I don’t know many beaches in the world that can boast being backed by a huge canyon, and that’s only one of the things that makes Gjipe Beach special. The cliff walls are lined with small sea caves and the water is an exquisite shade of blue. It’s definitely one of the most stunning beaches in all of Albania.
It’s one fault - if you can call it that - is that it’s pebbly, but that’s what makes the water so blue and in fairness, no beach in Himare is sandy!
Alas, it’s no secret and it does get busy in peak season, but as it’s larger and requires a bit of effort to get to, it’s nowhere near as crowded as many other beaches in the area.
Here’s everything you need to know about visiting one of Himare’s best beaches.
Visiting Gjipe Beach
Though you have many options, Gjipe Beach requires a little more effort to reach than most, however, it’s more than worth it.
If you want to spend a decent amount of time at the beach we would recommend walking or coming under your own steam by boat as the tours don’t spend a lot of time here.
However, if you simply want to see it and spend a little bit of time on the beach the tours are a low cost, low effort option.
Your options for getting there
On foot
The most popular way to get to Gjipe Beach is on foot and we’ll go over the full route in the trail notes below. In short, you’re following a 4WD track downhill for 1.6km.
There is little to no shade and it’s a fairly hefty climb on the way back up.
By boat
The second most popular way to arrive is by boat. Whether you go on one of the boat tours, or hire your own boat or kayak.
If coming by kayak you probably want to look at hiring it in Jale Beach which is the closest beach to Gjipe we know of that rents kayaks and will therefore be the quickest option. If you’re in a kayak or on a boat tour you can come right up to the beach, if you hire your own boat you need to anchor it before the ropes and swim to the beach.
Just a quick word of warning on the kayak option, large speed boats do zip up and down the water between Himare and Gjipe and they leave gigantic wakes, so you probably want to be pretty comfortable on a kayak to really enjoy it.
By 4WD
The least popular option is by 4WD and that’s probably because you don’t just need to hire a 4WD, which is expensive, you also need to be confident driving on a steep road with few places to pass other cars coming in the opposite direction.
We only saw a couple of Albanians drive, no tourists. If you’re not ultra confident on steep unsealed mountain roads with a huge unfenced drop to one side you are probably going to find it very stressful.
The walk to Gjipe Beach
The stats
Distance: 1.6km each way (3.2km return)
Elevation gain: 120m
Difficulty: Moderate due to the lack of shade on the climb back out
Trailhead: Gjipe Beach Parking
The trail
The easiest way to get to Gjipe Beach on foot is by following the 4WD road which usually has little to no cars on it. You begin the walk from the all day parking area (more details on that at the end of the post).
From the southwest side of the car park (furthest side from the road) you will head on to the wide unsealed road which leads gently downhill.
It’s pretty much downhill all the way but some sections are steeper than others. Footing is generally good so you don’t need to worry about loose terrain. It’s not a scenic walk for the most part, but when you do reach the sea views they are gorgeous.
Look out for the old bunkers on the right after 900m, there are quite a few in quick succession. The very last hundred metres or so to the beach is very steep, but again, it’s not slippery, so it’s still easy to get down.
The views from the top of this steep section are exquisite and you can get some great birdseye view photos.
The hardest thing about the walk is that there is almost no shade at all.
That was fine on the way when going downhill, but the last 500m or so when going back uphill to the car park under the 37C sun was intense. I’d definitely recommend bringing a hat if you’re planning to walk in the main heat of the day.
Gjipe Beach
Gjipe Beach is stunning, bookended by craggy headlands and backed by the dramatic canyon. The crystal clear water is so inviting and the south eastern side of the beach is peppered with small sea caves.
Some are on land and offer a little pocket of shade, while others can be swum out to if it’s not too wavy.
Alas, as with most beaches in the area there are also a lot of sun loungers.
While I prefer a natural beach, I have seen pictures of Gjipe before the sun loungers and it was full of tents which is far less picturesque, so though I would prefer au natural, it is prettier than it used to be!
There are two small bars but they weren’t playing loud music and they are located at the back of the beach so they don’t intrude too much.
Swimming at Gjipe Beach
In terms of swimming, it’s a little more wavy than say the nearby sheltered cove of Aquarium Bay, but still relatively calm and the water is mesmerising. It’s almost like swimming in gatorade and the awe of it didn’t wear off all day!
My favourite places to swim were at the far south eastern side (the furthest away from the road/path) where you could access all the little sea caves, and the far north western side (just below the road/path) which had a huge cliff wall that added the most amazing backdrop.
The wall was popular with cliff jumpers at points so you have to time it right if you want to swim. At times it was completely empty and when that was the case it’s pretty unbeatable.
As the beach is pebbly you might want water shoes as it’s pretty painful to walk up and down the beach barefoot.
Gjipe Canyon
The canyon can be found at the back of the beach and is accessed by walking through the campground. At the right side of the campground (with your back to the sea) it opens out onto a wide gravel track and you can follow this towards the huge canyon walls.
You can access the canyon from above too, parking at the top of the road where you can see the sign that says ‘canyon path’.
Personally we walked in from the beach and managed around 1km before we turned around. At this point there was a lot of water around and the mud was like clay which was banana skin slippery. Going further also necessitated climbing larger boulders.
Up until this point it’s much easier, with a wide rocky track for the first 500m and then some bigger rocks to clamber over.
Wherever there was mud it was extremely slick, but you could avoid the worst of it most of the time in the early part of the canyon. I imagine later into the summer it would have fully dried out and would be much easier.
There’s a particularly nice section of canyon wall around 920m in and it was 80m beyond this that the bigger boulders and pools came in (there would almost certainly be no pools later into the summer).
I’d read that if you continued further you would reach steeper sections with ropes but unfortunately we didn’t get to see it for ourselves.
If you’re looking for more fun things to do in Himare, we have you covered in this guide.
Facilities at Gjipe Beach
There are sun loungers available for hire which in June were going for 10 Euros, but may be more expensive in July and August. The small cafes were not too expensive, you can see one of the menus in the photo below.
There are toilets at the campground and I imagine you can use them if you buy a drink from their bar. The campground looked very rustic but it’s in a gorgeous setting.
There are showers available but understandably, no wifi. There was some rubbish around on our visit which is a shame and gave the back of the beach an unkempt air.
Unfortunately rubbish was a bit of an issue in many places we visited in Albania, something I hope the increased tourist dollars can go some way to helping in the future.
Parking at and getting to Gjipe Beach car park
The closest car park before the unsealed road down to the beach can be found on Google maps here. Once you leave the main road it’s mainly single track with limited passing places. Some people really freaked out on this road and made it very hard to pass and I can imagine it would be even worse in July and August. If you don’t need to pass anyone it’s a very easy drive on a fully paved road.
The current car parking fee is 500 Lek (5 Euros) for the whole day. If you only want to go for a few hours the price remains the same.
It’s around a 25 minute drive from the centre of Himare and 15 minutes from Dhërmi.
Where to stay in Himare
We stayed at Wait and Sea Hotel which was a five minute drive from town, close to Livadhi Beach. We picked it for the sublime views and they didn’t disappoint. It is sparkling blue sea and hundreds of olive trees as far as the eye can see.
You also got to hear plenty of birdlife instead of the city hustle and bustle which made it really relaxing. The room we initially booked was very small, but we were kindly upgraded to a much bigger room which was great as we hadn’t realised how small the original room we booked was.
The bathroom was fab with a great shower that doesn’t flood the room - a very common problem in Albania! The host (and his family) is so lovely and will go out of his way to help you. Brekkie and parking is included. It’s also a few minutes walk from the best restaurant we visited in all of Albania (the Fig and Olive).
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Everything you need to know about hiring a boat and exploring the epic beaches and sea caves of Himare without a guide. We’re sharing exactly what we paid and what to expect as well as all the stops you can make and tips for avoiding the crowds.