Kalokairi does not exist. The island of Mamma Mia! is mostly Skopelos, in the Sporades, with additional filming on neighbouring Skiathos and on the mainland at Damouchari in Pelion. The single location everyone travels for is the wedding chapel: Agios Ioannis sto Kastri, a tiny whitewashed church balanced on top of a near-vertical rock on Skopelos's north-east coast.
The chapel is genuinely small — a single room — and genuinely difficult to reach. The steps in the film are the real steps, 198 of them, cut into the face of the rock with a handrail on one side and a drop on the other. Meryl Streep climbed them; so does everyone else.
Agios Ioannis sto Kastri
The name means Saint John at the Castle, referring to the rock formation rather than any fortification. The chapel is a functioning Orthodox church, small and plain, with a bell and a handful of icons inside, and it predates the film by a long way — this is a place of local religious significance that happens to be photogenic beyond reason.
That is the tension the location now lives with. Weddings there are heavily oversubscribed and the site is not equipped for volume: no facilities, no shade at the top, a narrow platform and a single stairway that cannot handle two-way traffic comfortably.
Note what the film did not use. The interior of the wedding scene is not the chapel interior — the real one is far too small for a film crew and a congregation, so the inside was a set. The exterior, the steps and the view are all real.
The rest of Skopelos and Skiathos
Kastani Beach on Skopelos's south-west coast is the main beach location, used for the swimming and the beach sequences. A taverna and beach bar were built there for the production; the beach itself is public and remains one of the island's best.
The harbour village of the film — the quayside, the tavernas, the narrow lanes — is largely Damouchari, a small port on the Pelion peninsula on the Greek mainland, not on Skopelos at all. Glossa and Agnontas on Skopelos supplied additional coastal scenes, and Skiathos, the neighbouring island with the airport, was used for arrival and boat sequences.
The Villa Donna hotel was a set built on Skopelos, at Kastani, and dismantled after filming. There is no hotel to stay in.
Why the sequel is in Croatia
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) is set on the same fictional island but was filmed almost entirely on Vis, in Croatia, with the harbour scenes at Vis town and Komiža. Only a small amount of second-unit work returned to Greece.
The production's stated reasons were practical — Vis offered a harbour and infrastructure that suited a much larger shoot, and Croatia's film incentives were favourable. The result is that the two films have visually different islands, which most viewers never notice and Skopelos residents noticed immediately.
The chapel does appear in the sequel, briefly, but the bulk of what audiences take to be Kalokairi in the second film is Croatian.
Visiting the location
- Where
- Agios Ioannis sto Kastri, north-east coast of Skopelos, Sporades, Greece. Kastani Beach is on the south-west coast of the same island.
- Getting there
- Skopelos has no airport; fly to Skiathos and take the ferry (about 45 minutes), or use the mainland ports of Volos and Agios Konstantinos. The chapel is roughly a 40-minute drive from Skopelos town on winding roads.
- Access
- Free and open, but reached only by climbing 198 rock-cut steps. The chapel is a working church — modest dress is expected, and it may be closed during services or private weddings.
- Go early or late. There is no shade on the rock and the midday heat on the steps is punishing in July and August.
- The steps have a handrail on one side only and are uneven. This is not a climb for anyone unsteady.
- Combine it with Glossa on the north of the island rather than driving back the same way.
- For the beach scenes, Kastani is a separate trip to the opposite coast — allow a full day for both.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Mamma Mia! church?
Agios Ioannis sto Kastri, a small chapel on a rock on the north-east coast of Skopelos, Greece, reached by 198 steps cut into the cliff face.
How many steps are there up to the Mamma Mia! chapel?
198, cut into the rock with a handrail on one side. You will see the figure rounded to 200, and counts vary slightly depending on where you start from at the bottom.
Can you get married at the Mamma Mia! chapel?
Weddings do take place there, but it is a functioning Orthodox church with no facilities and a very small interior, and dates are limited and booked far ahead.
Was Mamma Mia! 2 filmed on Skopelos?
Mostly not. Here We Go Again was shot largely on the island of Vis in Croatia, with only limited return filming in Greece.