Cremation in Greece for Foreigners: Costs, Laws, and the Ritsona Facility

Greece only legalized cremation in 2006, and the country's first operational cremation facility didn't open until September 2019. If your family member has died in Greece and you're weighing cremation against repatriation or local burial, the process is more tightly regulated than what you're used to in the United States — and there's only one facility in the entire country that can do it.

The Ritsona Cremation Center: Greece's Only Option

The Ritsona Cremation Center (Kentro Anatropis Nekron, or KAN) sits about 80 kilometers north of Athens in Evia. It's operated by Crem Services SA, and it handles every cremation performed in Greece — for Greek citizens and foreigners alike.

You cannot book directly with Ritsona. A licensed Greek funeral director must coordinate the entire process: scheduling, permits, transport of the remains, and delivery of the ashes. If you don't already have a funeral home engaged, the U.S. Embassy in Athens provides a vetted list of funeral directors with international shipping experience.

The cremation itself takes two to three hours. Ashes are processed in a cremulator and returned in a sealed urn.

Legal Requirements for Cremation

Greek law imposes two mandatory prerequisites before any cremation can proceed:

Written consent. Either the deceased must have left a notarized written directive expressing their wish for cremation, or the surviving spouse and first-degree relatives must sign a joint solemn declaration (under Greek Law 1599/1986) authorizing the procedure. If first-degree relatives disagree, the local district prosecutor issues a binding ruling.

Forensic cremation certificate. A licensed Greek forensic pathologist must inspect the remains, confirm that no criminal investigation requires preservation of the body, and certify that medical implants like pacemakers have been removed to prevent explosion during the process.

These aren't optional. Without both documents, the Ritsona facility will not schedule the cremation.

Cremation Costs in Greece

For a death on the Greek mainland near Athens, expect total cremation costs (including funeral director coordination, transport to Ritsona, the cremation fee, and an urn) in the range of €2,500. If the death occurred on a Greek island, add €500 to €1,000 for the ferry or domestic air transfer to the mainland, pushing the total to roughly €3,500.

Ritsona also offers post-cremation options:

• Columbarium storage: €124 to €2,480, depending on lease duration
• Rose garden burial: €124
• Off-site scattering: permitted, with the ashes released to the family

Burial vs. Cremation in Greece

For foreign families, the critical difference isn't cultural — it's logistical.

Local burial in a Greek municipal cemetery means renting a grave plot for a mandatory three-year lease. At the end of three years, the municipality requires exhumation. The bones are cleaned and placed in a metal ossuary box, stored for an ongoing annual fee. If the family doesn't appear for exhumation or stops paying, the remains go into a communal mass grave. Permanent grave plots exist but are exceptionally rare and cost €10,000 to over €40,000 in Athens.

Cremation eliminates that long-term obligation. Once you have the ashes, you can bring them home, store them at Ritsona's columbarium, or scatter them.

Repatriation of the full body to the US costs €4,000 to €5,500 and takes 7 to 10 days, requiring embalming, a zinc-lined casket, and a multi-agency document packet. Repatriating ashes is far simpler — you can hand-carry the urn on your flight home if it's made from a scannable, non-metallic material.

The Island Complication

If a forensic autopsy is legally required and the island lacks a permanent forensic pathologist, the remains must be transferred to the mainland before cremation can be scheduled. Most smaller island airports do not have infrastructure for international casket shipping, so this transfer is handled by ferry or regional flight.

During peak summer tourist season, ferry schedules and forensic staff availability can extend the timeline by two to four weeks beyond what a mainland death would require.

What to Do Next

If you're coordinating a cremation in Greece after the death of a U.S. citizen, the sequence is: retain a Greek funeral director, secure the forensic cremation certificate, obtain written consent documentation, and let the funeral home schedule Ritsona. The U.S. Embassy in Athens should be contacted early — they'll issue the electronic Consular Report of Death Abroad (eCRODA) that you'll need for all U.S.-side legal and insurance matters.

For a complete step-by-step timeline covering the first 72 hours through estate settlement, including document checklists and cost breakdowns for every disposition option, the American Dies in Greece — Family Emergency Guide walks through the entire process.