The Best Drone Videos of Turkey

Istanbul is a major hub in Turkey, originally because of its location - straddling Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus Strait. The modern, massive skyscrapers belie the ancient history this city carries with it. From Egyptian obelisks, to the Roman-era Hippodrome, and iconic Byzantine structures like Hagia Sophia, its history is broad. One such historic site is the Yedikule Fortress, built right after the fall on Constantinople, that can be seen in this incredible, DVOW nominated video.

You can see three of the great landmarks of Istanbul, Turkey in this awesome drone video by iskenderfilm. First up is Beyazıt Tower, an Ottoman era watchtower in the Fatih District, sitting atop the city's so-called Third Hill. Next stop is Galata Tower, a medieval stone tower which is located at one of the city's most scenic spots, where the Golden Horn inlet joins to the Bosphorus. The third spot featured is the 16th century Süleymaniye Mosque, which also sits on the Third Hill. This video won DVOW in August, 2019.

Top contributor Fabio Knoll was nominated as a finalist for the first annual Drone Video Awards for this magnificent piece from Turkey.  The video opens with some magnificent aerial footage of Istanbul, including the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (aka the Blue Mosque), the Golden Horn, Galata Tower, Rumeli Fortress, the Bosphorus bridges, and other sights from Turkey's largest city.  Most of the latter part of the video was filmed around the famous "fairy tale" chimneys of the Cappadocia area in the central part of the country.    

Prepare to be blown away by this whirwind aerial tour of the great nation of Turkey, compliments of yusufozluk.  The first 1:40 of the video is shot in the center of the country; you'll see the balloons, fairytale rock chimneys, and broad steppes of Cappadocia; the steppes of the Anatolian Plain; and some truly epic bird's eye views of Ankara, the great capital city.  Then the video transitions to the country's coastlines, and you'll see some of it most amazing stretches on the Black, Aegean and Mediterranean Seas.    

Find relaxation and inspiration in this beautiful video of Turkey's Lake Bafa Nature Park by contributor and drone pilot tntrmedia. Lake Bafa is a lake and nature reserve in southwestern Turkey; centuries ago the lake was a gulf of the Aegean Sea until the passage was gradually closed. The southern shore is near a highway that can take travelers from town to town, while the northern shore of the lake is bordered by steep slopes covered with wild olive trees. This video was a DVOW finalist in October, 2019.

Check out this stunning drone video compilation of many of the most famous castles in Turkey, compliments of top contributor and pilot jesus_tr.  THe video includes epic shots of Kars Castle, Afyan Castle, Van Castle, Kadifekale Castle in Ismir, Rumeli Fortress in Istanbul, Erzurum Castle, Selçuk Castle, Mardin Castle, Alanya Castle, Kuşadası Castle on the Aegean coast, Bergama Castle in the İzmir Province, Ushisar Castle in Cappadocia, Adana Castle (Yılankale), and Diyarbakır.

Top content creator and pilot jesus_tr used a DJI Spark drone to create this stunning aerial video of Mardin, a city in southeastern Turkey.  Mardin is the capital of the province of the same name, in Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia region.  The city lies just a short distance north of the Syrian border.  The city has been inhabited since the Bronze Age, and was part of two different Assyrian empires.  Most of its prominent architecture dates to its time under a Turkmen dynasty in the 11th-12th centuries.

Capadoccia is a major city and tourist destination in Turkey's Central Anatolia region.  It is known around the world for its "Fairy Tale" rock formations.  These are giant pillars of rock formed by unusual deposition and erosion patterns; they exist across five provinces in the region, southeast of the Turkish capital Ankar .  In this video, contributor Turkey Home treats us to an incredibe aerial tour of Cappadocia and its amazing geology, unlike any other in the world.  

Contributor and drone pilot jesus_tr created this epic aerial collage of Turkey as it celebrated Republic Day, the celebration of the declaration of the Turkish Republic by its founder Ataturk in 1923.  He stitches together footage from many of the country's greatest cities in the weeks leading up to its greatest national holiday in 2018: Samsun, Amasya, Erzurum, Sivas, Ankara, Adana, Ordu, Rize, Kayseri, Antalya, Bodrum, Hatay, Afyon, Balekesir, Manisa, Izmir, Istanbul, and more.

The ancient city of Perga lies in the Anatolia region of southern Turkey, just northeast of the regional capital Antalya.  The city was one of the most important in a region known as Pamphylia during the Antiquity.  It was visited twice by St. Paul, whose travels here are described in the Acts of the Apostles.  Contributor Turkey Home created an amazing drone video of this ancient Turkish city, which is strategically situated between two rivers and is one of the most popular destinations in southern Turkey. 

Aizanoi is an ancient city in the Kütahya province of western Turkey.  It was built by the ancient Greeks and continued to be an important administrative center into Roman times.  Due to its well preserved ruins of a temple and a stadium complex, the city has been submitted to UNESCO for designation as a World Heritage site.  In this Drone Video of the Week nominee, top contributor and pilot Iskenderfilm gives us a bird's eye view of this ancient city, which sits on the Penkalas River.

Turkish aerial videographer and contributor Alp Karagulle brought his drone to the ancient Greek city of Ephesus which is located a few km inland from Turkey's Aegean Sea coast, in the İzmir Province. The city, which was built in the 10th century BC, is one of the world's most well-preserved ancient metropolises.  One of the top tourist destinations in Turkey's Aegean Region, Ephesus is particularly known for being the site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.  

Antalya (Anatolia) is the capital of the Turkish province of the same name.  It is the largeone of the largest cities on Turkey's Mediterranean Sea coastline, and the eighth most populous city in the country as a whole.  Antalya is the center of an ancient region, one which featured prominently in the Antiquity and is frequently mentioned in the Bible.  Contributor Pascha used a drone to create a marvelous aerial look at this amazing city, which is believed to have been inhabited in the second or third century BC.

Lake Meke is a crater lake that was formed in south central Turkey when a volcano erupted approximately four million years ago.  The inner crater of the lake was formed from a much more recent eruption about 9,000 years ago.  Now a registered natural monument of Turkey, it is situated in the Konya province of the country's Central Anatolia region.  This drone video by content creator and pilot Orhan Karaman provides a clear view of the famous copper volcanic cone island and the two surrounding lakes.

Hosap Castle was an important element of rule of the lands of eastern Anatolia by Istanbul under the Ottoman Empire.  The landmark is situated in Van province, southeast of the provincial capital city of Van which lies on the eastern shore of Lake Van (Turkey's largest lake).  Hosap Castle was built in the 17th century by an Ottoman governor who was responsible for this region of the great empire.  FlyONE used a drone to create this amazing aerial view of this impressive looking and formidable medieval castle.  

Northern Turkey contains some of the country's most spectacular mountain scenery.  The Pontic Mountains extend along virtually the entire Black Sea coastline, with peaks as high as almost 4k meters (about 13k ft.).  The tallest mountains in this range are the Kaçkar Mountains, which is a subrange towards the eastern end of the main Pontic range.  This video submitted by Turkey Home will give you an aerial tour of these amazing mountains of northeastern Turkey, which lie primarily in the Artvin province.  

Of all the magnificent sights of Turkey, one of the best is undoubtedly in its far eastern reaches, in the Ağrı Province.  Here lies the Ishak Pasha Palace, an Ottoman era landmark constructed during the 17th and 18th centuries.  Not only is the palace itself an incredible sight, but it lies in the shadow of Mt. Ararat, Turkey's highest mountain at 5.1k meters (around 16.9k ft.).  You can see this spectacular area of Eastern Anatolia in this amazing drone video by top contributor iskanderfilms.  

This drone video by Agrippa907th shows us the glistening blue waters of Turkey’s famed Turquoise Coast in the southern part of the country. Also known as the Turkish Riviera, this stretch along the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas features ancient ruins, a wide range of resorts, and beautiful beaches.  The heart of the Torquoise Coast is in the provinces of  Antalya and Muğla, towards the western end of the Mediterranean coastline. The video includes footage of Selimiye, Akyaka, Dalyan, Fethiye, and Kabak.

Turkey Home submitted this beautiful drone videos of one of the most iconic sites in eastern Turkey.  Çifte Minareli Medrese is a 13th century school in the city of Ezurum, which is the capital of the province of the same name.  The province lies towards the northeastern corner of the Eastern Anatolian region, just west of the province of Kars.  The school, which is associated with the daughter of a Sultan from the Ottoman Empire days, is well recognized for its dual "minarets" which dominate its facade. 

Top contributor jesus_tr created this stunning drone video of one of Turkey's great 20th century landmarks: the Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey.  Completed in 1953, it's located in the capital city of Ankara.  Atatürk was the Ottoman Empire's greatest military commander in World War I, and went on to lead the Turkish National Movement in the civil war which erupted afterwards.  He became the first President when the Republic was declared in 1923.   

Check out this magnificent video of one of Turkey's most famous monasteries, compliments of contributor and drone pilot enghasanali.  Sumela is a Greek Orthodox monastery built into a mountain in Trabzon, one of the provinces of Turkey's Black Sea region.  Its "host" Melá Mountain is part of the Pontic range which runs parallel to the coastline.   The original structure dates to the 4th century AD, and it took its present form in the 13th century.   It's associated with a famous icon of the Virgin Mary.  

Contributor and drone pilot Wide Angle Flycam gives us an aerial view of the Düden Şelalesi waterfalls on the country's Mediterranean coast.  Located in the Antalya province, the waterfalls are actually created by a water recycling station.  The Düden Şelalesi is actually a system of two separate falls, the last of which discharges into the Mediterranean Sea.  They are located near the city of Antalya, which is the provincial capital and the country's fifth largest metropolitan area.

Contributor IlkerCagatayAsik used a DJI Mavic Pro 2 to create this marvelous aerial tour of a snow covered Ankara, Turkey.  While it is the country's second largest city, Ankara was a relative backwater until it became the capital of modern Turkey in 1920.  As a result, its cityscape is much more modern looking compared to Turkey's other big cities.  Video highlights include epic shots of the Atakule observation tower and the Radisson Ankara, the tallest structure in Central Anatolia for 15 years.  

Among the more amazing natural sights in Turkey's Central Anatolia region is Lake Tuz.  It's the second largest lake in Turkey (after Lake Van in Eastern Anatolia) as well as one of the largest salt lakes in the world.  Located roughly between the cities of Konya and Ankara, the lake covers about 1.6k square km (a bit over 600 square mi).  It is home to one of the world's largest bird sanctuaries.  Alp Karaguelle created this epic drone selfie flying over this amazing salt lake on the great Central Anatolian Plain.

Although it goes by several different names, Turkey's Kemalye Canyon is definitely on the top five lists of many of the world's canyon-rankers.  Carved out by a major subsidiary of the Euphrates River (one of the ancient world's most important waterways), the canyon runs through a portion of Turkey's Eastern Anatolia region.  Top contributor and pilot Alp Karagule filmed this marvel by drone.  When you watching this aerial video, you will appreciate the meaning of its name, which translates to "Dark Canyon".

Izmir is the largest city in Turkey's Aegean region and the third largest city in the country overall.   Among other roles, Izmir has emerged as the center of Turkey's sailing scene, which is one of the largest and most important in the world.  Contributor and pilot Burak BÜYÜKBAYRAKT used a drone to film the Arkas sailing race, which is held off the city's coastline every year.  It's a major event in the sailing world, and his video does an outstanding job of capturing the excitement which surrounds the competition.

Here is an aerial view of the Mamak district of Turkey's capital city Ankara, compliments of contributor and pilot Drone Turkiye.  Situated in the Central Anatolia region of the country, Ankara has been the capital of Turkey since the establishment of the Turkish Republic in the early 1920's.  With a metropolitan population of nearly 5 million, Ankara is Turkey's second largest city.  While humans have inhabited the area since the Bronze Age, Ankara was a small city before becoming the Turkish capital.  

Contributor and drone pilot Skaty created this epic aerial video of the ancient town of Olba, in southern Turkey.  Situated at the foot of the Taurus Mountains (a chain which runs across southern Turkey), Olba was an important city in the Roman province of Isauria.  It is located in the present day province of Mersin, one of the easternmost of the provinces in Turkey's Mediterranean (southern) region.  The ruins you see in the video are approximately 2,000 years old.  Olba is included in the Catholic Church's list of "dead diocese".  

Contributor and drone pilot IlkerCagatayAsik used a DJI Mavic Pro 2 drone to create this beautiful aerial of the area around Mt. Uludağ in northwestern Turkey.  The mountain is part of Turkey's Uludağ National Park, which is situated just south of Bursa, the largest city in Turkey's Marmara Region south of the Sea of Marmara and the country's fourth largest city overall.   Mt. Uludağ is called Mt. Olympos in Greek and is of considerable significance to the Eastern Orthodox religion which once prevailed here.  

Contributor Ezgierol used a DJI Phantom drone to create this stunning aerial video of Turkey's Kaçkar Mountains.  These mountains represent the easternmost arm of the Pontic Mountains chain which run along much of Turkey's northern Black Sea coastline.  The video includes shots of Kaçkar Daği, the highest mountain in the Pontic range, which has an altitude of about 4k meters (just under 13k ft.) above sea level.  Most of the Kaçkar  range lies within Artvin, the easternmost of Turkey's Black Sea coastal provinces.

Top content creator and pilot jesus_tr created this moving aerial video to the monuments commemorating the World War I Battle of Gallipoli.  The battle was joined in March, 1915 with an Allied naval bombardment of the Dardanelles Strait followed by landings on the Gallipoli Peninsula, in an attempt to  knock Turkey out of the war.  The invading forces were not able to take the commanding heights above the beaches, where Turkish forces under future leader Kemal Ataturk held fast over months of attacks.  

Here's a fantastic aerial view of one of the most important ancient ruins sights in Turkey, compliments of top contributor jesus_tr.  It's from the ruins of the ancient city of Sardis in Manisa, one of the (inland) provinces which makes up the Aegean Region of western Turkey.  Sardis was said to be founded by the sons of Hercules.  Later it was the capital of the kingdom of Lydia, one of the most important of the Antiquity.  Still later, the great city earned frequent mention in the New Testament.  

Antalya is one of the most important (and largest) provinces which make up Turkey's Mediterranean (southern) region.  In this spectacular drone video by iskenderfilm, you'll get an aerial tour of some of the provinces most beautiful spots, outside of the provincial capital city Antalya.  The video features footage of the following locations: Termessos, Eurymedon Bridge, Köprülü Canyon, Çıralı Village, Güver Valley, Tazı Canyon, Lighthouse of Gelidonya.

Take a wintertime aerial tour of Turkey's Kars province, compliments of contributor and drone pilot jesus_tr.  Kars is one of the provinces in the northeastern part of Turkey (a region known as Northeast Anatolia), a mountainous area which borders Armenia and which is home to some of the best ski slopes in Turkey.  The video was shot as part of a trip on the Doğu Ekspresi, a train which runs about 1.3k km (around 800 mi.) from the Turkish capital Ankara to the city of Kars, the province's capital.  

Top content creator and drone pilot Hamza Mujtaba treats us to a drone's eye view of Istanbul, Turkey.  While the Turkish city has long been one of the world's most well known, in recent decades its recognition has been boosted by appearing in numerous James Bond movies.  Its first appearance was as a primary shooting location for the 1963 hit From Russia with Love; the opening scene of the film (the second in the series) takes place around Hagia Sophia mosque, captured in the opening of this video.

Let’s take a drone flight through Turkey! Turkey is home to some of the world's most beautiful natural scenery and greatest cultural sights.  Not surprisingly, it's captured the imagination of drone pilots from around the world.  The team at AirVūz compiled one video that features the top destinations in Turkey. Click to watch stunning aerials of Istanbul, Kalkan, Ankara, Cappadocia and more!  Check out the entire Turkey collection as well as the collections for the country's regions plus Istanbul.