Drone filming in Warsaw: what is allowed, what to check and what it costs

A drone shot is the fastest way to make a venue, a housing estate or a salon look bigger and more important than it does from the pavement. Warsaw has one catch: a large part of the city lies in zones where you cannot simply take off. Below is what is worth knowing before you order a flight, with a map built on data from the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA).

How to read the map

The map is a diagram: it shows the state on the day the data was downloaded and does not include the temporary zones PANSA introduces for ceremonies, official visits or mass events. That is why we check the app before every flight anyway.

The rules in brief

The same rules apply across the EU. Drones fly in the open category, split into three subcategories: A1 close to people, A2 at a limited distance, A3 away from people and buildings. The operator must be registered with the Civil Aviation Authority and have passed the exam for their subcategory. The maximum height is 120 m above ground, the drone must stay within line of sight at all times, and there are no flights over crowds.

Our drone is a DJI Air 3S, class C1: light equipment that may fly in subcategory A1 near uninvolved people, as long as not directly over them. That is enough to film a façade, a garden, a terrace, a housing estate or a sports venue.

Zones in Warsaw: numbers instead of impressions

We calculated what share of each district lies in the Chopin Airport zone by overlaying PANSA data from 17 October 2026 on the district boundaries. The result surprises many clients:

• The left bank is almost entirely in the CTR. Ursynów, Ochota, Włochy and Ursus 100%, Wola 99%, Wilanów 91%, Śródmieście 87%, Mokotów 86%. Flying there is possible, but always after registration.
• The 6 km band covers much more than you would think. It is about 84% of Ursynów and two thirds of Mokotów. Height limits are lower there, so a high shot may be impossible even with a registered flight.
• The right bank is outside the CTR. Praga-Południe, Praga-Północ, Targówek, Wawer, Białołęka, Rembertów and Wesoła lie entirely outside the Chopin Airport zone. These are usually the simplest locations.
• Bielany is a special case. About 89% of the district lies in the Babice airfield zone, with its own rules.
• Small zones are everywhere. Within 25 km of the centre, DroneMap shows 29 prohibited zones and more than 100 DRA-R zones: around state and military sites, power plants and hospitals.

What this means for you: send us the venue address and within a day we will check whether, and at what height, we can film there. For the four districts you ask about most, we made separate pages: Mokotów, Wilanów, Ursynów and Praga-Południe.

What happens on the day of the flight

• In the morning, a wind forecast at altitude, not at ground level. At 80 metres it is usually windier than on the pavement.
• A check for temporary zones in DroneTower, because new ones may have appeared since yesterday.
• Choosing a take-off spot away from people and obstacles, most often a courtyard, a car park or a roof with the manager's consent.
• Registering the flight in the app right before take-off and closing it after landing.
• 15–30 minutes in the air, two or three batteries. The rest of the day we film from the ground.

The shots we film most often

• The reveal. The drone rises from behind a tree or a roof and shows the venue. A great opening for a reel.
• The orbit. A slow circle around the building: its shape, the entrance and the surroundings in one shot.
• Straight down. A garden with tables, a pool, a pitch. It reads like a plan anyone understands.
• Over the roof to the entrance. It leads the eye from the area to the door, which is exactly where the customer should go.
• The high panorama. The venue against a park, the Vistula or the city centre. It says “we are here” better than an address.

The Air 3S has two cameras: a wide-angle one with a 1-inch sensor and a 70 mm medium telephoto. The second lets us show a building from a distance without flying over people, which in dense neighbourhoods is often the only sensible option.

Time of day

The best drone shots happen in the golden hour, just after sunrise or before sunset. In autumn in Warsaw that is already around 4–5 pm, in summer even after 8 pm. In Praga the sun sets behind the city centre, which gives a backlit city panorama; in Mokotów and Wilanów the morning works better.

Privacy and consent

A drone does not exempt anyone from GDPR. We do not film bystanders' faces up close, we do not fly over other people's property, and we let neighbours know if the flight is over shared ground. For developers we ask for written consent from the site manager, which takes one e-mail.

Insurance and weather

We fly with drone operator third-party liability insurance. Weather is the second limit: wind above roughly 10 m/s, rain and fog cancel a flight. That is why we plan every flight with a backup date included in the price.

What a drone flight costs

On the Warsaw market a flight with a short edited clip costs 500–1,500 zł. With us a drone flight starts at 500 zł: 4K footage over the venue and its surroundings, a 30–60-second clip edited in horizontal and vertical versions, and zone checks and flight registration included. In a package with a shoot day the drone is already included in 1,890 zł.

When a drone pays off and when it does not

It pays off when you have something to show from above: a garden, a terrace, a roof, a plot, the shape of the building, a location by a park or water. It does not pay off for a venue in a back courtyard or a shopping centre, nor at an address in the 6 km band where the height limit does not allow a wide shot. Then it is better to spend the money on extra reels from inside.

If you are not sure, send us the address. We will reply within 24 hours on whether a drone makes sense and what we can film.