It doesn’t have a catchy name, but Vaskat Nderlysaj Canyon is one of most incredible swimming spots in all of Albania. The main pool is located at the start of the trail to the Blue Eye and while this one isn’t a secret, few people realise there are many more secluded pools above.
This is where even in peak season you can come to escape the crowds. However, on that note, come early in the day and you can still get the main pool to yourself and that is an experience not to be missed.
The water is crystal clear and an exquisite shade of blue, while the rugged canyon walls create a dramatic setting that is guaranteed to wow you.
Here’s everything you need to know before visiting.
Vaskat Nderlysaj Canyon
Most people come to Nderlysaj (a hamlet just near Theth) with the aim of hiking to the Blue Eye. However, there are several spectacular pools that are a much shorter walk and shouldn’t be missed.
The map below shows all the pools we’re going to talk about in this guide and the walking trails you can take to explore them. Most people visit the main pool after walking to the Blue Eye, so expect it to be quiet in the morning and get progressively busier as the day goes on.
The other pools are less visited, but much smaller, so it won’t take many people for them to feel crowded, though none were during our visit.
The main pool
The main pool (located here on Google maps) is the most spectacular of them all, but it can get busy in the afternoons as most people stop in having just walked back from the Blue Eye.
Come in the morning and you are highly likely to get it to yourself and it may just be the most magical swim you have in all of Albania.
There are some restaurants set slightly back from the pool but once you’re swimming you don’t really notice them too much. Restaurant Lulash Zelna wins the award for the best coffee/breakfast view we had in Albania if you can snag one of the few tables by the water’s edge.
Back to the swimming; to enter the water, it’s easiest to go to Restaurant Lulash Zelna. It’s the last restaurant on the western side of the pool, the opposite side to the road, so you will need to have crossed the bridge. Head to the small white wall and climb down it to access the water. It’s a minor two step scramble.
This allows you easy access to the water, but watch out for beer caps and glass around here as unfortunately some people are completely disrespectful and leave litter.
There is a bridge you can step off instead which avoids the wall, but you’ll enter a much more shallow part of the pool which necessitates a bit of rock shuffling that would be very uncomfortable barefoot.
The route via the wall allows access to deep water straight away simply by stepping off the rocks.
When I think of all the amazing water I saw in Albania, this was probably the most mesmerising. It is so incredibly clear and whether in sun or shadow the shade of blue was special.
There’s a lot of room to swim and if you do come when it’s busy just swim under the bridge and there’s a second pool.
It’s separated by a little boulder you can squeeze past easily enough. The pool is amazing, surrounded by towering canyon walls complete with its own waterfall.
You can continue a little further by climbing between a few boulders and rocks to see a bit more of the canyon.
There is a second much more powerful waterfall back here, but it may be inaccessible depending on the flow. You can see it a little through the rocks, but for me the current was too strong to get closer.
It’s well worth making a little extra effort to see this area and no one at all came through on either of my visits so I had it all to myself, an absolute dream in Albanian summer!
In terms of water temperature our guesthouse host said it was between 7C and 10C depending on the season, but usually around 9C.
So it’s definitely cold but much less so than the Blue Eye. I swam for around 35 minutes easily and generally speaking most people stayed in the water much longer than at other swimming holes we visited.
The pool at 10am
The pool at 3pm
The secret pools above (Rojana Emerald Moon Pools)
If you head up from behind the main pool, past the restaurants, you can get up onto the bridge that spans the gorge.
Cross over the bridge and take the rocky track leading uphill.
Roughly 200m past the bridge you can cut down on the left to reach the water’s edge. Here’s you’ll find a series of small plunge pools inside the swirling walls of the canyon (Google Maps has them labelled as the ‘Rojana Emerald Moon Pools”.
If the flow of the cascades is really powerful, you won’t be able to go in them, but otherwise they are like mini jacuzzis, but so much better because they’re natural!
Just in front of the plunge pools is a larger sparkling blue pool. It’s not overly deep for the most part but it’s a gorgeous spot.
From here you can head onto the gravel road in the direction of the Blue Eye. Continue along the road until you see a collapsed building, it’s 50m before the private car park that the shuttle buses use. You’ll see a trail leading downhill on the left and it takes just a minute to get down to the river.
Here you’ll find more small pools with spectacular mountain views. They are more secluded than the first pools you’ll come to as they can’t easily be seen from the main track.
These first two sets of pools are the most spectacular, but there is another set beside the 4WD private car park. Again you will see a narrow rocky path leading downhill towards the river which takes less than a minute.
It’s very quiet here but you have to go slightly upstream (along the rocky riverbed) to find more pools and they are very small. It’s the ultimate spot for seclusion but definitely only somewhere to sit in the water as the pools are not deep.
If you followed the track further on from the private car park you would reach the Blue Eye after another 1.4km.
Keep them wild
Please remember to take all rubbish with you and keep these places wild and pristine - as with anywhere in the outdoors. It’s important to leave them exactly as you found them so they will remain beautiful for generations to come.
Litter tends to breed litter, so if you do spot any and are able to pick it up and dispose of it outside the area, it will go a long way to keeping the area clean.
Getting to the Vaskat Nderlysaj Canyon
To get to the main pool from which the route to the upper pools begins, you start in the village of Nderlysaj. The walk begins where the road runs out, you can see the location to park here on Google maps. It’s a few minutes walk from this point to the main pool.
As you get closer to the canyon and the start of the Blue Eye track you will see a number of small drinks stalls and bars lining the road. All of these offer parking. I think there’s a bit of space at the very end of the road which appeared to be public and didn’t charge.
Others will let you park for as long as you want provided you buy a drink or something from their bar. If you don’t want to buy anything parking seemed to be around 200 Lek (2 Euros).
Once you’ve parked you cross over the river on one of the two bridges and that will bring you to the restaurants and the easiest access route to the water (as mentioned you could just step off the closest bridge to the pool to access the water, but it’s shallow here and a bit awkward on the rocks).
The journey time from Theth to Nderlysaj is about 20 minutes. If you don’t have a car you can catch the shuttle bus instead which we were told costs 500 Lek (5 Euros) per person.
Where to stay in Theth
We stayed in Xhovani Zelna which is right beside the entrance to the Blue Eye and Vaskat Nderlysaj Canyon, you actually have your breakfast right beside the pool.
It was an ideal location for us wanting to get an early start on the walk to the Blue Eye and Vaskat Nderlysaj Canyon. Unfortunately the rooms are very small, noisy and pretty bare bones.
The reviews are excellent so maybe we got unlucky with the noise issue but for us it wasn't the quiet location we were hoping for. You can see the latest reviews and availability by clicking the button below.
I did have my eye on Hotel Thethi which looked good on paper but we haven't seen it personally. Bujtina Terthorja and Villa Prelatheth get excellent reviews so it's also worth looking at those too.
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