to highlight some of Greece's most spectacular locations.  In this piece, he filmed dancer Katerina Soldatou performing her signature routine in two of the most iconic spots on the island of Crete.  The first has her suspended below the Aradena Bridge, a famous span which crosses a gorge in the southern Chania region.  At about the 6:45 mark, you'll see her performing  similar feat at the Koules Fortress (Castello a Mare) in the port of Heraklion, the island's capital city.

Check out this excellent first person view (FPV) drone video of an iconic-looking church on the Greek island of Crete, compliments of AirVuz contributor and FPV pilot OttocomaFPV.  It's called St. Nicholas Church (Agios Nikolaos), and it's located at the tip of a tiny peninsula in the village of Georgioupoli, a bit to the east of the port city of Chania on  Crete's northern coastline.  This video was picked by the AirVuz editorial staff for the FPV Pilots to Watch list in July of 2023.   

Check out this excellent drone video of the only freshwater lake on the Greek island of Crete, compliments of AirVuz contributor and pilot paschalis.  Lake Kournas lies on the western side of the island, near its namesake town and near the border between the Chania and Rethymno Regional Units.  In the Antiquity, the lake was known as Koresia in reference to the once-nearby ancient city of Korion.  The perimter of the lake measures about two miles (around 3.5km), and during much of the year it is possible to walk around it.  

Check out this magnificent pro drone reel from the Greek island of Crete, compliments of Mitato Films.  Watch it for some amazing views of the island's famously rocky shoreline, its secluded beaches, and massive offshore rock formations.  You will also get some great aerial views of the mountainous interior of the island, and at the 1:15 you'll see an amazing shot of one of these mountain peaks covered in snow.  The largest Greek island, Crete is located south of the mainland in the Aegean Sea.

Contributor and drone pilot dimitris.mitrolios created this marvelous promotional video for a company that does safari-type tours of the Greek island of Crete.  Situated south of the mainland, Crete is the largest Greek island and the fifth-largest island in the Mediterranean by land area.  It covers over 8,300 square km (around 3.2k square mi.).  Much of its population of roughly 600,000 is concentrated in a number of coastal cities, leaving many sparsely populated areas on the oblong-shaped island.  

Take in these fantastic views of the city of Chania on the Greek island of Crete, compliments of AirVuz contributor and pilot pasxos30.  Chania is the second-largest city on Greece's largest island after Heraklion.  Lying on the island's northern coast, it's the principal city of western Crete.  Part of the ancient Minoan Civilization, Chania bears the marks of the Venetian and Ottoman Empires, each of which controlled it for centuries.  The video features excellent footage of the city's waterfront, including its iconic lighthouse.  

Check out some of the Greek islands by FPV drone in this flight by pilot Tomz FPV. He’s our reigning Technical Freestyle FPV champion with our Drone Video Awards, so you know this flight has got to be good. He’s bringing us to the beautiful islands of Elafonisi and Crete. Elafonisi is close to the southwestern corner of Crete and is a protected nature reserve. Crete is Greece’s largest and is known for its varied terrain that ranges from fine-sand beaches (like those of Elafonisi) to peaks like Mount Ida. 

Chania is the second-largest city on the Greek island of Crete, and the largest in the northwestern part of the island.  Inhabited since neolithic times, the city was an important independent city-state during the Antiquity.  During the Medieval period, Chania spent nearly four centuries under the control of Venice, and the Venetian influence is clearly visible in the city's architecture.  Check out the ancient city and its harbor from above in this drone video by Esteban Castle.  

Contributor inva+sla used a combination of drone, ground camera, and underwater footage to create this marvelous mini-tour of the Greek island of Crete.  He uses some skillful editing techniques to show the beauty of this Mediterranean island, home of some of the region's best beaches and the birthplace of the first true European civilization.  Strap yourself in for a ride which will take you over the canyons, mountains, and beaches of this ancient land, and beneath the waters of its surrounding seas.