Marina di Kalamata

Situated in a prime location in the southern Peloponnese, Kalamata Marina is a small port characterized by a fair number of services and a very fortunate location. One of the safest ports in the Mediterranean, where you can leave your boat in the water even throughout the winter and where services and assistance are not lacking.

The marina adjoins the town’s public port, which also offers berths for boaters and also welcomes large merchant ships (Kalamata, until the postwar period, was a very important Mediterranean cargo port, a nodal point for Greek import-export), and has the town behind it, to which it offers a pleasant outlet to the sea that is very popular in the summer during the evening hours thanks to its many bars and restaurants.

The city of Kalamata, and with it the port, lies within the deep gulf of Messinia, and benefits from a fortunate geographical position: bathed by the Ionian Sea, it is protected to the east by the Taygetos Oros mountain range, which offers spectacular views to the many tourists.

Beautiful beaches abound on either side of the town, alternating between those of fine sand and rocky ones; the Kalamata marina offers car, scooter, and bicycle rental services, so those who wish to indulge in a bit of beach life are also facilitated in getting around.

The fair-sized marina is well sheltered and offers 250 berths for boats up to 25 meters in length. It has fixed piers and movable docks and offers short- or long-term (daily/monthly/yearly) stationing.
As mentioned above, it is literally “incorporated” into the city so reaching the main services is very easy; nevertheless, it offers basic and indispensable services of its own.

We mention a few: self-service laundry, restrooms with showers, public telephones, port police office, free wi-fi. All berths have electric 220/380 V electricity and drinking water (the latter is charged by consumption). The marina also offers a fueling station.

On the repair front, the marina has dry space for about 150 boats and a 60-ton travel lift; there is no in-house staff capable of performing maintenance and repairs, but the facility relies on a network of outside technicians who are ready to step in and can meet a variety of needs.
There is no shortage of bars, restaurants, souvenir and grocery stores; the nearest bank is 1 km away.

Arriving at the Kalamata marina, one passes by a number of natural bays that are famous for the shelter they offer, and which can be good alternatives to stopping at ports. Port Limeni (also known as Ormos Limeni) is the one furthest north, and is located on the east coast of the large gulf that is home to Kalamata. Dropping anchor in front of the village of Limeni is not recommended because of the many buoys, catenaries and mooring lines on the seabed in this area. At the eastern end of the bay, sandy bottom 3-5 meters deep. The best choice is to anchor north of the village of New Itilo, where there is a good mixed sand and rock bottom 3-5 meters deep and where there is albeit minimal shelter from the west.

The other bay where shelter can be found is Dyros Bay, just south of Limeni. Smaller, it offers some shelter and a decent bottom for dropping anchor in its southeast corner.