Drone regulations in Greece
When you’re enjoying your vacation in Greece, you’re definitely doing two things more than usual – enjoying the amazing local food and taking lots and LOTS of photos. But when traveling to the islands, sometimes your camera or phone just isn’t enough to capture all the beauty that surrounds you. Here is when a drone becomes a very handy piece of equipment that you can bring with you. And since every year new models are released, drones have become more lightweight and more affordable than ever and you can find more and more people adding them to their “must have” tech to bring on vacation.
Of course when traveling to a new country you have to follow its rules regarding the operation of drones. In this post I will summarize the main things you need to know before you decide to take your drone with you to Greece and fly it for recreational, non-commercial purpose.
Without a permission from the Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority (HCAA) you can fly your drone up to 50 meters (164 ft) away from you. Any further than that and you have to get approval by filling this form and sending it to HCAA.
Email: d4@hcaa.gr
Phone: (+30) 210 891 6476
Upon approval from HCAA (around 3 days), you have to register yourself and the flight plan, including path, times, etc., with the local police authorities. An unapproved flight might result in a fine anywhere from 500€ to 250,000€. All that can be avoided by registering and following these simple rules:
- Fly your drone 50 meters or closer to you if the flight was unregistered. 500 meters (1640 ft) distance and 122 meters (400 ft) altitude if your flight was registered.
- Your drone has to weight less than 4 kg.
- Night flight is forbidden. The time frame for operating an unmanned aircraft (UA) is from 30 minutes before sunrise and until 30 minutes past sunset.
- Fly at least 8 km away from any airport. HCAA developed an online map, where you can find the areas where you can fly your drone legally. In Santorini those areas are the villages of Oia and Akrotiri.
- Do not fly your drone over private properties, military bases or crowds.
If you follow these guidelines and common sense you will be taking amazing aerial photos and videos of your vacation in Greece in no time!
Article written by Santorini Photographer Anna Sulte
SANTORINI PHOTOGRAPHER ANNA SULTE 
Nice pictures 👌
Thank you so much!
Thank you. That was very helpful. I’m a professional photographer and will be on Mykonos the last week of September and Santorini the first 5 days of October for vacation. I was hoping to be able to use my drone as well as my DSLR. I can register but I would not know what flight plans and path. Can I do that when I get there?
Anna, Thank you for your tips, I will be in Santorini on the second week of september and love to take my Mavic Air 2 along with my EOS R camera. Still dont know exactly where to stay but will check the ON LINE MAP.
My nane is Gonzalo, from Panama..