The Best of Eastern Europe by Drone

From its beautiful mountains and rolling hills to its seaside towns and thunderous rivers the landscape of Eastern Europe is something to behold. Although there is no consensus on the precise area it covers, the area is mostly defined by socioeconomic and cultural connotations. Most definitions include formerly communist European countries just outside of the Soviet Union block. The area includes the unique architecture and towering monuments you see in this dynamic, 4K aerial video by EF.cinematography.

In this DVOW winning video, Tempostudio takes you on an aerial tour of the giant Eastern European country of Ukraine.  The video opens with some beautiful shots of a river coursing over the plains which dominate much of Ukraine, followed by a view of a gold-domed temple in the village Zhornivka in the Kiev Oblast.  Next, you'll head to the capital city of Kiev for some stunning views of the St. Sophia's Cathedral.  You'll see some great bird footage at the :52 mark, the Carpathian Mountains (1:15), rolling farmlands (2:15), and more. 

Top contributor Nathan Jermy put together this wonderful video record of his travels through the Baltic States of Eastern Europe: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, all of which became independent nations following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the early 1990's.  Shot with a DJI Mavic Air, the video opens with some beautiful shots of the Latvian capital city of Riga, one of Europe's best-preserved medieval cities.  Then it's on to Lithuania's Trokai island-castle, the Baltic Sea coast, and more. 

Take an aerial tour of Estonia with this beautiful piece by Eneko Garcia-Amezag, who spent 11 days traveling through this Baltic republic.  The video features footage of some of the top sights of the country, including  Estonia: the capital city of Tallinn, Paldiski, Haapsalu, Hiiumaa and Saaremaa Islands, Matsalu National Park, Pärnu, Soomaa National Park, Viljandi, Põltsamaa, Võrtsjärv lake, Otepää, Sangaste, Valga, Võru, Rõuge, Suur Munamägi, and more.

Top contributor Timelab.pro, used the DJI Inspire 2 drone and Zenmuse X7 camera to create this magnificent wintertime aerial tour of St. Petersburg, Russia's former capital city. The video features the following locations, in rough order of first appearance: the Winter Palace, Palace Square, the gold-domed St. Isaac's Cathedral, the Stock Exchange Building at the tip of Vasilevsky Island, Kazan Cathedral, the Bolshoy Obukhovsky Bridge, Lakhta Center (Europe's tallest building as of 2019), and more.

Belarus is a landlocked and generally flat country.  More than anything, what distinguishes its landscape it its forests.  About 40% of the land area of the country is forested.  During its long winters, these forests become true winter-wonderlands, on a par with the best forests of Scandinavia.  In this drone video by FFly.Belarus, you'll get a bird's eye views of the country's endless forests in the dead of winter.  It was filmed near Mogilev (the country's third largest city) in its east-central region.

For a first upload to the AirVuz community, contributor Ivars Utinans brings us this marvelous aerial tour of the Baltic Sea republic of Latvia. The video features footage of the following locations in this fascinating Eastern European country: the capital city of Riga, the largest city of the three Baltic republics; Sigulda, a town in the country's Videme region; Daugavpils, the country's second-largest city; Liepāja, the largest city of the Kurzeme Region; and more. This video was a Drone Video of the Week finalist in December, 2019.

This drone video reel by professional drone pilot BABAC will give you a brief look at the beautiful Baltic republic of Lithuania.  This is a flat land, heavily forested and with many rivers, lakes, and marshes, which has been fought over for centuries.  At various times in its long history, Lithuania has been part of Poland, Russia, Germany; for many years, it even had an empire of its own.  This video will give you a quick overview of this fascinating country, which sits at the crossroads between Central and Eastern Europe.

Contributor shulmanaerial created this amazing drone video of Lake Ladoga in northwestern Russia. The footage is shot from the northern part of the lake in the Republic of Karelia, which is part of the Russian Federation.  Covering 17.7k square km (around 6.7k square mi.), it's the largest lake located entirely within Europe.  In frozen form, the lake was the site of the famous "Road of Life" which was used to supply nearby Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) during its brutal hunger siege by Nazi Germany during World War II.

Content creator and pilot Rocannon created this amazing drone video recording a kitesurfing trip to the Black Sea in Russia's Crimean Peninsula.  The video does a beautiful job of intermixing shots of the spectacular natural scenery of the Crimean coastline with some epic footage of multiple (and clearly very adept) kitesurfers skimming the water of this vast inland sea.  It looks like the trip of a lifetime, and the video was picked as a Finalist for the Drone Video of the Week contest in June, 2019.

Top contributor vitality.karpovich brings us this DVOW nominated video of the old town of Tallinn, Estonia.  Located on the Gulf of Finland inlet of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn is one of the cultural gems of Eastern Europe.  The video features footage of the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, St. Olaf's Church, St. Mary's Cathedral (the Dome Church), St. Nicholas Church, and more. Founded in the 13th century, Tallinn was the northernmost member of the Hanseatic League, a powerful group of northern European port cities during the Middle Ages.  

Content creator and drone pilot SKYDRIVE created this amazing music video from Moldova, an Eastern European country which was once part of the principality of Moldavia.  The video features one of the country's top DJ's playing piano on the Moldavian Plateau, which lies to the east of the Carpathian Mountains.  Moldova was part of territory seized by the Soviet Union from Romania prior to World War II which then devolved into its own country when the Soviet Union subsequently split apart.

This 2017 AirVūz Video of the Year by contributor Timelab.pro showcases the beauty of Moscow, the great capital city of Russia. Shot with a Zenmuse X7 camera on a DJI Inspire 2 drone, the video captures "three Moscows": (1) the original core around the Kremlin complex and the adjacent St. Basil's Cathedral; (2) the Seven Sisters Stalinist-era skyscrapers, led by the Moscow State University building; and (3) the sleek skyscrapers of the new Moscow International Business Center, west of the city center.

Take a tour of some of the top sights of the landlocked East European country of Belarus in this fantastic drone video from VadimUshJa.  The first part of the video was shot in Nesvizh (Niasviž), a small city near the center of the country.  Here you'll get a great aerial view of the city's namesake castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site and one of the country's top cultural attractions. Then you'll head to Minsk, the country's capital city and the center of a metropolitan area of over 2.5 million.  

Berdyansk is a Ukrainian port the Sea of Azov, a large and extremely shallow body of water which is considered to be an extension of the Black Sea.  While not as large as the port of Odessa further to the west, Berdyansk is nevertheless an important shipping center in the southern Ukraine, which otherwise lacks access to the sea.  In this video, contributor and pilot Daniilsamoilenko uses a DJI Phantom 3 drone to do an epic selfie pull out shot revealing the red sand beach and the blue sea water behind it.  

Vilnius, Lituania is one of the great cultural treasures of Eastern Europe.  The city has flourished since Lithuania once again became an independent country in the 1990's following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.  In this video, contributor fake@fakeit.it used a combination of drone and ground camera footage to create an indelible impression of this great city and its people.  Watch it and you will get a marvelous overview of this city, which sits at an important geographical crossroads in the Baltic region. 

Kaunas is the second largest city in the Baltic Republic of Lithuania, after Vilnius.  Like Vilnius, it sits not on the Baltic Sea but in the interior of the country.   Kaunas was actually the capital of the country during the interwar period, when Vilnius was considered to be part of Poland.  Contributor ThePaulenzo used a DJI Phantom 4 drone to create an impressive aerial view of this well preserved medieval city at night.  Considered the country's cultural capital, Kaunas has a population of about 300,000.

Brand-new contributor Mikhail from Russia created this outstanding drone video from the great north Russian port city of Murmansk.   At the north end of the Kola Peninsula and 2 degrees above the Arctic Circle.  Situated in the far northwestern corner of the country on a river estuary of the Berents Sea, Murmansk is the world's northernmost city with a population of at least 250k.  The video features footage of the city itself (including the Alyosha Monument erected in the wake of World War II) as well as the surrounding countryside.  

When the Soviet Union dissolved in the early 1990's, its Baltic states were among the earliest beneficiaries.  All three had enjoyed a period of independence between the World Wars, and had longstanding cultural and economic ties to Germany and other countries on the Baltic Sea.  Latvia's capital city Riga perhaps best exemplifies this  economic progress.  Here is a beautiful aerial tour of this dynamic and well-preserved city, compliments of content creator Audrey Semjonov and his DJI Mavic Pro drone.

The Ukrainian capital Kiev is closely tied to the Dneiper River on which it sits.   Kiev sits roughly midway down the 2.2k km (1.36k mi.) river, Europe's fourth longest .  The Dneiper rises near Smolensk in western Russia and empties into the Black Sea to the south.  Along the way, it provides enough hydropower to generate about 10% of the Ukraine's electricity needs.  In this video, you'll get a nice bird's eye view of the mighty river in winter, compliments of contributor Anthony Esteban Gonsales.

Take an aerial tour of the Eastern European nation of Ukraine in this phenomenal reel by Tempostudios.  You will be carried along for bird's eye views of some of the most spectacular sights of this fascinating country.  Highlights include some amazing shots of the capital city Kiev and some of its great cultural and historical treasures such as St. Andrews Church and the massive Rodina Mat statue, as well as some aerials of the fabled Ukrainian countryside.  This film was a Drone Video of the Week nominee in March, 2019.

Take a four minute aerial tour of the Baltic republic of Lithuania in this beautiful piece by contributor and drone pilot escapeaway. Shot over the course of two months, the video features footage from some of the most well known spots in this country which sits at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe.  Featured locations include the country's two main cities of Vilnius and Kaunas, the Baltic Sea town of Palanga, the port city of Klaipeda at the mouth of the Akmena-Danė River, and the resort town of Nida.  

The great Carpathian Mountain range of Central and Eastern/Southeastern Europe faintly resembles top part of a "?" shape, beginning just east of Vienna (Austria), serving as the border between Poland and Slovakia, then "looping around" through the southwestern corner of Ukraine before heading south into Romania.  In this drone video by Tempostudio, you'll get a bird's eye view of Carpathian Ukraine, which features a landscape in vivid contrast to other parts of this vast East European country. 

Fresh from winning Drone Video of the Year in the first AirVuz Drone Video Awards for his epic video of his hometown Moscow, top contributor and drone pilot TimeLab.Pro chats with Tyler in this edition of the Drone Dish. With its vivid visuals, cinematic music arrangement, and breathtaking landmarks, it’s easy to see how “Moscow Aerial 5K” became an award-winner.  His video of St. Petersburg, "City of White Nights", since garnered a nomination in the Cities category for the second annual DVA Awards.