Lonely Planet: Lights, Camera… Greece!

The famous scene of “Zorba the Greek” (1964) with Anthony Quinn dancing at the rhythms of syrtaki on a beach of Stavros village on Crete.

Lonely Planet recently recommended 10 Greek locations, which have been the perfect backdrop for many Hollywood blockbusters, as holiday hotspots for its readers.

“Pick a few and plan your trip, tracing the footsteps of the stars.”

Skiathos Island. Photo: © Nikos Psychogios / Shutterstock

Skiathos and Skopelos
Film location for Mamma Mia! (2008) starring Meryl Streep (parts of the film were also shot in Damouhari Pelion) – “Sun-starved Europeans” flock to both islands in July and August.

Kefallonia. Photo © Panos Karas / Shutterstock

Kefallonia
Film location for Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2001) starring Nicolas Cage and Penelope Cruz – Kefallonia is “breathtakingly beautiful with untamed mountain ranges, rich vineyards, soaring coastal cliffs and golden beaches”.

Moni Agias Triados, Meteora. Photo © Andrei Pop / Shutterstock

Meteora
Film location for For Your Eyes Only (1981) starring Roger Moore as James Bond (parts of the film were also shot on Corfu) – Featured in the film was the monastery Moni Agias Triados, which “has the most remote feel”.

Photo © Maria Theofanopoulou

Mykonos
Shirley Valentine (1989) starring Pauline Collins; Bourne Identity (2002) starring Matt Damon – Mykonos is a favorite for jettsetters but “earns its reputation with its quaint but boutique-packed old town, partying beach scene and glamorous nightlife”.

Chania, Crete. Photo © leoks / Shutterstock

Crete
Zorba the Greek (1964) starring Anthony Quinn; The Inbetweeners Movie (2011) starring James Buckley; Two Faces of January (2014) starring Kirsten Dunst (also filmed at the Acropolis in Athens) – Crete is a destination with a “dramatic landscape, myriad mountain villages, unique cultural identity and some of the best food in Greece”.

Santorini. Photo © Anastasios71 / Shutterstock

Santorini (Thira)
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life (2003) starring Angelina Jolie; Summer Lovers (1982) starring Darryl Hannah; The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005) starring Alexis Bledel – According to Lonely Planet, “as in the movies, the startling sight of the submerged caldera almost encircled by sheer lava-layered cliffs will grab your attention and never let it go”.

Rhodes. Photo © Morozova Oxana / Shutterstock

Rhodes
The Guns of Navarone (1961) starring Gregory Peck – “A pilgrimage to Rhodes’ Unesco World Heritage–listed Old Town is a must.” – Lonely Planet

Amorgos. Photo © great_photos / Shutterstock

Amorgos
The Big Blue (Le Grand Bleu, 1988) starring  Jean-Marc Barr – Lonely Planet focuses on the film’s “star”: Moni Hozoviotissis and describes it as “an extraordinary chalk-white monastery built into the base of a soaring cliff on the island’s southeast coast”.

Messinia. Photo © Oleg Znamenskiy / Shutterstock

Peloponnese
Before Midnight (2013) starring Ethan Hawke – Referring to the Mani area as “notoriously beautiful and raw”, Lonely Planet mentions that the destination features “unusual tower settlements that were built as refuges during clan wars from the 17th century onwards”.

Hydra. Photo © Herbert Ortner, Vienna, Austria

Hydra
Phaedra (1962) starring Melina Merkouri; Boy on a Dolphin (1957) starring Sophia Loren – Lonely Planet mentions that “both movies, and the still shots of the actors relaxing in the harbour between takes, show how little Hydra has changed today”.

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