Beach access and lounger rules in Greece

Greek law treats the shore and the beach as public property in common use. A beach business does not own the sand its loungers stand on; it holds a concession for a bounded piece of it, on terms Law 5092/2024 sets out.

This page reports what that law's text says, as read on September 24, 2026. The law was published in the Government Gazette, issue A 33, on March 4, 2024, and its codified text can be amended, which is why every statement below carries that reading date.

What the law says a beach is

Article 3 of Law 5092/2024 defines the shore as the strip of land the sea washes at its largest usual waves. The beach is the land zone adjoining the shore, and the law caps its width at 50 meters from the shore's boundary line.

Article 6 places both in the public domain as things in common use, protected and managed by the state's Public Property Service. Beaches designated as tourist public properties are managed instead by the Public Properties Company, and the record does not hold which beaches on the Athens Riviera or Kefalonia fall under which body.

The same article states the main purpose of these common-use things: free and unobstructed access by the public, and the connection of land with sea. Their concession is permitted for use only.

Where a private property sits between the shore and a public road, article 6 requires its owner to provide free passage for safe access to the shore from the road, under planning law. The text read on September 24, 2026 gives no width for that passage, and the record does not hold one.

How much of a beach a business may hold

The law sets out two routes to a concession. Article 9 covers beach sections the Ministry of National Economy and Finance designates for electronic auction; article 11 covers concessions to a business or association adjacent to the beach.

Under article 9, each auctioned section may not exceed 500 square meters, and at least 6 meters must separate one conceded section from the next. The total conceded under articles 9 and 11 together may not cover more than 50 percent of the area or of the frontage length of the distinct section of beach.

Under article 11, an adjacent business's section is bounded by the projection of its own premises perpendicular to the shoreline and by a line parallel to the shoreline 4 meters from it. The conceded area may not exceed 500 square meters, and in combination with other concessions at least 50 percent of the area or frontage of the distinct beach section must stay free.

Article 11 allows a larger area for certain hotel and complex tourist accommodation categories, provided the same 50 percent stays free. Where adjacent businesses run one after another, it requires a free zone at least 6 meters wide between their boundaries, a width halved where a business's frontage is under 6 meters.

Articles 9 and 11 both bar a concession where the shore is less than 4 meters long or wide, or where its total area is under 150 square meters. Article 11 carves out operating licenses already in force, until they expire, and hotel accommodation.

What a concession holder must leave clear

Article 8 lists the concession holder's obligations. The first is to secure free, unobstructed and safe passage of the public on the shore and the beach.

Umbrellas, loungers, sea-recreation craft and other movable items may cover no more than 60 percent of the conceded area. On a protected beach, one inside a Natura 2000 area under article 4, the cap is 30 percent.

The law states the purpose of that cap: passage for the public both perpendicular and parallel to the sea, and a free zone along the shoreline at least 4 meters wide. The 4-meter figure is a minimum in the text, not a fixed width.

Article 8 also requires the holder to clean the conceded section daily and, on beaches the ministry designates, to install access platforms for people with disabilities. It requires a sign in a visible spot that gives electronic access to the concession's details: coordinates, the concession decision number, and the rights and obligations of the public and the holder.

Article 4 names a further category, high-protection beaches, which the text calls "untouched beaches." No concession of use is permitted on them, and the list of beaches that qualify sits in separate regulatory acts the record does not hold.

The sign, the QR code and MyCoast

Article 16 sets up the electronic complaints system. The public has electronic access to the diagram of each conceded section through a QR code, read with free software on phones, tablets and computers.

The QR code for each concession is posted on the ministry's website and the municipality's website, and must appear on the beach's sign. The software lets anyone who sees an arbitrary occupation of shore, or a concession exceeding its bounds, send a complaint directly.

MyCoast is the name of the government app built for this system. Its official page could not be reached when checked on September 24, 2026, so the record does not hold its current feature list or the wording of its complaint form.

A joint ministerial decision, 57878/2024, published in Gazette issue B 2419 on April 22, 2024, specifies general terms for concessions and for preserving common use. The record does not hold its text, and nothing on this page draws on it.

What happens after a violation

Under article 18, where shore is occupied without a concession or beyond one, the Public Property Service issues an act of immediate removal. A sealed area carries a sign stating the sealing, its reason and the ban on entry, in at least Greek and English.

Article 18 also requires the violation to be noted on the beach's sign, on the municipality's website and on the ministry's website. Article 19 sets fines, and for occupation beyond a concession the fine is four times the concession consideration for the area not covered by a valid contract.

Article 12 lets the conceding body terminate a concession for serious violations. Those include a second occupation beyond the conceded section by more than 50 percent of the concession, and a failure to post the sign after two warnings three days apart.

What the law, as read, does not settle

Whether a visitor may set a personal umbrella inside a conceded section is not addressed in the articles read on September 24, 2026. Whether a business may tie lounger use to a purchase is not addressed there either, and the record does not hold an answer to either question.

The record also does not hold how often inspections happen on any given beach. Article 17 assigns inspection duties; it does not publish a schedule.

What the record holds on the ground

The site's record holds a beach club at Vouliagmeni on the Athens Riviera, on the July 2026 card record, and a beach club on Antisamos on Kefalonia, in July 2026. It holds nothing about either club's concession, footprint or compliance with any figure above, and this page claims nothing about them.

Lounger and club charges at those places are ledger figures. They sit on the site's cost pages, starting from what Greece costs, and this page does not restate them.

The Riviera is the mainland coast south of the capital, and the Athens airport page covers the gateway that serves it. Kefalonia is an island page with its own arrival question, set out on the Kefalonia airport page and, for the sea route, on ferries and island-hopping.

Article 6 frames beach access as passage from a public road. Reaching that road on an island is a driving question, and driving in Greece sets out the car rental and license rules that bear on it.

The free share of a beach under the law is defined by what is absent from it: no umbrellas, no loungers. The July heat page holds what the record says about midday conditions, and the wider planning section holds the rest of the site's rule explainers.