For two decades, the old Ellinikon International Airport south of Athens sat as a ghost site: rusting Olympic Airways jets on the tarmac, terminals frozen in 2001. Now the 600-acre plot is being reborn as The Ellinikon, a seaside district whose centrepiece, The Ellinikon Park, is shaping up to be one of the most ambitious park projects in Europe.
The scale is striking. Plans call for more than 30,000 trees and around three million plants, all chosen by landscape architects Sasaki for their compatibility with Greek soil and the Mediterranean climate. Sustainability is baked in from the ground up — literally. Salvaged concrete and rubble from the old airfield are being recycled into the park's structural foundations, so the site's aviation past quite literally supports its green future.
The full park is slated to open around 2031, but travellers don't need to wait. The Ellinikon Experience Park is already open daily, offering 75 acres of gardens planted with native Mediterranean species, an interactive water fountain, a children's play area and an outdoor fitness zone. It's a working preview of what's coming: shaded walking plazas, playgrounds, an amphitheatre for live events, and preserved Air Force hangars retained as part of the design.
The location is the real draw for visitors. The site stretches along the southern coast of Athens towards the Athenian Riviera, the glamour strip of beaches and marinas that has been enjoying a resurgence. Once complete, The Ellinikon will also add a large shopping mall and residential neighbourhoods, making it less a park you visit and more a whole new coastal quarter of the city.
Why should this be on your Athens radar? Because the Greek capital already rewards walkers, and this adds a completely new car-free green corridor between the city and the sea. If you're visiting now, the Experience Park makes an easy half-day stop — pair it with the beaches further down the coast towards Glyfada and Vouliagmeni. If you're planning a trip later in the decade, keep an eye on the build-out, because by the time the full park opens it could rank among the world's great examples of adaptive reuse, the practice of giving old structures a new purpose rather than demolishing them.
It's also a rare case where a long-abandoned eyesore becomes a reason to extend an Athens stay rather than rush through it. City break in the morning, coastal park and Riviera swim in the afternoon — that's the pitch, and the first 75 acres are proof it's actually happening.
Story via Islands.
