'Mamma Mia!' Filming Locations: The Complete Guide

Map of Mamma Mia island

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"Mamma Mia!" may be the best movie to inspire Greek travel since "Summer Lovers" came out in the early 1980s, featuring several locations in the Pelion region and on Skopelos and Skiathos.

The film was built around hit ABBA songs and tells the story of a daughter's quest to figure out who her father is. "Mamma Mia!" immediately became a smash hit when it was released in the summer of 2008, and was followed up in 2018 with a sequel film, "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again." In both films, the gorgeous locations stole the show, inspiring viewers to hop a flight and sing their favorite songs at the same dreamy Greek locales.

If you're a fan of the "Mamma Mia!" films and want to check out some of the beautiful locations seen in both, you can head to Damouchari, Skopelos, and Skiathos in Greece, the three principal locations in Greece where the first film was shot, and the island of Vis, Croatia, the principal location of the sequel. We've outlined everything you need to know about visiting these filming locations on your next trip to Greece or Croatia below.

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Skiathos, Greece

Skiathos village
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The best way to arrive in Greece if you plan on checking out film locations for "Mamma Mia!" is by flying to the Skiathos Island National Airport, from which access to the nearby Skopelos Island and mainland's Pelion region.

Some fine-sand beaches on Skiathos were used for scenes in the franchise's first film, "Mamma Mia!", and the port where the three fathers meet for the first time is the Old Port on Skiathos. The area around the St. Nikolaos Bell Tower was where Sophie mailed her letters, but that shot was a composite and you won't find exactly the same view.

The cast and crew were said to have stayed at the Skiathos Princess Hotel, the Skiathos Palace Hotel, and the Mandraki, and were known to dine at Skiathos restaurants including Asprolithos, Polikratis, Sophia's Place, and the Windmill.

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Skopelos, Greece

bay of sporades
Sander de Wilde/Getty Images 

Most of the outdoor scenes in "Mamma Mia!" were filmed on location at various beaches and towns on the island of Skopelos, which is located off the coast of Greece in the Aegean Sea. You can't fly directly to the island, but you can book a flight to the nearby Skiathos Island and then take a ferry. There are also plenty of great accommodations available in every price range on Skopelos, many of which were used by the film's cast and crew.

Among the locations on Skopelos—which stood in for the fictional island of Kalokairi in the film—the producers say a "mountainous peninsula" near Glisteri was used as the filming location where Sophie leaves for her wedding. Additionally, a cliff on this same peninsula was used for the cliff jumping scene with Sophie and her potential fathers, and the cast picnicked on a beach south of Agnondas off of Stafylos Road.

The cast and crew stayed at the Skopelos Village Hotel, the Prince Stafylos Hotel, the Adrina Hotel, and the Aeolia Hotel, but some of the stars rented villas nearby instead. Restaurants used by the cast and crew included Agioli, Tis Annas, To Perivoli, The Garden and Agnanti.

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Damouchari, Pelion Region, Greece

Pelion
 Athanasios Gioumpasis/Getty Images

Damouchari is located on the eastern coast of Greece, just about 30 minutes from Volos and directly north of Athens. Although Dmaouchari was primarily where the crew stayed during filming, much of the footage captured here was combined with images shot on Skopelos and Skiathos.

Some of the Damouchari footage was used at the beginning of Mamma Mia when Christine Baranski and Julie Walters arrive on the island and are met by Meryl Streep. Many scenes in the film featuring a beach are located at Damouchari's Blue Beach. 

The fictional hotel featured in the film, Villa Donna, was portrayed as being placed on the cliffs above Glysteri Beach on Skopelos, but most of the Villa Donna scenes were shot back at the studio in Hollywood and married to Greek backgrounds later. However, when the dancers in the film flit from the Villa Donna through olive groves later in the movie, those groves were shot at Douchari in the Mouresi area of Greece, along the Pelion Coast outside of Volos.

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Vis, Croatia

Stiniva beach, Vis, Croatia
Matthew Baker/Getty Images

In a surprising bit of recasting, the fictional island of Kalokairi was switched from Skopelos to the Croatian island of Vis for "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again." This remote island is one of the furthest from the Croatian mainland and was completely closed to visitors when it served as a military base up to 1983. Prior to the 2018 filming, the island was one of the less explored and less developed islands in terms of tourist infrastructure—but popularity and tourism to the island has grown after the release of the film.

Vis boast stunning natural landscapes, including majestic cliffs encircling Stiniva cove and the Blue Cave on the nearby islet of Biševo. Every day just before noon the sun's rays enter the cave and reflect off its limestone walls, creating an eerie, glowing blue light.