Drone Flying in Santorini

Santorini is one of those places in the world, where everything belongs in a photograph or a video. Whilst most of us are restricted to photographing at ground level, there are a few of us that are lucky to have drones.

If you go on YouTube at the moment, you will find quite a few videos containing drone footage. Whilst I was at Ammoudi, a drone flew right over my head to head over to Oia, the most pictorest, if not heavily tourist populated town on the island.

But is it legal?

Drones are categorised so something like the Mavic Air, Mavic Spark, Mavic Pro or the Phantom series are classed as Category 1.

The highest altitude you can fly them is 400ft (Thats 120 metres for those who like metric measurements).

165ft (50m) is the least you can fly over any buildings.

You should also not fly above crowds and must not lose sight of the drone at anytime.

Of course, airports, helipads and aerodromes are a big no no, and you must keep at least 5 miles (Thats 8km roughly) away and of course the flightpaths.

You should only fly your drone in daylight but you are allowed to fly it 30 minutes before the sun is up and 30 minutes when the sun goes down.

No filiming of archaelogical sights are allowed and miltary camps is a big no no!

Since the 1st January 2017, the whole of Santorini has become a no fly zone, so as you can imagine my trip across to this beautiful island with my Mavic Air Drone had been wasted.

There are many reasons for the total ban on drones in Santorini, firstly the island is very small – 28 square miles to be exact. It has a small airport which doubles as a miltary base, as well as several helipads. This make it near impossible to cover the rules, as set out by Greece.

Flying any drones in Greece and its islands requires you to register your flight plans with the Civil Aviation Authority, but this can be quite difficult, especially if you are not a Greek residence.

Other people do fly drones here in Santorini, and I’ve got to be honest but the Police pressence on the islandis low, but we would not recommend taking the risk as the authorities can give you a large fine. An expensive end to an expensive holiday.

The information within this article is correct at the time of writing, but things do change and we aren’t in a position where we can keep the website fully up to date with the laws and the regulations.

We do not condone illegal drone flying and must tell you to adhere to the safety and regulations as set out in the country that you are trying to fly it in.

Also, the links on this page may be referral links and we may make a small commission if you should buy something.