A new tourism planning framework has caused confusion about a 25-meter coastal zone. The Ministry of Environment says this rule does not allow hotels to be built closer to the water. Instead, the first 25 meters from the shoreline will be off-limits for new construction and landscaping, and the existing 50-meter rule for main hotel buildings still applies.
If you saw headlines saying Greece will let hotels be built within 25 meters of the sea, there is an important detail missing.
It isn’t happening.
The new Special Spatial Planning Framework for Tourism does mention a 25-meter zone from the coastline. However, the Ministry of Environment and Energy (YPEN) has clarified that this does not mean hotels can be built closer to the sea.
Quite the opposite.
The first 25 meters are intended as an extra-protected area where new construction and landscaping are generally not allowed.
So, there will be no new hotels 25 meters from the water. No new pool decks. No big beachfront landscaping projects either.
The first 25 meters belong to the sea.
So where did the 25 meters come from?
The confusion stems from the way the new planning framework describes coastal protection.
Under the existing rules, the main buildings of hotels must remain at least 50 meters from the coastline. YPEN says that requirement remains unchanged.
The new framework adds another layer of protection.
| 0–25 meters | New construction and landscaping prohibited |
| 25–50 meters | Existing planning and environmental restrictions continue to apply |
| 50+ meters | Hotel main buildings may be permitted subject to all applicable planning rules |
The 0 to 25-meter zone is not a new building line. It is an extra protection zone that works with the existing restrictions.
There are only a few exceptions.
These include necessary access for people with disabilities and ambulances, as well as certain coastal works allowed by Greek law.
In other words, the 25-meter rule is not about bringing hotels closer to the beach, but about leaving the beach alone.
The 50-meter hotel rule stays.
YPEN specifically rejects the interpretation that the new framework reduces environmental protection or changes the existing 50-meter requirement.
The ministry says the minimum distance of 50 meters for the main buildings of hotels remains fully in force.
The new 25-meter rule adds to the existing rules instead of replacing them.
This difference is important because a 25-meter protected zone and a 25-meter hotel setback are not the same thing.
One means you can build here.
The other means you cannot build here.
The new framework is meant to do the second one.
More restrictions for pressured islands
The coastal rule is just one part of a wider effort to tighten tourism development rules.
There will also be additional restrictions on the Cyclades and other environmentally sensitive or heavily tourism-dependent islands.
In areas not covered by a plan, the minimum plot size required for development will increase based on the area’s classification, from 8 to 16 stremmata.
For the first time, the framework sets a limit based on the number of beds. In areas where this applies, tourism developments can have a maximum of 100 beds.
The goal is to limit the size of new tourism developments, not to expand them.
So what did change?
The ministry’s message is essentially this:
The 25 meters are not a loophole. They act as a buffer.
The first 25 meters from the coastline become subject to a blanket prohibition on new construction and landscaping, with narrowly defined exceptions. The existing 50-meter requirement for the main buildings of hotels remains in place, while additional restrictions apply in particularly sensitive or heavily developed areas.
This means the new framework adds more rules, not fewer.
Whether those rules will be consistently enforced, and what they will mean in practice for Greece’s already intensely developed tourist coastline, is another question entirely.
But one thing appears clear from the ministry’s clarification:
If you are a hotel developer hoping the new tourism framework lets you build 25 meters from the sea, there is some bad news. Those 25 meters do not belong to you. They belong to the sea.
