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Kotychi Lagoon

Photo: RoubinakiM · CC BY-SA 4.0

Greece · Western Greece

Kotychi Lagoon

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Λιμνοθάλασσα Κοτύχι

Kotychi is a lagoon of about 750 hectares in north-western Elis, north of Lechaina described by the national park that protects it as the largest in the Peloponnese. It is shallow, usually under a metre deep, and a narrow sand strip about 5 km long separates it from the Ionian Sea. It is a Ramsar site and part of the Kotychi–Strofylia National Park.

Nature

As the southernmost lagoon on the western migration route of many birds, it is a major resting place on passage and matters for wintering and breeding waterbirds. Flamingos, pelicans, ducks and waders spend the winter here. At Metochi, on the mudflats, collared pratincoles nest in a colony fenced off to keep cattle out, and a pair of white storks nested in 2010, the first in the Peloponnese in decades.

Visit

Swimming

No reliable information

Tips

A boardwalk gives wheelchair-accessible views over the lagoon, with hides for birdwatching, and no entrance fee is charged. Spring and autumn are the best times for birds. The national park’s information centre, with exhibits and educational programmes, is at Lappa in Achaea, and guided tours can be arranged in advance.

Amaliada is about 20 km away and Patras about 40–60 km, depending on the route. Rooms are available in Kalogria, Kyllini, Amaliada and Lechaina, and the Strofylia forest and Kalogria’s beaches are close by.

Nearby lakes

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More lakes in Western Greece

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Sources & data

  1. Greece's 2022 Water Framework Directive reporting to the EEA: lake (LW) and transitional (TW) water bodies, field cArea, European Environment Agency (WISE WFD), reported by Greece, 2022
  2. OpenStreetMap: Λιμνοθάλασσα Κοτύχι (relation 1978334), OpenStreetMap contributors
  3. English Wikipedia: Kotychi, Wikimedia Foundation
  4. Wikidata: Kotychi (Q6434401), Wikimedia Foundation
  5. Kotychi lagoon, Kotychi–Strofylia National Park
  6. Kotychi–Strofylia Wetlands, International Parks
  7. Conservation management in Strofylia–Kotychi, up2europe

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