Nafplio is the first capital of Greece and one of the most beautiful cities in the country. Find at our blog posts everything you need to know regarding the city’s real estate market.
Well, from the time that you are in this page most probably you are looking to buy a house in the most beautiful city of Greece, Nafplio. No matter at which stage of the process you are, at this article you will find information about the different areas of the city.
At the ancient times the Greek cities were located within walls that had been created in order to protect the city. The same applies in the city of Nafplio, where the historical city was located within the Acronafplia castle, the open castle that you find at the hill at the west of the city. Later on, as the demand for housing was increasing, the city was extended to the part underneath the Acronafplia castle, the one that we now call the old city of Nafplio.
The old city of Nafplio is the most popular area that makes Nafplio well known all over the world. It has small pedestrian streets and across the old city there is only one main road where cars are allowed, mainly for the supplies of the stores that are located there and for some permanent residents of the area that have a license to drive on this road. The old city is focused mainly to pedestrians and keeps a character that reminds the Greek islands. The government has passed a law in order to maintain the city’s character and the landlords have restrictions on the changes that they are allowed to do at their buildings, with a government architecture approval being necessary apart from the regular license before any renovation or new construction takes place. All the buildings are old, with different colors and nice architecture that has been inspired from the Venetians that one’s ruled the city and this is the reason that some call Nafplio, the little Venice of Greece. The old city of Nafplio is more tourist oriented with small retail stores, traditional and modern cafes and restaurants and traditional boutique hotels across the pedestrian streets. During the winter week days, the old city is quiet while in the summer time it is very crowded especially at the evening and night time.
Living in the old city of Nafplio can be challenging. First of all, the access with car is very difficult. The closest point where someone is allowed to park his/her car is at the beginning of the port where there is ample parking for even the busiest days. In addition, someone who lives there will find it difficult for the daily household supplies as there are no supermarkets located in the old city and there are only some mini markets with limited though supplies. Lastly the availability of land and the small radius of the old city of Nafplio makes the supply of housing and potential development limited and that means that the prices are high especially if you consider the year of the built of the buildings.
Owing a house in the old city of Nafplio can be extremely beneficiary for someone who wants to be in the heart of the city in the summer time and doesn’t plan to move his/her car a lot. Within close walking distance there will be some of the most popular cafes, restaurants and taverns that are located in the city of Nafplio.
The next area that was created in the city of Nafplio is the one that is located underneath the Plamidi castle till the Evangelistria church. This is an old area of the modern Nafplio that was mainly developed in the 50’s – 70’s. Mainly in the area you can find old houses that were constructed by the workers families for their primary residence. During the times this area was introduced as the extended city plan, the economic situation in the country was not the best. Back then people were struggling to make ends meet and usually at the Greek family the father was the only one who was working while the mother was taking care of the kids. People usually, first bought the land and slowly were building their houses. In the beginning, the house might only be a room for the entire family that was slowly extended with more rooms as the father was bringing the necessary funds to the household.
Nowadays this area is considered an overdeveloped area of the city of Nafplio with some neighborhoods such as Pronoia that do not have the best reputation. It has narrow roads, old buildings and is mostly inhabited by elderly people. Pronoia is a neighborhood that someone will pass when visiting the Palamidi castle by car and karathona beach. At the main road the most recent years someone can find lower budget restaurants and taverns. In this area of the city someone can expect lower prices at the houses within a close distance to the old city of Nafplio.
The highest demand for housing in Greece was during 1970-2000. At this period Greek developers found an innovating way in order to meet the high demand. It is called “Antiparoxi” meaning the exchange of someone’s land with a portion of the new building that the developer will build in this land. With this way all across the country there was a boom in the construction of new buildings. At this period Nafplio’s city plan was extended to the area that is marked on the map as the high rise area. This is the part of the city that nowadays most of the people live. At this area someone can find older and newer buildings, a lot of supermarkets, mini markets and retail stores.
In the yellow area of the map the city plan allows buildings up to three floors not including the basement, so there are located the highest buildings of the city. Another characteristic of the rules of construction in the biggest part of this area is that someone is allowed to build up to the borders of his/her land so a lot of the buildings are attached to the neighbor’s buildings. In this area mainly there are one, two and some three-bedroom apartments.
If you are looking to buy an apartment here you should be aware that on this area are some of the main and busiest roads of the city of Nafplio. All the buildings that are located on the main roads will suffer from traffic noise most of the parts of the day while the budlings that are located further in the area provide a good standard of living with mainly residences that make the area quieter. The last thing that I want to point out for this area is that most of the buildings have several landlords and sometimes the communication regarding the common area maintenance is a little complicated.
The areas of the city of Nafplio that newly joined the city plan are the area “Kourti” with, “Agia Kiriaki” and “Agia Moni”, both of them locaed a little further at the east of the city. All the above areas are more sparsely populated areas that makes them more high-end areas with Kourti neighborhood being the leader by far. The construction law in these areas allow a maximum of two-storey buildings without including the basements and lofts. The most common type of building that can be found on the above areas are the maisonettes. At these areas the city plan requires the building to be constructed further out from the neighbors land and thus most of the buildings in this area have private outdoor spaces and a lot of trees.
I point out Kourti area because it is the one that is located closest to the city downtown, with the coastline being as close as 100m from the edge of Kourti. The downtown that is located as close as 500m is connected to the area with wide sidewalks that make it easy to walk there when the weather allows it. In Kourti mostly someone can find residential buildings with only some retail stores such as a national supermarket, a mini market and a hair salon. In addition, the fact that Kourti was recently created, allowed for a batter city planning. This is the reason that the government restricted the development at some blocks of Kourti and created big parks for a better standard of living, while some other even they are marked on the map as parks have yet to be constructed.
If you are looking to purchase a new property in the city, we can fully support you with your investment. Buy any of our properties and lease it back to us – to operate it as a holiday rental, providing you with monthly cash flow, when you do not use it.
EARG Developers