For swimming in Karathona, the pleasant sandy beach in Nafplio
Swimming in Nafplio means Karathona, the large beach with its beautiful natural landscape and the contrast it makes with the surrounding mountains.
You meet all kinds of people there. Locals, greek visitors, foreign tourists, young people, couples, families, babies, the elderly, everyone goes there. It is also shallow so it has many children. In the summer it is crowded but personally I am not overwhelmed. If you feel like the crowd is suffocating you just go further back where there are few people.
It's nice at all times of the day. The afternoon is even better because the sun sets right in front of the beach. Many sit even after sunset until night falls.
It has three beach bars, Utopia, Sambala and Asimakopoulos which also has a tavern there. I'm sitting next to Asimakopoulos, not on his umbrellas, I have mine, but I like the music he plays. It also has a shower so it's convenient.
In Sambala in the middle of the beach there are municipal showers but it takes a bit of a walk to get there. In other parts of the beach I know nothing about the showers.
The hotels I recommend in Nafpio are:
- (€€) Hotel Ilion (⭐ 9,1) a small luxury hotel that travels you back in time, to the alley of Nafplio
- (€) Pension Althaia (⭐ 9,0) also a small hotel with simple luxury in a historic building
- (€) Park Hotel (⭐ 8,5) I recommend it for a cheaper stay in the old town of Nafplio
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There is no shade so an umbrella is required. In the morning some people sit under the shade of palm trees.
The parking is enough, I haven't had a problem even on weekends in August. Part of it has eucalyptus trees for shade.
I recommend paying attention to the part of the beach that is towards Nafplio because from time to time there have been cases of sea anemone bites that have ended up in the hospital.
The only negative of the beach is the many cigarette butts. I always do a cleaning where I'm going to sit, now I'm used to them and they don't bother me as much as they did in the beginning.
It is worth visiting the old hermitage of Panagia Katakekrimmeni above the beach which is like a white touch in the gray cliffs. It is roughly in the middle of the rocks literally tucked between them.
To get there follow 25th Martiou street in the area of Pronoia, it is the road that also leads to Palamidi.
Below I made a map with the exact location of the beach.
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