Gjipe Beach can be found in the Albanian Riviera between Dhermi and Himara. It’s just about 2 hours south of the larger city of Vlorë and around 4 hours from Albania’s capital, Tirana. If you’re staying in Dhermi, Himara, or even Saranda, the beach is close enough for a day trip.
How to get to Gjipe Beach?
We stopped at the beach on our way to Himara from Tirana.
You can reach the beach by car/foot or by boat. If you go by car and it’s a 2WD, you will park your car and then walk around 2.5km (around 45 minutes) down to the beach and canyon. The parking fee was 200 lek per person (you need cash!). 4×4 cars can drive all the way down to the beach, but go with caution as the path can be narrow and there are no guardrails.
It isn’t a difficult hike down to the beach, but consider the heat and the time of day, as there isn’t shade along the hike nor at the beach. Along the path, you will see several old bunkers from Albania’s communist era. Albania’s communist dictator, Enver Hoxha, wanted to bunker-ise the country under extreme paranoia of invasion. There are said to be over 173,000 bunkers that were built between 1968-1986. That’s an average of 5.7 bunkers for every square kilometre!
By boat, you can easily get there from Himara. There are several boat operators who will bring you there and likely other beaches as well. We recommend Himara Seas the Day and had a great day with them visiting our favorite beach, Grama Bay, the next day.
What to do at Gjipe Beach?
Camping is allowed on Gjipe Beach. Many people choose to camp here with tents and spent a dreamy overnight.
Swim and explore the caves at Gjipe Beach. Enjoy the paradisical waters! There are caves if you go past the far end of the beach but go with caution and be aware of the tide. We didn’t visit the caves because it was high tide while we were there.
Eat delicious fresh seafood at one of the restaurants/cafes on the beach. You’ll see two stalls right when you get down to the beach, but I think only one serves food and the other only drinks. However, we recommend a third option, the restaurant we ate at. You walk past the cafes that are on the beach, and then to your left the beach path will start to go back towards the canyon. There, you will find another restaurant. It had a nice variety of food, including fresh seafood. We enjoyed our meal there with some cold beers.
Explore Gjipe Canyon. The canyon makes an impressive background to the beach. You can hike and explore around 1-2km of it from the beach. I heard that you can hike TO the beach through the canyon from the parking, but it’s about 5km and a difficult hike.
