HELLO COMMUNITY
When I say countries with world-class spotting, what do you think of? Anyone with baseline spotting knowledge would say Switzerland, or another Alpine country. If you’re a bit more into it, you might mention Japan or the United States. If you’re really deep into spotting lore, you might talk about Finland or New Zealand. But I’m here to inform you that you should be talking about Greece too.
I’ve never really considered Greece to be a great spotting destination, due to most of their airports having low traffic and reports of the authorities there generally being hostile towards spotters, especially foreign-looking ones (although I ended up having 0 issues with the police). However, after spending a week going around Greece on a family trip and making short stops at some of the main airports, I am here to report that if just seeing planes is what you’re looking for, Greece is awful. If great photos is what you’re looking for, Greece is fantastic.
Gear: Sony α7RIV & Sony 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS
Stop 1: Corfu (LGKR)
Corfu Airport’s draw comes from its southern spots - a series of restaurants and hotels perched on a hill overlooking the airport, where you can eat and spot (you know I loved that) or even spot from your hotel balcony. Even though it was raining heavily when I went, the sun somehow poked through the clouds as it hit the horizon, leading to one of the most incredible sunsets I’ve ever seen.
This is by far the busiest airport in Greece, and the margin is comical. It’s not as scenic as a lot of the island airports but it still has a background and makes up for it in traffic. Even though it got cloudy 15 minutes after sunrise, the sun got replaced with a rainbow so I really can’t complain.
Photos in this section are all AI generated and the story is purely for entertainment.
Santorini Airport has a fantastic backdrop and some really nice spots, so it really sucks that spotting there is not allowed there due to military movements. My Airbnb in a nearby town on a mountain had a private balcony, so I spotted a bit from there (goated) and a bit from a spot down the road that offered a wider view. The atmosphere here is so clean that there’s almost no haze or atmospheric effect, and the elevation of the town means you get a really sick air-to-air effect. The range on these photos is 2-3 km, modern camera gear is truly impressive considering the detail it can pick out from this far.
This is probably the least impressive airport I went to, but it still has a nice backdrop. It also averages like 2 or 3 movements an hour.
I hope you enjoyed this spotting tour of Greece! I was certainly pleasantly surprised by the spotting there despite the weather being somewhat suboptimal at some points. Santorini in particular is incredible if you’re willing to not just shoot for JetPhotos and start inventing spots to get artsy.
