Northern Greece from the Sky

Experience the beauty of Northern Greece from above in this compilation video, which was created with footage from the "Northern Greece from the Sky" collection.   You'll be treated to bird's eye views of the famous rock monasteries of Meteora, the Pindus Mountains, the coastline of Epirus, and more.

Interested in sponsoring the Northern Greece collection?  As part of the sponsorship package, this compilation video will be re-branded with the sponsor's name, and will be available for use on the sponsor's website and social media pages.  

Top contributor and pilot GeorgeMarcu treats us to this epic aerial tour of the famous monasteries of Meteora in the Thessaly region of northern Greece.  The immense rock pillars of the region are home to six Greek Orthodox monasteries.  The most well known is the Monastery of the Holy Trinity.  This masterpiece "played the role" of St. Cyril's in the 13th James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only (1981), in which 007 (played by Roger Moore) scales a cliff and dispatches a henchman of Aristotle Kristatos.

Dragonfly flew a drone off of the highest peak in Greece to create this magnificent aerial video of this (literally) legendary region.  The Mytikas peak of the great mountain reaches an altitude of just over 2.9k meters (almost 9.6k ft.) above sea level.  It's part of the Olympus range in the northern part of the country.  Ancient Greeks believed that their gods lived atop the great mountain, and it figured prominently in stories of Greek mythology.  It's also considered important in the Eastern Orthodox religion.  

Top contributor Nomadik Footprints brings us this excellent drone video from a trio of well-known spots in Northern Greece.  The first stop is the famous monasteries of Meteora in Thessaly, built atop the area's distinctive looking rock pillars.  Next stop is Vikos Gorge, a canyon in the Pindus Mountains of the Epirus region which is one of the world's deepest.  The last spot is Mt. Olympus; Greece's highest mountain, it's located on the border between the regions of Thessaly and Macedonia and played an important role in Greek mythology.  

Epirus is the region which covers the northwestern corner of mainland Greece.  Like most of northern Greece, it's a mountainous area, covered by the Pindus Mountains, part of a larger system of mountains which runs down the spine of the Balkan Peninsula.  It's a relatively lightly populated part of Greece with only 350,000 inhabitants, the lowest of Greece's 13 official regions.  It is nevertheless a stunningly beautiful region, as you'll see in this amazing drone video by Vaggoulas.  

AirVuz contributor Paschalis Doumanis brings us this excellent drone video of Thessaloniki, Greece's second-largest city.  The video opens with a shot of the city's waterfront, and starting at the :13 mark there's a nice shot flying towards the  White Tower of Thessaloniki, perhaps its most famous landmark.  At :24, you'll see the Port of Thessaloniki, Greece's largest export seaport.  At 1:32, there's a great shot of Aristotelous Square, the city's largest public plaza, and at 1:51 you'll see the statue of Alexander the Great.  

In this video, contributor Icarus Aerial Filming gives us a spectacular bird's eye view of the area around Mt. Athos in northern Greece.  In addition to being home to some of the most important Eastern Orthodox monasteries, the fabled mountain (often referred to as the Holy Mountain) was the site of one of the great bits of luck enjoyed by the Greeks in the Antiquity - the foundering of a Persian fleet off the coast of Athos in 492 BC, which forestalled an imminent Persian naval invasion of the Greek mainland.   

Check out this beautiful aerial view of a valley in Northern Greece, compliments of contributor and drone pilot tcbart.  It's called the Valia Kalda, and it's mostly situated in the Pindus National Park.  The park covers the northeastern end of the Pindus Mountains, a range which runs through parts of Albania and the Epirus and West Macedonia regions of Greece.  The video includes footage of the Aoös River (which drains the mountains), the village of Vovousa in Epirus, and the Flega Lakes.

Metsovo is a town in the Pirus region of north-central Greece.  Rich in history, the town has immense visual appeal, especially from an aerial perspective, with the deep red roofs of the buildings standing in brilliant contrast to the Pindus Mountains in the background.  Contributor Dimi Maran used a DJI drone to give us a spectacular bird's eye view of this cultural and natural treasure, which is the most important home to the Aromanian ethnic group and is one of the most visited sites in northern Greece.

Take a look at this beautiful drone video from a well-known beach in northern Greece, compliments of contributor and pilot dorubrad.  It's called Elani Beach, and it is part of a region called Kassandra.  Kassandra is one of three peninsulas which extend like fingers south of the larger peninsula of Chalkidiki, itself a larger peninsula at the base of which lies the great port city of Thessaloniki.  Kassandra is the westernmost of the three sub-peninsulas, and is part of the region of Central Macedonia.  

Check out this excellent drone video of a historic town on Greece's western coast, compliments of Silvadesignco.  Parga is town located on the Adriatic Sea coastline in Preveza, a region within the larger region of Epirus, which covers the country's northwestern corner.  The video features some excellent footage of the city's top sight - the hilltop Parga Castle.  Originally dating to the 11th century, it played an important role in the centuries strong struggle between the Venetians and the Ottomans for control of the Mediterranean.  

Contributor and drone pilot Mariya Zlateva created this beautiful video collage of a series of beaches in Northern Greece during the last days of summer.  The areas all lie on the peninsula of Sithonia, which is the middle of three peninsulas which extend south from the larger peninsula of Chalkidiki in the region of Central Macedonia.  The specific spots featured in the video are Vourvourou, Porto Koufo, Orange and Kalamitsi.  The aerial footage was filmed with a DJI Phantom 4 Advanced drone.  

Check out this stunning drone video of a winter scene from Northern Greece from content creator and pilot MavicProGr.  Pentalofos is a town in the mountains of West Macedonia, the region which covers much of north-central Greece.  It's in the Voio Mountains, one of several mountain chains which cover much of Northern Greece.  The highest peaks in this particular range are about 1.8k meters, or around 5.9k ft. above sea level.  As you will see from the video, it's an absolutely stunning area.

Check out this drone video of a beautiful beach area in Northern Greece, compliments of contributor Ivanfly.  It's called Sithonia and it's the middle of three peninsulas which extend southwards like fingers from a larger peninsula called Chalkidiki.  The entire area is part of the region of Central Macedonia.  With a fine natural harbor, a mountain at the center of the peninsula, and some of Greece's finest rocky and secluded beaches, Sithonia has become a popular tourist spot.

Here's an amazing drone video of a snow-covered area around a lake in Northern Greece, compliments of contributor AirGeorge.  The lake is called Aoos Springs Lake, and it's near the town of Metsovo in the Epirus region.  Epirus is the northwesternmost of the 13 top-level administrative units which make up the country.  The lake, like much of Epirus, is covered by the Pindus Mountains.  As you'll see in the video, the lake has many islands, and presents a stunningly beautiful winter scene.  

Content creator and drone pilot Icarus Aerial Filming created this stunning bird's eye view of the Simonos Petra Monastery, one of the great cultural treasures of Greece.  The monastery is on the Holy Mountain of Athos on a peninsula of Thrace in northeastern Greece.  The mountain is considered one of the most important places in the Eastern Orthodox religion, and Mt. Athos is technically a monastic state within the state of Greece, a status which has some similarities with that of the Vatican.  

In this video, contributor and drone pilot Badios takes his "Greece Has Soul" aerial film series to Vikos Gorge, a famous canyon in the Pindus Mountains of northern Greece's Epirus region.  He uses a drone to film Katerina Soldatou twirling on a tightrope over the great chasm, which has a maximum depth of about 500 meters (over 1.5k ft.).  While the claim is not universally accepted, Vikos is considered by some to be the "steepest" gorge in the world as measured by the ratio of its depth to its width.  

Contributor and pilot Kyriakos - AnotherView created this drone video of a shipwreck in an area of Northern Greece.  Epanomi is a town on the Bay of Thessaloniki (an inlet of the Aegean Sea) in the region of Central Macedonia.  Located about a half hour drive from the great port city of Thessaloniki, it's one of the oldest cities in Macedonia.  Thessaloniki is the country's biggest seaport.  Given the historically heavy ship traffic on the narrow approaches to the port, it's not surprising that shipwrecks have occurred here.  

Halkidiki is a peninsula in Northern Greece - actually it's a set of three smaller peninsulas that jut out like a bear claw from a larger peninsula, at the base of which sits the great port city of Thessaloniki.  While the beaches of Halkidiki are not as well known as those of the Aegean Islands and other points further south, they are nevertheless some of the finest beaches in the Mediterranean region.  You can check out this stunningly beautiful area from a bird's eye perspective in this drone video by albodrone.  

The famous stone pillars of Meteora, Greece are the backdrop for this amazing drone video of an extreme aerial dance routine.  Contributor and drone pilot Badios filmed Katerina Soldatou 250 meters (over 800 ft) in the air in this magical area of northern Greece, where a half dozen of the original monasteries which were built here survive.  It's an example of the kind of footage that was simply impossible to obtain prior to the advent of drones, which are creating new avenues for artistic expression like this one.

Here's a great drone video from the region of Epirus in Northern Greece, compliments of Shaolin Trekking.  The video opens with shots from the Zagori region in the Pindus Mountains, followed by the Balta di Stringa waterfall.  Then it's on to Vikos Gorge, the world's deepest canyon relative to its width, followed by Voidomatis Springs.  Next up is Aoos Lake, followed by the natural pools of Avires, Acherontas Springs near Souli, and Loutsa-Vrachos Beach.  The video ends with shots of Lefkada, an Ionian island just to the southwest.

For a first upload to AirVuz, brand-new contributor and pilot vgs_films brings us this excellent drone video from a town in Northern Greece.  Papingo (also known as Papigo) is located in the Ioannina Regional Unit, which is part of the historical region of Epirus.  The town sits near the foot of Mt. Tymfi, part of the Pindus Mountains, close to the northern end of Vikos Gorge (Europe's largest canyon).  The highest peak of Mt. Tymfi sits at an elevation of 8.2k ft. above sea level (around 2.5k m).  

AirVuz contributor and pilot DimiMaran brings us this excellent drone video from a well-known mountain peak in Greece.  It's called Astráka, and it's part of the Mt. Tymfi in the Pindus Mountains.  Most of Tymfi (apart from Astraka) is part of the 126 square km (just under 50 square mi.) Vikos–Aoös National Park in Epirus, the northwesternmost region of Greece.  Astraka is the westernmost of the roughly dozen more prominent peaks of Tymfi; its summit elevation is just over 2.4k meters above sea level (just under 8k ft.).  

Content creator and pilot AgkistroAction used a drone to create this marvelous video of Lake Kerkini, an artificial lake in northern Greece.  The lake was created as a reservoir in the early 1930's on land which had previously been marshland.  The lake is about 17 km (11 mi) across at its widest point, making it one of the largest lakes in Greece.  Lake Kerkini is known primarily for its spectacular bird life, which results in part from its location relative to migration paths across southeastern Europe.  

Contributor AgkistroAction created this beautiful winter scene of a town in northern Greece.  Sintiki is a municipality in the Serres region of Central Macedonia.  Central Macedonia is a large region which covers much of northeastern Greece; it extends from the Bulgarian border to the Aegean Sea.  With a population of almost 2 million, it's the second most populous region in the country after Attica.  It covers a large portion of the historical region known as Macedonia, the home of Alexander the Great.  

Sarti is a resort town and beach destination in the region of Sithonia, the middle of the three finger-like peninsulas which point south from the region south of Thessaloniki known as Chalkdiki.  Like the other destinations within the region, Sarti is known for the secluded beaches created by the rocky and hilly coastline of the peninsula.  In this video by flynice, created using a combination of drone and ground camera footage, you'll get some great views of Sarti's beaches as well as the hills above the town.  

For a first upload to AirVuz, brand-new contributor giannis_bek1 brings us this excellent drone video from the mountains of Northern Greece.  The area filmed is called Dragon Lake (Drakolimni), which is actually a series of lake on the slopes of Mt. Tymfi in the region of Epirus, near the northwestern corner of the country.  With a maximum elevation of about 2.5k meters above sea level (8.2k ft.), Tymfi is part of the Pindus Mountains, a range which is sometimes called the "spine" of Greece and which in turn is part of the Dinaric Alps.

Contributor orybarfly created this beautiful drone video of the waterfront of Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city and the capital of the Macedonia region.  The video includes some great footage of some of the city's most well known landmarks such as the  White Tower of Thessaloniki and the Alexander the Great Monument.  It also includes shots of the so-called New Waterfront, an area south of the White Tower which underwent a massive redevelopment over the past few years.

Check out this drone video of a stunning beach area in northern Greece, compliments of contributor Dp.Pictures.  Chaklidiki is a peninsula into the Aegean Sea in the Central Macedonia region of the country.  The peninsula resembles a hand on a map, with the "wrist" being the city of Thessaloniki and the "fingers" being the sub-peninsulas of Kassandra, Sithonia, and Athos.  With some of the best-known cultural spots in the country, Chalkdiki has also become known for its stunning beaches.  

Icarus Aerial Filming created this captivating drone's eye view of Volos, an important Greek seaport.  The city is situated in the Thessaly region, in the center of the eastern coast of the Greek mainland.  While the area has been inhabited for millennia and mentioned in numerous ancient texts, the modern port is of comparatively recent vintage - it was constructed in the late 19th century.  The video provides a nicely captioned view of some of the different vessels which are loading and unloading their cargoes at the port facilities.  

Amongst the many cultural treasures of Northern Greece is the town of Didymoteicho.  Seen here in this drone video by content creator Kostas Gur, the town is situated in the far northeastern part of the country, in the Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Region.  It lies in a strategic position, in effect controlling one of the approaches through the mountains into the great Thracian Plain, one of the most important food-growing areas in Southeastern Europe.    The video was shot as the area was blanketed in snow.  

Given the importance of Greece's Mt. Olympus to the Eastern Orthodox religion, it's perhaps not surprising that there are multiple religious sites on Greece's tallest mountain.  In this drone video by contributor and pilot MIAPVIDEOS, you'll get an aerial view of one of them - the Chapel of the Prophet Elias.  The church sits at an altitude of 2.8k meters (about 9.2k ft.) above seal level, about 120 meters (a bit over 500 ft.) below the summit.  The chapel was founded by Saint Dionysius in the 16th century.  

New AirVuz contributor vgs_films brings us this excellent drone video of Drenia Islands in Northern Greece.  The chain of six small islands lies just off the Athos Peninsula, the easternmost of the three "fingers" of the Chalkdiki Peninsula, which extends into the northern Aegean Sea south of the city of Thessaloniki.  The islands are uninhabited by permanent residents.  Shot at sunset, the video features footage of Mt. Athos, home to 20 holy monasteries which play an important role in the Eastern Orthodox religion.  

AirVuz contributor MIAPVIDEOS picked an amazing place to propose to his girlfriend: Greece's Mt. Olympus!  Being an avid drone pilot, he (of course) managed to record the great event as an aerial video.  Hiking with his party high into the peaks of Greece's highest mountain, he pops the question at about the :55 mark.   Receiving (we gather) the hoped-for response, the party gathers to celebrate with an epic dronie shot from the Chapel of the Prophet Elias, a 16th century church which lies about 120 meters (around 500 ft.) below the summit.

While you may have seen drone videos of the famous "pillar" top monasteries of Meteora in Northern Greece, you've probably never seen them from the unique perspective of a first person view (FPV) racing drone.  Until now.  Talented content creator and FPV pilot EngineerFpv managed to take on these geological (and cultural) wonders with his FPV quad, giving us a unique perspective of this UNESCO World Heritage site at the edge of the Pindus Mountains in the region of Thessaly.  The monasteries date to the 13th-14th centuries.  

Greece's Ionnina is one of the regional units of Epirus, the official region which covers most of the northwestern part of the country.  In this aerial video by contributor and drone pilot Skyeye_Aerials, you'll get bird's-eye views of some of region's most well-known sights, namely: Vikos Gorge, one of the deepest canyons in Europe, which is situated in the Pindus Mountains; the village of Papingo; ths island of Ioannina in Lake Pamvotida, the largest lake in Epirus; and the region's capital city, also called Ionnina.  

Check out this drone video of a well-known castle in Northern Greece, compliments of contributor ActionGreece.  It's called the Castle of Arta, and it's located in its namesake town in the Epirus region, which covers the northwestern part of the country.  Built in the 13th century, the castle played an important role in the political struggles of the region during the Middle Ages, which involved a series of oftentimes bloody conflicts between Byzantine, Ottoman, Serbian, and Venetian interests.   

Explore the mountainous area of Epirus in northwestern Greece in this excellent piece by contributor JKDroner.  The video was filmed in and around the municipality of Zagorochoria, which is located in the Pindus Mountains.  The video features footage from the following spots, in order of appearance: the Woman of Pindus Monument, Dilofo, Kokkori Bridge, the Vradeto Steps, the village of Tsepelovo, the village of Kopoi, Plakida Bridge, Papigko village, the pools of Kolymbithres, Arisi Bridge, Aristi, Vikos Gorge, Vitsa, and Monodendri.  

Greece's Lake Polyfytos is an artificial reservoir on the Haliacmon River, the country's longest waterway.  The lake was created in the 1970's, as was a bridge to cross it - one of the longest in Greece at 1.37k meters or around 4.5k ft.  The bridge connects the towns of Servia and Kozani, two of the main towns in the Kozani regional unit of West Macedonia, which became separated with the creation of the lake.  In this drone video by gkoutanoudisg, you'll get an aerial tour of the area, including the lake, the bridge, and the town of Servia.  

Mt. Pelion is a well-known peak in Central Greece.  It's maximum elevation is 1.6k meters above sea level (around 5.3k ft.).  The mountain is situated in the southeastern portion of the Thessaly region, which extends into the region of northern Greece.  The mountain occupies a significant position in Greek mythology, and is said to be the home of the Centaur.  Contributor and drone pilot Icarus Aerial Filming created this stunning aerial video of the mountain, which is in an area which was much slower to develop than other parts of Greece.  

Check out this drone video of a well known dam in Greece, compliments of content creator and pilot gkoutanoudisg.  It's called Plastiras Dam, and it impounds the Megdova River in the southern part of the region of Thessaly.  Completed in 1960, the concrete arch dam was undertaken primarily to control the frequent flooding to which the area was prone.  It created Lake Plastiras as a reservoir, which covers around 24 square km or around 9 square mi.  The dam also has about 130MW of hydroelectric generation capacity.  

This beautiful drone video by AirVuz contributor Riccardo was filmed in the Chalkidiki region of Northern Greece.  Also known as Halkidiki, the area consists of three "finger" like peninsulas ( Kassandra, Sithonia, and Mount Athos) extending into the northern Aegean Sea just south of Thessaloniki (Greece's second-largest city) in the region of Macedonia.  The three peninsulas are separated by the Toronean Gulf and the Singitic Gulf.  Chalkidiki has become one of the top beach destinations in the northern part of the country.  

Preveza is a city in the Epirus region of northwestern Greece.  Seen in this drone video by AirVuz contributor a1r_m0ses_b, the city lies at the tip of one of the peninsulas which form the entrance to the Ambracian Gulf, an inlet of the Ionian Sea.  The city connects by tunnel to Aktio, which lies on the southern side of the gulf's entrance.  Aktio was the site of the famous Battle of Actium in 31 BC, in which the naval fleet of the Roman Emperor Octavian (Caesar Augustus) defeated the fleets of Mark Antony and Cleopatra.  

Cape Drepano is a promontory off the northern coast of the larger Peloponnese Peninsula in southern Greece.  Situated on the south side of the Gulf of Corinth, the body of water which separates the Peloponese from the mainland.  With its semi-protected waters, the cape and its environs offer some of the best windsurfing in the Mediterranean region.  In this first person view (FPV) video, you'll get a perspective of Cape Drepano from a racing drone piloted by AirVuz contributor and FPV pilot MothFPV.

Take in some spectacular aerial view of Greece's Pindus Mountains in this fantastic first person view (FPV) drone video by AirVuz contributor and FPV pilot Too_close_to_the_sun.  The Pindus run on a roughly north-south course about 100 mi. long (around 160 km), extending into southern Albania.  They are part of the Dinaric Alps, a chain of mountain ranges which runs down the western side of the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe.  The highest peak in the Pindus is about 8.7k ft. above sea level or around 2.6k m.  

Plastira is a major artificial reservoir lake in Central Greece.  Created by a dam on the Tavropos River, it's located in the Thessaly region north of Athens.  Designed primarily for flood control and hydroelectricity generation, the reservoir also provides drinking water to the nearby city of Karditsa.  The dam was inaugurated in 1960 following a multi-year construction and reservoir-filling period.   Seen here in this wintertime drone video by DimiMaran, the lake has become a significant tourist attraction.  

Top AirVuz contributor Icarus Aerial Filming brings us this excellent drone video of a luxury cruise ship entering the port of Volos, Greece.  The ship, really a luxury yacht, is the Emerald Azzurra, which is operated by the Swiss company Emerald Cruises.  It measures 360 ft. long (110 m) and can accommodate up to 100 passengers in its 50 cabins, in addition to a crew complement of about 75.  Volos is a port city in the region of Thessaly along the Aegean Sea, roughly between Athens (to its south) and Thessaloniki to its north.  

As seen on a map, the Greek region of Chalkidiki resembles a three fingered hand where the "palm" is an oval shaped peninsula south of the city of Thessaloniki and the "fingers" are three narrow peninsulas pointing to the southeast.  The bays between these peninsulas have semi-protected and numerous small islands, which makes for a sort of stand-up paddleboard heaven.  You can check out this fantastic SUP scene from above in this awesome drone video by top contributor and drone pilot Uncle Damn. 

In this drone video by AirVuz contributor John Kokotinis, you'll get an aerial tour of the city of Kavala in nothern Greece.  Kavala is located in the eastern Macedonia region, about a 90 minute drive northeast of the larger city of Thessaloniki.  Founded in the 7th century BC (and initially known as Neapolis), Kavala became a prominent trading center due to its strategic location along the northern Aegean Sea.  It later played an important role in the struggle for control of the Balkans in the early 20th century.  

Top contributor Icarus Aerial Filming has carved out a niche by filming fast-moving aquatic action sports.  In this piece, you'll fly over the Jet Ski World Championship races held in Volos, Greece in the Spring of 2022.  Volos is a port city on the Pagasetic Gulf (an inlet of the Aegean Sea) in northeastern Greece. THe city is part of the Magnesia administrative unit of modern Greece and the historical region of Thessaly.   The relatively calm waters here make it an ideal spot for sports like jet skiing and kiteboarding.  

Explore the great city of Thessaloniki, Greece in this excellent drone video by AirVuz contributor John Kokotinis.  The video opens with shots from the city's waterfront, including the Aristotelous Square starting at about the :25 mark and the White Tower of Thessaloniki at around the :53 mark.  Starting at about the 1:09 mark, you'll see the Heptapyrgion, a fortress which originally dates to the Byzantine period but which underwent significant renovation and expansion during the later Ottoman period of control of the city.  

AirVuz content creator and pilot Pashalis Doumanis brings us this outstanding drone video of the great city of Thessaloniki, Greece. The capital of the Macedonia province, it's the second-largest Greek city after Athens.  Home to the largest port on the Aegean Sea, Thessaloniki has a rich history: among other distinctions, it was the birthplace of Alexander the Great, and the second largest city in the Byzantine Empire after Constantinople (now Istanbul).  Today, it is sometimes considered the cultural capital of Greece.  

Contributor and pilot virkitout used a DJI Mavic Air to create this marvelous aerial video of Meteora and its famous monasteries in Northern Greece.  The distinctive pillar rock formations, unlike almost any in the world, became the site of numerous Greek Orthodox monasteries beginning around 1000 AD.  The half dozen monasteries which remain form the second-most important Orthodox religious site after Mt. Athos.  Meteora is located near the town of Kalabaka in the Thessaly region of Northern Greece.  

The rock formations of Meteora in the Thessaly region of Greece are topped by a series of six Eastern Orthodox monasteries, the remainder of two dozen which once stood here.  It's considered the second-most important site in the Greek Orthodox Church, after Mt. Athos.  Seen in this excellent drone video by Movematic, the monasteries stand majestically atop their rock platforms overlooking the town below.  The entire site was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988 due to its cultural significance.