Top Aerial Views of Southern Europe

In this highly inspiring travel video, contributor Kelly Needleman flies his drone over some of the most spectacular sights in Italy.  The video includes bird's eye views of the Dolomite Mountains, Tuscany, Venice, and Cinque Terre, among other spots.  The video was a finalist for the AirVuz Drone Video of the Week Contest and also a winner of the Drone Video of the Month Contest for July, 2018.  If you are considering a trip to Italy in the future, this video may help your decision! 

Contributor Hubert Zielenski created this unforgettable aerial tour of Portugal.  Situated in the southwestern corner of Europe, Portugal was once known as the Edge of the World, and then went on to launch the great Age of Exploration.  His video includes stunning bird's eye footage of Sintra, Lisbon, Porto, and Algarve.  Shot with a DJI Mavic Air drone, this video was a winner of the AirVuz Drone Video of the Week Contest in June, 2018. 

Spain's wealthiest region, the semi-autonomous region of Catalonia, is home to some of Spain's greatest cultural treasures and some of its most breathtaking natural scenery.  Oliver Astrologo created this stunning four minute visual tour of Catalonia, including footage of Barcelona as well as lesser known spots such as Girona, which was featured extensively in Season 6 of HBO's Game of Thrones TV series.  This video was a finalist for the AirVuz Drone Video of the Week Contest.

Meteora is a spectacular rock formation in the Thessaly region of north-central Greece.  These immense pillars represent a geological phenomenon which is essentially unique in the world.  A group of monasteries were built on the pillars, six of which remain standing today. Contributor Rickrayfilms treats us to a spectacular aerial tour of the area, which is considered second in importance only to the Holy Mountain of Athos in its importance to Eastern Orthodoxy.

Top contributor Uncle Dam had occasion to visit the Mediterranean island nation of Malta at the height of the spring season.  While there, he was able to create this spectacular aerial tour of the main island as well as the the surrounding islands Gozo and Comino.  Malta was the filming location for much of Season 1 of Game of Thrones; the initial King's Landing location was the ancient walled city of Mdina in the center of the main island, which you'll see at the :50 mark.   

Contributor and drone pilot Habazaje created this memorable aerial tour of the beaches of Cyprus an island in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.  The video includes footage of the areas Paphos, Ayia Napa, Nissi Beach, Fig Tree Beach, Blue Lagoon, and Coral Bay.  The views of the crystal blue waters will help you understand why Cyprus has become a popular beach destination for travelers all over Europe; as the third largest island in the Mediterranean it's still surprisingly unknown.  

Andorra is one of the least well known countries in Europe.  The tiny nation sits in the heart of the Pyrenees Mountains, which form the natural border between Spain and France.  Andorra has a land area of less than 500 square km (about 180 square miles), making it smaller than many cities.  As you'll see in this drone video from Karl Veca, what Andorra lacks in size it makes up for in spectacular mountain scenery. 

Venice is one of Italy's most well recognized and treasured sights.  The magnificent Rennaissance city in the Veneto region is, unfortunately,  fighting a losing battle against tourism and water encroachment, leading some to fear that its days may be numbered.  In this video, top contributor and drone pilot Oliver Astrologo takes us on an aerial tour of this magical place, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. This video is nominated in our Cities & Urban category for the 2nd annual Drone Video Awards.

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 (called 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 forestalled an imminent Persian naval invasion of the Greek mainland.   

Valencia is the third city of Spain, after Madrid and Barcelona.  It is situated around the midway point of Spain's long coastline on the Mediterranean Sea.  The has one of the finest natural harbors in Europe, and it is the biggest port for containerships in the Mediterranean.  Top contributor Justin Poore used a DJI Mavic Pro drone to to make this amazing aerial portrait of the ancient city, the heart of a region by the same name which has a very distinctive culture.

Andalusia is a historical and official region of Spain, its  southernmost.  Andalusia was the center of Muslim (Berber) rule in Spain, which began in the 8th century and didn't fully end until the end of the 15th.  Contributor Hamza_Mujtaba created this epic aerial tour of the region with a drone, which includes aerial footage of Malaga, Almogia, Granada and Cordoba.  Andalusia has been used extensively as a filming location for HBO's Game of Thrones, notably in Seville and Cordoba.

Eaglewood Films took to the skies along the coast of Portugal to capture its rugged and picturesque landscape in 4K. Once believed to be located on the very edge of the inhabited world, Portugal was one of the first areas of Europe to launch long distance ships, which it then used its to amass one of the world's greatest empires in the 15th and 16th centuries.  This aerial video will show you why this country has become such a popular destination for tourists and drone pilots alike.  

Santorini is a small crescent-shaped Greek island in the Aegean Sea, the southernmost of the Cyclades group of over 200 islands (many of which are uninhabited).   It is known for its crisp, white buildings and blue roofs, jutting out from the cliffside towards the azure sea. Top contributor Lucaspinhel, who has over 200k followers on Instagram, uses those blues and whites to his advantage, creating pops of orange, yellow, and red with the beautiful dresses his models wear in this unique drone video.

Contributor Electriclife created this stunning aerial video of the Dolomite Mountains.  Situated in northeastern Italy, this range is part of the eastern Alps, which have lower altitudes than the western Alps.  While the highest peaks in the Dolomites are a modest 3-3.3k meters (just under 11k ft) they more than make up for their modest altitude by their spectacular limestone rock formations.  Most of the range has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage natural site.

Contributor 91 Kilometers brings us this beautiful aerial video of the city of Ronda in southern Spain, in the Málaga province of Andalusia.  Like much of southern Spain, this area has been inhabited since pre-historic times.  Ronda also has a place in literature.  The city on the cliff (in disguised form) was the setting for one of the most well known passages of 20th century literature: the famous execution scene in Chapter 10 of Ernest Hemingway's classic For Whom the Bell Tolls, first published in 1940.  

Italy's Amalfi Coast, a stretch of coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea (an extension of the Mediterranean Sea) south of Naples, has some of the most spectacular scenery in the country.  As a honeymoon destination, it is hard to beat.  Which is why top contributor Hamza Mujtaba took his wife their for a surprise honeymoon.  Thankfully he also took along his DJI Mavic Pro drone, allowing him to create this epic aerial tour of this Mediterranean paradise in southern Italy.  

Madeira is a group of Portuguese islands located southwest of the mainland in the Atlantic Ocean.  It is a popular resort area and considered to be one of the leading European island destinations, with over a million tourist arrivals per year.  Contributor XL Creations took a four day trip to Madeira with a drone and made this amazing video, which includes aerial footage from Achada do Teixeira, Funchal, Ilheus da Rib, Porto da Cruz, Ribeiro Frio, Seixal, and more.  

In this video, top contributor Justin Poore used a drone to give us an unforgettable look at the amazing city of Lisbon, Portugal.  The video captures many of the top sights in the Portuguese capital, including an epic shot of its iconic 25 de Abril Bridge at around the 1:40 mark.  The red-colored bridge spanning the Tagus River between Lisbon and Almada has been a filming location for numerous movies, notably the 1969 James Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the seventh movie in the series.

Mallorca is the largest of the Ballearic Islands, a Spanish archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea which also includes Ibiza, Menorca, and Formentara.  It features gorgeous seaside villages surrounded by mountains in the west and many beaches and quiet towns on its eastern coast. Top contributor The3venture used a DJI Mavic Pro drone and a ground camera to create a stunning aerial view of amazing Mallorca, which is the top destination island in the entire Mediterranean.

Porto (Oporto) is Portugal's second city after the capital Lisbon.  It's the most important city in the country's norte region.  It is the city after which port wine is named, and it remains the most important source for that libation.  The city dates to the Antiquity.  Culturally it is at least as significant as Lisbon if not more so, and the entire core city is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  In this stunning video, Sprintz gives us a bird's eye view at this city which is located in an estuary of the Duoro River.

Contributor DomiSchleu's epic roadtrip through Spain allowed him to create this amazing aerial tour of many of these regions.  The video includes amazing aerial footage of several of the country's regions, including Andalusia, Sevile, Murcia, Valencia, and Catalonia.  At the 1:38 mark, you'll see the bullring of Osuna, in Sevile.  This bullring, no longer used as such, was the filming location for a key fight scene (involving dragons, not bulls) in HBO's Game of Thrones, Season 5, Episode 9.