On the evening of Sunday 26 July 2026 the first lights came on at Nafplio Marina: the sign above the entrance, the access barriers and the central security post. The new harbour lies below Palamidi, the fortress above the town, and from that evening it looked like an address instead of a building site. The first phase was then close to completion. Crews were still working on the land zone and the marina’s own installations, and four floating docks were under construction. The marina took its first boats on 20 August 2026. Buildings A and B, which hold the nautical club, a restaurant and the offices, will be in use by the end of August 2026.
The quay it replaces
Yachts have always had reasons to come to Nafplio, but nowhere built for them to lie. For decades the town has worked from its own waterfront on Miaouli Street. It is a handsome, central and entirely public quay, without the services of a marina. The 11th Mediterranean Yacht Show was held there from 2 to 6 May 2026, with 106 yachts along the front. That number shows both the town’s standing and the shortage of berths it has been managing.
The new harbour stands 500 metres north of the old port of Nafplio. Its marine zone covers some 71,200 square metres and its land zone 43,125 square metres. That is far more than the old front could absorb, and it places the marina apart from the promenade instead of on top of it.
The first phase
At partial operation the marina serves up to 140 boats, and at full capacity it will hold 210 berths. Until now a yacht cruising the Argolic Gulf took the town quay on the town quay’s terms. From 20 August 2026 it could take a berth on a marina’s terms.
Behind the water, the first phase delivers two buildings. Building A, of 474 square metres, holds the nautical club, a café, a restaurant and a sailing school. Building B, of 480 square metres on the ground floor and 125 above, holds the administration and rental offices, a medical room and the control tower. Both will be in use by the end of August 2026, with part of the surrounding grounds.
The rest will follow in January 2027: Buildings C1, C2, C3, D and E, the remaining grounds, and with them shops, a pharmacy, a grocery, an open-air theatre and sports grounds. The result is a mixed-use quarter as much as a harbour, the shape most marinas of this generation take. The order matters, with the water first and the town around it second.
The partnership behind it
The agreement was signed on 8 April 2023 by the Region of the Peloponnese, the Municipal Port Fund of Nafplio and TEKAL S.A., whose president is Panagiotis Psaltakos. It was the 15th public-private partnership contracted in Greece and the first for a marina, with a development cost of about 25 million euros. A special-purpose company, Nafplio Marina M.A.E., holds the works and the operation under a concession of 40 years, 37 of them operating.
Christiana Psaltakou, who sits on the board of TEKAL, has kept the schedule in public view throughout the build. That has included the risk of legal challenge, which has hung over a project 15 years in the making. The construction barriers came down at several points in July 2026, although neither the works nor the handover is finished.
What it changes for the Argolic Gulf
For a yacht that needs power, water and a berth it can leave and return to, the Argolic Gulf has been a place to pass through. Nafplio itself was never the problem. It is one of the few towns in Greece that a guest will walk for its own sake, and from the water the fortress above it is part of the view. What was missing was the servicing, and a purpose-built harbour below the rock now provides it.
From 20 August 2026 a yacht could base itself in the Argolid instead of passing through, which changes the shape of a week in the Peloponnese. The town will also gain a nautical club and a sailing school on its own water. That is the smaller half of the news, and the half that will still matter in ten years.
Who is this for
Nafplio Marina suits owners and crews of yachts from 15 to 60 metres who want a base for a week or a season in the Peloponnese. From the walls of Palamidi, the red-tiled roofs of the old town run down to the waterfront. Out in the gulf stands the Bourtzi, a small fortress on its own islet, and the mountains of the Argolid rise behind the new mole. The café in Building A is meant to bring life to the waterfront, and native plants will be set around the grounds in the second phase.
