# Buying in Apokoronas: the villages between Chania and Rethymno, and the plan that will decide what can be built

> Green, spring-watered and on the airport's side of Chania, Apokoronas has a settled foreign community. What the municipality actually is, who lives there in winter, what the Local Urban Plan being drawn up in 2025–26 may change, and the checks that matter most on a village or hillside house.

- Canonical URL: https://honestcrete.com/buying/buying-in-apokoronas-crete/
- Author: Fotis (Honest Crete, Heraklion)
- Section: Buying property in Crete · Stage: Deciding
- Rules verified: October 2026 · Updated: 2026-10-25 · Published: 2026-10-25
- How to cite: "Honest Crete — Buying in Apokoronas: the villages between Chania and Rethymno, and the plan that will decide what can be built (rules verified October 2026), https://honestcrete.com/buying/buying-in-apokoronas-crete/"
- Disclosure: Honest Crete does not sell or list property and nobody here is an estate agent. Enquiries sent from this section go to a licensed, registered estate agent, not to us. No article names a developer or a specific property. Adverts on these pages are labelled as adverts and buy no say in the text.
- Sources:
  - Municipality of Apokoronas, Local Urban Plan (ΤΠΣ) public presentation, Vrysses, 1 September 2025 (read October 2026) — six municipal units (Armenoi, Asi Gonia, Vamos, Georgioupoli, Kryonerida, Fre) covering about 315 km²; Vrysses the seat with 812 residents in 2021; approved town plans for Kalyves (ΦΕΚ 296/Δ/1999), Almyrida, Georgioupoli and Kavros; settlement limits to be redrawn in the study's second stage under the presidential decree of 11.04.2025 (ΦΕΚ 194/Δ/2025): up to 2,000 residents in the 1981 and 2021 censuses, at least 10 buildings or a shared or public function, all evidence older than 1985; the Special Environmental Study (ΕΠΜ 9β) for the Natura areas marked «Προς έγκριση»; forest map for areas of the Chania regional unit ratified by ΦΕΚ 901/Δ/28.11.2022; wildlife refuges of 9,196 and 13,265 stremmata; Georgioupoli–Lake Kournas wetland measures (ΦΕΚ 569/Β/1992) and ΖΟΕ (ΦΕΚ 211/Δ/1990); Fylaki and Patima listed as traditional settlements; plan approved by presidential decree: https://apokoronas.gov.gr/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025_09_01_Παρουσίαση_Αρχική_ΑΠΟΚΟΡΩΝΑ.pdf
  - Municipality of Apokoronas, mayor's statement on the Local Urban Plan (December 2025, read October 2026) — three alternative scenarios presented on 11.12.2025; the municipality asks for 14 tourism and second-home zones, for a second-home zone near Plaka, Kokkino Chorio and Kampia to be examined, for housing in some Natura and livestock zones, and for building rights on land declassified from forest after objections; it opposes the scenario raising minimum plot sizes, high-voltage pylons and wind turbines: https://apokoronas.gov.gr/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/ΔΤ-ΔΗΜΑΡΧΟΣ-ΑΠΟΚΟΡΩΝΟΥ-ΤΠΣ.pdf
  - ELSTAT, permanent population by municipality, 2021 census (17 March 2023, read October 2026) — Municipality of Apokoronas 12,247 in 2021 against 12,807 in 2011; Municipality of Chania 111,375: https://elstat-outsourcers.statistics.gr/Census2022_GR.pdf
  - Municipality of Apokoronas, Vamos municipal unit (read October 2026) — Vamos about 25 km from Chania, with a health centre and schools from nursery to upper secondary; Plaka (with Almyrida), Gavalochori, Kefalas, Kokkino Chorio and Douliana in the unit: https://apokoronas.gov.gr/d-e-vamou/
  - Municipality of Apokoronas, Armenoi municipal unit (read October 2026) — Kalyves «στη νότια ακτή του εξωτερικού κόλπου της Σούδας», on the southern shore of the outer Souda Gulf; Stylos among the unit's villages: https://apokoronas.gov.gr/d-e-armenon/
  - Municipality of Apokoronas, Georgioupoli municipal unit (read October 2026) — Lake Kournas «η μοναδική φυσική λίμνη στην Κρήτη», part of the Natura 2000 network; Kournas in the unit, Kavros the beach settlement north of it: https://apokoronas.gov.gr/d-e-georgioupolis/
  - Municipality of Apokoronas, Kryonerida municipal unit (read October 2026) — Vrysses the municipal seat, near the main Chania–Rethymno road, with schools of every level to vocational lyceum, a police station, a fire brigade unit and a medical clinic: https://apokoronas.gov.gr/d-e-kryoneridas/
  - Municipality of Apokoronas, fire protection of properties in and near forest land (29 March 2024, read October 2026) — decision ΥΠΕΝ/ΔΑΟΚΑ/55904/2019/19-05-2023, ΦΕΚ Β' 3475/24.05.2023; covers buildings in forest land or within 300 m of it, and in or within 300 m of reforestation areas; risk assessment form, technical report and owner's declaration; passive and active measures from 31/03/2025 (high risk) and 31/03/2026 (low and medium): https://apokoronas.gov.gr/efarmogi-tou-kanonismou-pyroprostasias-akiniton-entos-kai-plision-dasikon-ektaseon/
  - ΔΕΥΑ Αποκορώνου, municipal water and sewerage enterprise (read October 2026) — organising the municipality's water services since 2024; offices in Vamos, Vrysses, Kavros and Kalyves; December 2025 call for urgent water works in the Armenoi unit: https://www.deyaa.gr/
  - Bank of Greece (15 September 2026, read October 2026) — residential property price indices, Q2 2026: apartments +7.1% year-on-year in other areas of Greece and +5.4% in other cities, after 2025 averages of +9.6% and +10.3%; national +5.5%: https://www.bankofgreece.gr/en/news-and-media/press-office/news-list/news?announcement=ac5ae869-3e94-4550-b486-ef00c4292e07
  - Mononews, citing Spitogatos (19 August 2026) — Q2 2026 asking prices: Crete €2,250/m², +6.9% year-on-year and +50% over five years; Chania regional unit €3,102/m², Rethymno €2,202, Heraklion €2,200, Lasithi €1,944; no figures for areas within Chania: https://www.mononews.gr/oikonomia/spitogatos-anodos-stis-times-akiniton-sta-ellinika-nisia-to-v-trimino-tou-2026-i-antiparos-prosperase-ti-mykono
  - GOV.UK (27 December 2018) — the British ambassador's Crete outreach began in Apokoronas, meeting the mayor and speaking to a large audience of UK nationals at the town hall; over 400 UK nationals reached in two days: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hma-kate-smith-meets-with-expats-in-crete

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Apokoronas is the green, spring-watered stretch of Chania prefecture between the White Mountains and Souda Bay, with a settled foreign community: when the British ambassador toured Crete in 2018 to talk to UK nationals about Brexit, the tour began in Apokoronas. It is a good place to buy a house that already exists and a slower one to buy land, because the rules on what may be built are being redrawn. Checked in October 2026 against the municipality's planning documents, the 2021 census, the Bank of Greece, portal data and the national planning rules.

I am not a lawyer, an engineer or a valuer, and this is not legal, planning or investment advice. What a specific plot or house allows is a question for the planning office and your own engineer, answered in writing.

**Apokoronas in one minute.** A municipality of about **315 km²** east of Chania, in **six municipal units**: Armenoi (with Kalyves), Vamos (with Plaka, Almyrida, Gavalochori, Kefalas and Kokkino Chorio), Georgioupoli (with Kournas and Kavros), Kryonerida (with **Vrysses**, the seat), Fre and Asi Gonia. The **2021 census** counted **12,247** residents, down from **12,807** in 2011. Vamos is about **25 km** from Chania and has a **health centre**; the hospital is in Chania. The planning study lists approved town plans only for **Kalyves, Almyrida, Georgioupoli and Kavros**; the rest is village land or open country under the national rules. A **Local Urban Plan** for the whole municipality was still being studied in 2025–26 and changes nothing until a **presidential decree** approves it. The **forest map** was ratified for areas of Chania prefecture in **2022**. Asking prices across Chania prefecture averaged about **€3,100/m²** in mid-2026; no official figure exists for Apokoronas alone.

## What Apokoronas is, and who lives there in February

The coast is Kalyves, on the southern shore of the outer Souda Gulf, Almyrida, which belongs to Plaka, and Georgioupoli and Kavros further east. Behind them rise the villages in the [guide to Vamos and the Apokoronas villages](https://honestcrete.com/guides/vamos-and-the-apokoronas-villages/), with Vamos, the old capital, at their centre, and Lake Kournas, which the municipality calls the only natural lake in Crete. Vrysses, near the main Chania–Rethymno road, is the municipal seat.

The winter population is smaller than the summer suggests: [ELSTAT](https://elstat-outsourcers.statistics.gr/Census2022_GR.pdf) counted 12,247 permanent residents in 2021, about 4% fewer than in 2011, and Vrysses had 812. Year-round services sit in the two old centres. The [municipality lists](https://apokoronas.gov.gr/d-e-vamou/) a health centre and schools from nursery to upper secondary in Vamos, and schools to vocational lyceum, a police station, a fire brigade unit and a medical clinic in Vrysses. The general hospital is in Chania.

The draw shows on a map: Chania airport is on the Akrotiri peninsula, on this side of the city, and the [airport guide](https://honestcrete.com/guides/chania-airport-to-your-resort/) computes about 40 minutes to Kalyves and an hour to Georgioupoli, free-flowing, because the drive never crosses town. A community followed, and [GOV.UK records](https://www.gov.uk/government/news/hma-kate-smith-meets-with-expats-in-crete) that the UK ambassador's 2018 outreach visit began in Apokoronas, including a talk to a large audience at the town hall.

## The plan being drawn, and what it may change

The rules on what can be built here are being rewritten. A [Local Urban Plan](https://apokoronas.gov.gr/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/2025_09_01_Παρουσίαση_Αρχική_ΑΠΟΚΟΡΩΝΑ.pdf) (Τοπικό Πολεοδομικό Σχέδιο, ΤΠΣ) for the whole municipality is a Ministry of Environment study, and it will set land uses, building rules, settlement boundaries and protected areas once a presidential decree approves it. It was presented in Vrysses on 1 September 2025, three alternative scenarios followed on 11 December 2025, and the study's timetable ran into 2026.

The municipality's December statement shows what is at stake. It asks for fourteen tourism and second-home zones, from Kalyves and Almyrida to Vrysses and Asi Gonia, and for a second-home zone near Plaka, Kokkino Chorio and Kampia to be examined; it wants housing allowed in some livestock and Natura zones and building rights on land declassified from forest after an objection; and it opposes the scenario that would raise minimum plot sizes, as well as high-voltage pylons and wind turbines. None of this is law. Until the decree is published, today's rules apply, and a plot priced on what a scenario might allow is priced on a draft.

## Village, town plan or open country

The study lists approved town plans for Kalyves (ΦΕΚ 296/Δ/1999), Almyrida, Georgioupoli and Kavros. Everywhere else is inside a village's settlement limit or outside any plan, where the national rules apply: a minimum plot, a capped house size and frontage on a lawful public road, all explained in [buying land to build in Crete](https://honestcrete.com/buying/buying-land-to-build-in-crete/). The settlement limits themselves are to be redrawn in the study's second stage under the presidential decree of 11 April 2025 (ΦΕΚ 194/Δ/2025): up to 2,000 people in the 1981 and 2021 censuses, ten buildings or a public function, evidence older than 1985.

Two local layers sit on top. Around Georgioupoli and Lake Kournas, a Controlled Housing Zone (ΖΟΕ, ΦΕΚ 211/Δ/1990) and wetland protection measures add their own limits, and the plan's study lists Fylaki and Patima as designated traditional settlements. For an existing house, the question is the permit file: anything built beyond it falls under [the rules on illegal constructions](https://honestcrete.com/buying/illegal-constructions-afthaireta-crete/).

## Forest, fire and protected land

The forest map for areas of Chania prefecture was ratified by ΦΕΚ 901/Δ/28.11.2022, and on it an olive grove can still be forest. Two wildlife refuges cover large areas, Stylos–Katochori–Armenoi–Keramia at 9,196 stremmata and Lake Kournas at 13,265, and the lake is a Natura 2000 site. A Special Environmental Study for the Natura areas, still awaiting approval in September 2025, proposes protection and use sub-zones; [Natura 2000 land in Crete](https://honestcrete.com/buying/natura-2000-land-in-crete/) explains what that zoning does to a plot.

Wooded slopes bring the fire rules. The [municipality's guidance](https://apokoronas.gov.gr/efarmogi-tou-kanonismou-pyroprostasias-akiniton-entos-kai-plision-dasikon-ektaseon/) on the forest-property fire regulation (ΦΕΚ Β' 3475/2023) covers buildings inside forest land or within 300 metres of it, and in or near reforestation zones. A house in pine above the coast needs the engineer's assessment and the measures in [wildfire risk and a rural home](https://honestcrete.com/buying/wildfire-risk-rural-property-crete/).

Water is a municipal service. Since 2024 the [municipality's own water and sewerage enterprise](https://www.deyaa.gr/), ΔΕΥΑ Αποκορώνου, has run it, with offices in Vamos, Vrysses, Kavros and Kalyves, and in December 2025 it tendered urgent water works in the Armenoi unit. Ask it, and the neighbours, what the supply does in August, and whether the house has a cistern.

## What the price data can say

There is no official price series for Apokoronas. The [Bank of Greece index](https://www.bankofgreece.gr/en/news-and-media/press-office/news-list/news?announcement=ac5ae869-3e94-4550-b486-ef00c4292e07) for apartments in the "other areas" of Greece, outside Athens, Thessaloniki and the other cities, rose 7.1% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2026 after 9.6% in 2025. Property-portal figures reported in the Greek press put the average asking price for the whole Chania prefecture at about €3,102 per square metre in mid-2026, the highest on the island, against about €2,250 for Crete. Apokoronas sits inside that figure and can be far from it in either direction.

## The honest downside

The plan is the risk and the opportunity at once: until the decree is published, nobody can say whether a plot outside a village will gain a second-home zone or lose to a larger minimum size, and Greek planning studies take years. The population is shrinking slowly, the coast is quieter in winter, and serious medical care means the drive to Chania. A house on a wooded slope carries fire duties that are yearly and real. And prices are set by the Chania market, not by the village, so a house here is rarely the bargain its stone walls suggest.

*Disclosure:* Disclosure: Honest Crete does not sell or list property. Enquiries sent from this section go to a licensed estate agent, not to us; the full statement is below. Nothing in this article names a developer, a property, an agent or any other business; the Municipality of Apokoronas, ΔΕΥΑ Αποκορώνου, ELSTAT, the Bank of Greece and the Ministry of Environment are named as the public institutions they are.

**The verdict.** **Worth it if** you want an existing house in or near a living village, such as Vamos, Vrysses, Kalyves or Georgioupoli, with its permit file in order, and you can wait for the plan before buying land. **Skip it if** your purchase depends on building outside a village, or on a zone the Local Urban Plan has not yet adopted: in Apokoronas in 2026, that is a bet on a draft.

## Quick answers

**Which villages are in the Apokoronas municipality?**

The Municipality of Apokoronas has six municipal units: Armenoi, which includes Kalyves and Stylos; Vamos, which includes Plaka, Almyrida, Gavalochori, Kefalas and Kokkino Chorio; Georgioupoli, which includes Kournas and Kavros; Kryonerida, with Vrysses, the municipal seat; Fre; and Asi Gonia. Together they cover about 315 square kilometres east of Chania.

**How many people live in Apokoronas?**

The 2021 census counted 12,247 permanent residents in the Municipality of Apokoronas, down from 12,807 in 2011, according to ELSTAT. Vrysses, the municipal seat, had 812. The census counts permanent residents only, which makes it the better guide to what a village is like in winter.

**Can I build a house on a plot in Apokoronas?**

The municipality's planning study lists approved town plans only for Kalyves, Almyrida, Georgioupoli and Kavros; most plots in Apokoronas are inside a village boundary or outside any plan, where the national outside-plan rules on plot size and road frontage apply. A Local Urban Plan for the whole municipality was still being studied in 2025–26 and will change the rules only once a presidential decree approves it. Get the building terms in writing from the planning office before paying a deposit.

**What is the Apokoronas Local Urban Plan?**

The Apokoronas Local Urban Plan (ΤΠΣ) is a Ministry of Environment study that will set land uses, building rules and settlement boundaries for the whole municipality, approved by presidential decree. Three alternative scenarios were presented on 11 December 2025, and the municipality has asked for second-home and tourism zones and opposed larger minimum plot sizes. Until the decree is issued, the current rules apply.

**Is there a health centre in Apokoronas?**

Yes. The municipality lists a health centre in Vamos, alongside schools from nursery to upper secondary, and a medical clinic in Vrysses. The general hospital for the area is in Chania.

**Are property prices in Apokoronas known?**

No official price series exists for Apokoronas alone. The Bank of Greece publishes indices for broad areas of Greece, and portal data put the average asking price for the whole Chania prefecture at about €3,100 per square metre in mid-2026. A village house or a hillside villa in Apokoronas can sit far from that average in either direction.