Today’s post is dedicated to one of the most beautiful places I’ve visited in Albania – Dhërmi.
Dhërmi is a very small coastal town located between Himarë and Vlorë. It’s famous among Albanians for incredibly beautiful beaches and laid-back atmosphere.
Following my old habit of deciding where to go on the very last moment, I chose Dhërmi while being halfway on the bus. If only I had had more time, I would have definitely visited both places. Dhërmi won because I had a secret plan – discovering a secluded beach Gjipe which I accidentally noticed on Google Maps while preparing my itinerary. It seemed a bit closer from Dhërmi than from Himarë. What’s more, the latter one appeared more famous in Albania and as you know, I dislike crowds. ;-)
Buses in Albania stop for lunch. On one of such stops, a few kilometres before Dhërmi, I bumped into Lucy and Helen! They were equally as surprised and happy as me about this unexpected encounter. We chatted a bit and after comparing our itineraries, we agreed to meet in Tirana in a few days. I still had Helen’s phone number after our hiking trip in Theth.
Surprising as it may appear, travelling solo, you are never alone. As you know from my previous posts, I spent great time in Sarandë with Monika, Erik and the hostel owners, and was hoping for some time on my own to catch-up with my blog. However, the moment I got off the bus, I joined two Italian girls and two Spanish guys who were walking in roughly the same direction. Girls were looking for a beach, we were looking for the Sea Turtle camping. After 40 minutes of walking down and getting lost once, we finally found it.
I was utterly surprised when the staff (two young, laid-back Albanians) announced that one night at the camping costs 7 Euros with breakfast and dinner included. To make it all more funny, they had their own tents. Initially, I wanted to set up my own tent, but after I saw that their tents have thick and comfortable mattresses as well as clean bed sheets inside and are three times as big as mine, I changed my mind. Aha, I should add that charging batteries was for free and Internet worked pretty well.
I spent in Dhërmi only two days, but I can well imagine staying there whole two weeks. The atmosphere at the camping was very holiday-like, at evening they played Albanian reggae and the beach was within a 3-minute walk.
I wholeheartedly recommend this place.
Usually, I’m pretty active during my travels. This time I really needed to just relax, watch sunsets, swim in incredibly transparent water and absorb and store all the sunshine which would later keep me going in cold and long winter nights.
How to get to the Sea Turtle Camping?
There is only one road going from Sarandë to Tirana and each bus is bound to use this one. All buses stop at the top of Dhërmi and all you need to do to get to both the camping and the beach is to go down the Rruga Perivolo. It’s only 2.5 km and if you know the way, it should not take more than 30 minutes. The Camping is on the left hand side. You can also take a taxi and it will probably cost around 600 leks. You’ll pass a few little shops on your way. A peculiarity I noticed was that the pavement had 1sq m deep holes, so mind your step.