Uniquely, the 2026 Asian Games will utilize the Costa Serena cruise ship as the official athletes' village.

The 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games will introduce a different accommodation concept compared to all previous editions. Organisers have selected cruise ships to operate as floating athlete residences to house thousands of athletes and officials throughout Asia's largest multi-sport event.

This unique concept was publicised by the Indonesian National Team via a post on their official Instagram account @timindonesiaofficial, featuring the Costa Serena cruise vessel. This ship will dock at Nagoya Port and function as one of the official accommodation hubs for event participants during the Asian Games.

The decision to utilise cruise ships for athlete accommodation was not an impulsive one. This plan was first announced by the organising committee in May 2024, before the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) released full detailed specifications for this arrangement in April 2025.

Cruise Ships As Replacement For Permanent Athlete Villages

Unlike most international multi-sport events that construct dedicated permanent athlete village complexes, the 2026 Asian Games organising committee chose not to pursue this approach. Excessively high construction costs were stated as the primary reason for this decision.

As an alternative, cruise ships were selected as a temporary accommodation solution, assessed as far more cost efficient while still fully capable of meeting the living requirements of thousands of event participants.

According to official OCA briefings, the Costa Serena is configured to accommodate approximately 4,600 athletes and officials competing across 20 sports, the majority of which have competition venues located within the Nagoya Port surrounding area.

These sports include archery, 3x3 basketball, canoe sprint, mountain biking, BMX Racing, men's football, gymnastics, handball, judo, rowing, rugby, sepak takraw, sport climbing, tennis, weightlifting, wrestling, and wushu.

Athletes' Plaza As Central Participant Activity Hub

Alongside the cruise ship accommodation, organisers also established the Asian Games Villas: temporary residential zones located at Garden Pier. This area will house around 2,400 athletes and officials, while an additional 1,200 participants will be accommodated at designated hotels across Nagoya city.

In total, approximately 8,200 out of the full 15,000 registered athletes and officials will reside within the Nagoya metropolitan area for the duration of the 2026 Asian Games.

Both the Costa Serena cruise ship and Asian Games Villas will operate as part of the integrated Athletes' Plaza zone. The two sites are located approximately 6.5 kilometres apart, connected by dedicated shuttle bus services with an average travel time of 15 minutes.

All core event facilities including National Olympic Committee (NOC) service centres, contingent administration offices, communal dining halls, and athlete transport hubs will be centrally operated at the Garden Pier complex.

Accommodation Distributed Across Five Regional Clusters

To house all participants representing 45 National Olympic Committees, organisers have secured 30 separate accommodation locations divided across five regional clusters: Aichi, Tokyo, Shizuoka, Gifu, and Osaka.

This distributed accommodation layout is aligned with competition venue locations for each sport, designed to minimise travel time and maximise mobility efficiency for athletes and officials throughout the entire competition period.

The 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games is scheduled to take place 19 September – 4 October 2026, and will be one of Asia's largest sporting events bringing together thousands of athletes from across the continent.