Albanian Riviera

Himarë

The drive into Himarë was long and very windy. When you look at the distance on the map, it doesn't seem too far, but once you account for all the switchbacks, it'll take a good few hours. On the drive through Llogara National Park, we climbed so high up the mountain that we were engulfed by heavy grey clouds. Had very limited visibility, and missed most of the beautiful sunset along the coast. However, once you are out of the park you then drive along the Llogara Pass, a long road of switchbacks that descend the mountain, revealing views of South Albania and nearby islands. There is a viewpoint, Panorama Llogara, where you can pull in and walk around the area a little, and another view point below called Big Bunker. I've heard there are a couple hiking trails around here that can take you either up into the mountain, or down to the coast, but I walked neither of them.

We reached our accommodation (more on that below) at night and so didn’t get to view much of Himarë till morning, which is always exciting to wake up to a bright new view. Where we were staying, in Livadi, there weren't a lot of services around (a couple convenience stores and a couple restaurants), so we drove into main Himarë town to walk around a little, and mainly stock up on some groceries. Himarë tourist district is full of beach front bars and cafes, the beaches were wide and empty and the sea was clear and blue. There weren't a lot of corals around, but the occasional large rock had some interesting things living on it. A stroll, a swim, and a sunbathe later we headed back to our accommodation with some groceries and made ourselves a picnic. We were headed on a short hike over a cliff head to reach a small cove is supposed to be only reachable by foot. However, with the expanding tourism and infrastructure work we did cross road works where dirt roads were being widened, and some off-road cars were able to make it over to the cove. I guess since all tourists are lured by the idea of a 'secret cove' this cove was actually quite busy when we arrived, with multiple people setting up tents and campfires with the intention to stay the night.

The walk to the cove from Livadi is about 30 minutes, and along a dirt track. There are 2 coves next to each other (find them on my map). They are clearly signed on the track. The first cove you come across is for Aquarium Beach. You will have to divert off the main track a little and then make a steep decline down to the cove itself. This cove is really well sheltered, but doesn't get much evening sun. We saw people fishing and cliff jumping around this area. The second cove, Votsalo Beach or Ksabni Beach, is immediately off the main track itself a couple of meters after the turning for Aquarium Beach. This cove is more open and flat. We stayed till sunset and then walked back home, showered, and headed out to Livadi beach for dinner. There are loads of restaurants along the beach front, but only about 3 of them were open and serving during our stay.

We only had 2 nights on the coast, so on our last day, after check-out we swam and sunbathed along Livadi beach, which is also a long wide beach just like in main town Himarë. Around midday, we started to make our way back to Tirana (4h), stopping by Vlore for a late lunch, before reaching Tirana again. We were only in Tirana for the night, as our flight home was the following morning. So we went out to a bar and had a couple shots of Raki before getting ourselves a late night kebab and then bed.