Where to stay in Kalamata

Kalamata is two unusually separate places, and the where-to-stay question here is simply which of them you want to walk out into in the evening. They are a couple of kilometres apart, which is far enough to matter.

The seafront, which is where the city relaxes. A four-kilometre run of beach, marina and promenade, lined with cafes and busy every evening. Basing here means you swim from the door, you eat where the city eats, and the sea is the last thing you see. It is the choice for most visitors and it is the reason a lot of people rate Kalamata more highly than its sight-list suggests.

The old town, a couple of kilometres inland. The historic centre, with the castle on its hill, the church of the Holy Apostles, the Byzantine museum and the covered market. Basing here puts you among the things worth seeing and in the part of the city that does its business.

Why the split is so clean, and why it matters. The 1986 earthquake destroyed much of the old fabric, which is why the two halves feel different in age rather than blending into each other. You are choosing between two characters, not two ends of one high street.

What you are really booking, though. Kalamata is mostly a base. It has the airport, the hotels and the road connections for a region with a great deal in it, and almost everything in the southwest is within about an hour: the Mani and Kardamyli south along the coast, Koroni and Methoni southwest, with Pylos and the Palace of Nestor beyond them. If your days are going to be spent driving out and coming back, easy parking and a fast exit matter as much as the view.

Which points to a simple rule. If the trip is the region, take the seafront and treat the evening swim as the reward for a day in the car. If the trip is the city, take the old town. Either way you are within a short move of the other half.

How long. Long enough to use the region rather than the city: this is somewhere to sleep for several nights while the days go elsewhere, which is an unusual and useful thing for a Greek city to be.

We name no hotel on this page. Properties in a city this size change hands, and the site’s venue standard needs two independent platforms and a review floor this listing does not verify. What lasts is the two halves above. Our Kalamata guide has the practicalities, things to do covers the castle and the market, and the beaches cover the front and the coast south of it.