Day 8-10: Himäre

What to do in Himäre?

If you love a seaside holiday, you will love Himäre!

There are couple of historical sights to visit in the neighbourhood, such as the Himäre Castle or Ali Pasha's Porto Palermo Castle.

To be honest, however, we skipped these places and rather focused on enjoying the seaside. This was partially due to the heatwave that overwhelmed southern Europe in July 2023, and partially due to the simple fact that the sea here is irresistible.

Prinos beach

Himäre itself offers four beaches that are a short walk away from each other. During our stay, we opted for Prinos Beach, the second largest among them, following the central one. This stretch of coastline is lined with stylish beach bars and well-equipped with sunbeds and parasols. Stepping into the sea requires crossing large pebbles, which lend the water its crystal-clear appearance. However, navigating these stones while trying to dodge the waves can feel a little clumsy. A beach shoe is recommended!

There many stunning beaches outside of Himäre; some approachable on land by car or by hiking. However, an even better option is beach-hopping on sea, that allows to visit more secluded beaches without access from the land. Many companies offer boat tours starting from the dock at Spile beach. These tours last a couple of hours, take you on a motorboat with a group of 20 along the coast, slow down to let you take photos, or sometimes stop for a short while to let you swim in the water at the most spectacular spots.

A beach-hopping tourboat

Our tour took us towards the North, passing a couple of beaches including Livadi and Jala; then entered the Pirate Cave. The sea here formed a deep cave into the rocks shaped like the interior of a castle with high walls, a suntop roof and windows facing the sea.

Pirate’s Cave

After the cave the boat took us to Shpella e Pëllumbave beach where we unboarded and stayed for 3 hours. What I loved about this particular beach is the option to cool down in the shade under the rocks; and of course the crystal clear water. We had our snorkelling set with us and we enjoyed chasing schools of thousands of tiny fish, or watch a couple of larger fish chasing each other. Be aware that there are no toilet or restaurant facilities at this beach, you should bring your own lunch. At the end of the 3 hours the boat picked us up and brought us straight back to the dock in Himäre.

Rocks surrounding Shpella e Pëllumbave beach

My general impression about the boat trip was that it was well organised. The boat looked new and/or well maintained, as well as the lifejackets. Unfortunately they did not have infant/child size on our boat, although they did manage to find one smaller vest for my younger son at least after I asked. The timing of the trip is very accurately calculated and coordinated with other companies: tours continuously come and go to the same beaches and caves, but there is no queueing. Finally, water police keeps a close eye on the boats to make sure none of them exceeds their safe capacity with too many tourists.