Costa Navarino is a brand new destination in the Mediterranean which has just opened for its first season. The family behind it say that it is a new type of tourism which is as green as it can be in every possible way. It sets the standard for sustainable tourism worldwide and has attracted the attention of people around the globe.

Costa Navarino is in the Greek region of Messinia in the southwest of the country, around 40km from Kalamata International Airport and just over three hours’ driving distance from Athens.

So what makes Costa Navarino so eco-friendly?

The creators of Costa Navarino wanted to create a holiday destination that worked in harmony with the nature of the area. The resort faces the historic bay of Navarino, one of the largest natural harbours in the Mediterranean. It was the site of the famous Battle of Navarino in 1827 which led to the independent state of Greece being born.

The Buildings 

The buildings themselves are based on the most ancient local architecture. They feature open roofs, 5,000 square metres of planted roofs, natural light through the design of the buildings and artificial ponds to create vaporisation to improve the micro climate.

Energy

Costa Navarino is working with the authorities in Greece to be the first mixed-use resort in the world to meet its energy needs entirely from renewable sources such as solar energy. They are also using all sorts of energy saving measures such as energy-efficient lighting and windows, central lighting control systems and the largest heating and cooling system in Europe that reduces energy consumption by two-thirds.

Nature

It was really important for the creators of Costa Navarino to protect the nature around the destination. This meant taking care of important habitats along the coast, wetlands and forested areas.

Developers often just mow down trees that are in the way of their plans but, during the building of Costa Navarino, the largest replant program of olive trees in Europe took place. More than 5,500 olive and fruit trees were carefully uprooted and replanted in their final positions around the site. During the construction of the resort’s golf course alone, more than 1,000 mature olive trees – some more than 500 years old – were saved and transplanted along the perimeter.

Costa Navarino is working with the Hellenic Ornithological Society to upgrade the nearby River Sellas wetlands, including the seeding of native plants to enrich the flora and to help the river’s ecosystem.

Around the hotels, self-sown plants adapted to the local climate, have been used in landscaping and all fertilisers are organic.

Recycling

During both the building of Costa Navarino and, now that it is open, there is a big-scale recycling system for paper, packaging, batteries and so on. Around the resort there are recycling bins as well as normal waste bins. A composting facility is also being planned.

Water

Two reservoirs which, together, hold 850,000 cubic metres of water, were built to use some of the excess runoff of nearby rivers during the winter months.

During the building, water recycling and saving measures were used. Now a system is being looked at for treated waste water to be used for irrigation around the resort.

I met Achilles Constantakopoulos, the Greek man behind Costa Navarino, who cares deeply about his homeland and says it was a project that began in the heart. He told First News: “Costa Navarino was developed from the very beginning with the environment in mind when my father started buying land here 25 years ago.

“We are also trying to get our guests to protect and preserve the environment. Next year we will open our NEO (Navarino Environmental Observatory) – a climate research observatory right here – one of the best in the Mediterranean.

“And there’s going to be a great interactive museum that you have to go through to get to our water park. I hope that all the children will see that and then talk to their parents about it. The children are the best way to get the parents. If a child tells the parent: ‘Don’t do that!’ – they won’t.”

by Daisy, 12