Drone Videos of Northern France

Award-winning aerial cinematographer Timelab.pro brings us this magnificent drone video from Paris, believed to be the last drone shots of the French capital sanctioned by the authorities since 2020.  The video opens with a brilliant shot looking northwest towards the Eiffel Tower, with the Seine River beyond.  At the :28 mark, you'll see the Arc de Triomphe, at the western end of the Champs-Élysées.  At around :55, you'll see the modern skyscrapers of the La Défense district, just west of the central city.  

While the novel (and deadly) coronavirus didn't initially hit France as hard as it did Italy and Spain, by the first part of April the country was in the top four in terms of total confirmed Covid-19 deaths.   In this drone video by Let's Fly Productions, you'll see several spots around Northern France under the nationwide quarantining measures: the industrial city of Lille; Tourcoing, on the Belgian border; Roubaix, part of the Lille Metropolitan Area; Valenciennes, southeast of Lille, and Dunkirk.

Former Drone Video of the Week Finalist New Entertainment Pictures brings us this outstanding drone video of the city of Strasbourg, France.  Part of the historical region of Alsace in the northeastern part of the country, Strasbourg is the important cities along the French/German border region, control of which has varied between the two countries over the centuries.  The "star" of the video is the Strasbourg Cathedral in the city's Old Town, the city's most recognizable landmark and one of Europe's greatest churches.   

Check out this excellent drone video of the great French city of Lille, compliments of top contributor eCKsplorer.  One of the dozen largest cities of France, and the center of its fourth-largest urban agglomeration, Lille is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region that covers the country's northern "triangle".  Part of the historical Belgian-French region of Flanders, Lille became an important textile manufacturing center during the Middle Ages, and by the end of the 19th century it became France's most industrialized city. 

The Aisne is one of the great rivers of Northern France.  It rises in the Argonne Forest and converges with the Oise, which in turn flows into the Seine.  It's part of a greater river system in the region which served to both feed and protect Paris from foreign invasion, permitting the city on the Seine to emerge as the nerve center of the modern nation-state of France.  In this drone video by power falcon, you'll get an aerial view of an upstream section of the Aisne around the town of Vailly-sur-Aisne in the Aisne Department.  

The Marne River is one of the main waterways of north-central France.  It rises on the Langres Plateau and flows in a generally westward direction to a confluence with the Seine River southeast of Paris, running a course of about 515 km (310 mi.).  It's one of a series of rivers which historically served to protect the French capital city from invasion, most famously so during the Battle of Marne in September, 1914.  In this drone video by power falcon, you'll get a bird's eye view of a meander in the river in the Champagne region.  

Content creator and pilot david dreyfus created this beautiful drone video of a spot in the Alsace region of northeastern France.  It's in the area around the town of Noirceux, which lies in the Vosges Mountains.  The mountains form a chain which runs roughly parallel to the Rhine River.  The Alsace region represents some of the most fought-over land in Europe - it was captured by Germany in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871 and recaptured by France in World War I - and also some of its most beautiful.  

Top contributor and pilot Amaury Descours created this beautiful drone video from an idyllic spot on France's North Atlantic coastline.  Authie Bay is created at the mouth of the river of the same name, which empties into the English Channel in the Somme department of the country's Hauts-de-France region.  As you'll see in the video, Authie Bay has become a giant seal sanctuary.  The bay is just a few km north of the Somme Bay, where the famous Knights of Normandy gathered for their invasion of England in 1066.  

Contributor and drone pilot Energy Butterfly used a DJI Mavic Air to create this mini-aerial tour of the Alsace region of east-central France.  Alsace is a historical region in which (by virtue of geography) French and German culture has been nearly thoroughly blended.  Together with its sister province of Lorraine, Alsace was captured by Germany in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1, then recaptured by France in World War I.  The towns featured in the video include Riquewihr, Eguisheim, and La Petite Pierre.

The French region of Alsace is an area of strong historical strategic importance due to its location on the west bank of the Rhine River, the main natural border between France and Germany.  Not surprisingly, it's home to a number of important castles.  One of these is the Château du Haut-Kœnigsbourg, a medieval castle in the commune of Orschwiller.  As seen in this drone video by kastore25, the castle was burned by Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War; it's now one of Alsace's top attractions.  

Contributor Toni Video created this beautiful drone video of a semi-ruined castle in northern France.  Château de La Roche-Guyon is situated in Val-d'Oise, one of the Departments which makes up the Île-de-France region that includes the national capital.  The chateau was built in the 13th century on the Seine River, in a strategic location relative to routes between Paris and Normandy.  During World War II, the town was used as bunker location by German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel.  

Check out this fantastic drone video of the fabled vineyards of the Champagne region of France, compliments of AirVuz contributor al_drone71.  Champagne is a historical region in the northern part of the country east of Paris corresponding roughly to four departments that are now part of the Grand Est region, which covers the northeastern corner of the country.  While the region has a winemaking tradition that goes back to the Middle Ages, its namesake beverage, a distinctive sparkling white wine, dates to roughly the 17th century.  

Check out these beautiful aerial landscape shots from Northern France, compliments of Power Falcon.  The footage was captured around Soupir and Berry-au-bac in the Aisne Department.  Aisne is the southeasternmost of the five departments of the Hauts-de-France region, which covers the northernmost "triangle" of France.  Lying in the heart of the great European Plain, the peaceful countryside belies a past which was anything but: historically, this was some of the most fought-over land in Europe.  

Phildrone brings us this marvelous aerial view of Chantilly Castle (Château de Chantilly), one of the most famous castles in France.  It's situated in the Oise district in the north central part of the country.  Originally built in the 16th century, it was destroyed during the French Revolution and rebuilt in its present form in the 19th century.  The castle appeared in the 16th James Bond film, A View to a Kill (1985).  The video also includes footage of the less well known Chateauneuf Villevieille in southern France.  

Check out these aerial views of the Plain of Alsace is northeastern France, compliments of AirVuz contributor and drone pilot Lucas_Ang.   The plain is the heart of Alsace, a historical region which lies between the Vosges Mountains to the west and the Rhine River (also the border with Germany) to the east.   Along with its sister region Lorraine (which lies to its west) Alsace was ceded to Germany following France's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1871 then retaken by France following Germany's defeat in World War I.  

This outstanding drone video will give you an aerial view of the site of the Battle of the Somme, one of the bloodiest of World War I and indeed in military history.  The battle was launched on July 1, 1916 with a massive Anglo-French assault on the German lines on either side of the Somme River in the Picardy region of Northern France.  British casualties alone on the first day totalled 60,000, including an astounding 20,000 men killed.  By the time the battle ended inconclusively in November, hundreds of thousands on both sides lay dead.

Château de Pierrefonds is a famous French castle.  It's located on the edge of the Forest of Compiègne, about 60 km (around 35 mi.) northeast of Paris.  Originally dating to the 12th century, it was rebuilt under the direction of the Duke of Orléans around the turn of the 15th century.  Nearly destroyed in the 1600's, the castle was extensively renovated in the 19th century.  Seen here in this drone video by Raphael Rabat, the castle has appeared in numerous movies and TV shows, including the BBC's Merlin series.  

For a first upload to AirVuz, new contributo BDurren67 brings us this fantastic wintertime drone video from the Vosges Mountains in Northern France.  The video was filmed over the Mt. Donon massif.  With a peak altitude of 3.3k ft. above sea level (just over 1k m), Mt. Donon is the highest mountain in the northern part of the range.  The Vosges is a chain of low-slung mountains in Alsace, close to the German border; the highest peak of the entire range (in the southern portion) is about 4.7k ft. above sea level or around 1.4k m.    

AirVuz contributor seaview.drone created this excellent drone video of the harbor of Dunkirk (Dunkerque), France.  Dunkirk is located on the English Channel near the northernmost tip of France, not far from the Belgian border.  Its harbor was the scene of one of the more consequential events of World War II: the great evacuation of over 300,000 Allied troops (including the bulk of the British Expeditionary Force) in late May and early June of 1940, as France was collapsing under the weight of an invasion by Nazi Germany.  

Get an aerial look at a well-known castle ruin in northern France with this drone video by power falcon.  It's the Château de Fère-en-Tardenois, and it's situated in the Aisne Department.  The current structure was the work of Anne de Montmorency, a close advisor to King Francis I.  Its most distinctive Renaissance elements were designed by the architect of Chenonceau Castle.  The castle, which is open to the public, is designated a National Monument under French preservation laws.  

Check out these amazing aerial views of France's Palace of Versailles, compliments of contributor Lumy.  It's located roughly 30 km from central Paris, in the Yvelines Department of Northern France.  Converted from a hunting lodge to a royal castle by King Louis XIV in the 17th century, Versailles was the principal residence of the French Royal Family for roughly a hundred years leading up to the French Revolution.  A UNESCO World Heritage site, the great palace is the second-most visited site in Greater Paris after the Louvre Museum.

Contributor power falcon created this drone video of an important site in Northern France commemorating two critical World War I battles that were fought along the banks of the Marne River.  The first battle occurred in September, 1914 when Allied forces stopped the great German advance in what turned out to be the conflict's single-most important battle.  The Second Battle of the Marne occurred on almost the same ground in the summer of 1918, when the French stopped a last-gasp German offensive and set up the war's final phase.

Brand-new contributor dronevosges brings us this highly cinematic first person view (FPV) drone video from France's Vosges Mountains.  The video was filmed over and around the Lake of Kruth (Lac de Kruth-Wildenstein), which lies in the department of Haut-Rhin in the northeastern part of the country.  The Vosges is a chain of low-slung mountains which run on a north-south axis and roughly parallel the course of the Rhine River to the east.  The mountains range as high as 1.4k meters above sea level or around 4.7k ft.    

For a first upload to AirVuz, brand-new contributor Benoit Dietrich brings us this excellent wintertime drone video from the Vosges Mountains in northeastern France.  The video was filmed over the town and lake of Gérardmer in the Vosges Department, which is part of the historical region of Lorraine.  This area is part of the Vosges Mountains, which run roughly parallel to the nearby German border.  The video was filmed with a gimbal-stabilized DJI Mavic drone as well as a first person view (FPV) quad.  

With the near-cessation of all air travel during the Covid-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020, the larger airports became mere shadows of themselves, and smaller airports turned to ghost towns.  Witness this drone video from Northern France by top AirVuz contributor Let's Fly Productions.  The airport filmed is Lille-Lesquin Airport, the main airport of the industrial city of Lille near the country's northern border.  One of the country's dozen busiest airports, it was completely shut down due to the novel coronavirus.  

Contributor power falcon created this drone video of a historic spot in Northern France.  It's a tower in the Forest of Retz which was constructed in the 1920's on the ruins of an earlier version that had played a key role in the climax of World War I.  The tower was erected on the orders of General Charles Mangin, who was called back to lead the French Tenth Army in the July, 2018 Allied counterstrike following the failure of the German spring offensives; the blow began a chain of victories which caused the German Army to collapse.   

For a first upload to AirVuz, brand-new contributor matbhr brings us this highly cinematic first person view (FPV) drone video from the mountains of Northern France.  The video was filmed over a chateau atop a summit of the Vosges Mountains in Alsace, a region of northeastern France which is close to the German border.  The video was filmed with a GoPro Hero 10 action camera mounted to a five inch quad, with the footage stabilized in post-production using Reelsteady.  This video was picked for the FPV Pilots to Watch list in June, 2023.  

The Church Saint-Vaast of Wambrechies is an important religious landmark in northern France.  It's located in the town of Wambrechies in Nord, the northernmost of the French departments.  The church was built in the mid-19th century as part of a renovation of the center of the city.  The church was damaged in the First World War and in the Second World War it had its distinctive arrow top removed due to its proximity to a German airfield.  Check it out from above in this drone video by Let's Fly Productions.  

Check out this beautiful aerial fall scene from a commune in Northern France, compliments of Des Ailes et des Images.  It's called La Roche-Guyon and it's situated in the Val-d'Oise Department, about 60 km (around 36 mi) west of Paris.  The town's landscape is dominated by the 12th century Château de La Roche-Guyon.  Featured prominently in the video, the castle served as the HQ of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel while he commanded German defenses following the Allied D-Day landing in June, 1944.  

The Opéra de Lille is a neo-classical opera house that was built from 1907 to 1913 in the northernmost major city of France. In 1903, the original Lille opera house was destroyed in a fire. It was a devastating experience for the French citizens of Lille; it had been designed by local and famed architect Michael Joseph Lequeux in 1785. Drone pilots and cinematographers Let’s Fly Production had the incredible opportunity to feature the current Opéra de Lille via drone in this stunning aerial video.

Burgundy is a historical region in east-central France.  It's now the western part of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, which includes four departments.   It's named for a tribe that moved westwards across the Rhine from Germany late in the life of the Roman Empire.  Named for a that is famous for its namesake wines as well as its pinot noirs, Chardonnay, Chablis, and Beaujolais. Check out some of the fabled Burgundy vineyards from a first person view (FPV) perspective, compliments of Pilot chlangy_fpv.

Explore the vistas of the Alsace region of France during the Fall with this fantastic first person view (FPV) drone video by matbhr.  The historical region of Alsace is located on the left bank of the Rhine River, in the northeastern corner of the country.  Alsace is largely covered by the Vosges Mountains, whose peaks run up to about 4.7k ft. above sea level (around 1.4k m).  The video was filmed with a GoPro Hero 10 action camera with post-production stabilization by ReelSteady.  This video was picked for the FPV Pilots to Watch list.  

AirVuz contributor and first person view (FPV) drone pilot BaptisteMourcou brings us this excellent FPV video of an important World War I monument in France: the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.  Located near the northern tip of the country, the monument is dedicated to the fallen soldiers of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), which was one of the most effective forces on the Allied side during the four years of bloody conflict from 1914-18.  Over 600,000 men served in the CEF, approximately 60,000 of whom did not return alive.

We droneu created this beautiful bird's eye view of an old sail-powered ship heading out of the harbor of Dunkirk (Dunkerque), France.  It's part of the Nord department, the northernmost in the country.  Dunkirk was the scene of one of the more consequential events of World War II.  In late May and early June of 1940, as France was collapsing under the weight of an invasion by Nazi Germany, over 300,000 Allied soldiers were evacuated from the Continent by a makeshift fleet of British ships and boats.  

Lille is the largest city in the Nord department of France, the province which occupies the country's northern "triangle" just south of the Belgian border.   Lille has a distinct culture which reflects the influence of the Flanders region of Belgium, which lies immediately to its north.  It is one of the most industrialized areas of France, and its occupation by Germany at the outset of World War I was a major blow to the country.  Morgo87 created this amazing drone video of the city, the fifth largest in France.  

Behold this magnificent aerial tour of Paris, France by former Drone Video of the Week Winner FrameworkFilms.  The "stars" of the video are three of the most recognized landmarks in the City of Light: the Eiffel Tower, the lattic tower contstucted in connection with the 1889 World's Fair; the I.M. Pei-designed Louvre Pyramid in the courtyard of what is probably the world's most famous museum; and the Sacré-Cœur Basilica atop Montmartre Hill, the city's second-most famous church after the Cathedral of Notre Dame.