Shpella e Pëllumbave — Attraction in Bashkia Sarandë

My partner and I visited this beautiful beach on July 20, 2024. It is surrounded by turquoise blue sea and steep mountainsides. The beach and surroundings deserve five stars, but due to our experience at the place, I must overall give it three stars.

We settled under the mountainside on the northern part of the beach. The mountainside above was steep, but it hadn't rained for a long time, and there was a fence on the mountainside intended to protect against rockfalls. We considered it safe to settle there, as did many others.

After a couple of hours, large rocks detached from the mountainside, coming at enormous speed, flying over the safety fence and landing around the sunbeds. Two of the rocks were approximately 40x40cm and would undoubtedly have killed anyone had they hit. One of these rocks landed about 40 centimeters from my partner's head. There were more rocks, but by then, everyone had managed to run down to the sea.

This was a highly unpleasant experience in itself, but the most provoking part was how the restaurant staff and those renting out the sunbeds handled the situation.

They did not take it seriously, refused to refund money for the sunbeds, and chose to place new people who came to the beach on the same beds. I went to the staff twice, asking if they really allowed this after several people almost got killed, and no new safety measures were taken. They just scoffed and offered another bed in a different safe area. It's incredible that they didn't block off those beds, only to make a few extra bucks. I feel quite certain that a human life will be lost if no measures are taken in the future. In such a case, the staff will be well aware of the risk, and they will have personal and legal responsibility for any injuries or lives lost.

Moreover, the food was overpriced and tasteless. For instance, I ordered grilled vegetables, which arrived at the table one minute after ordering, and they were ice-cold. They had clearly been sitting for a few hours. When I complained, they were reheated, but I did get new, hot vegetables from the grill.

I recommend a visit to this beach, but certainly not because of the...

Worth the effort! Not as busy/crowded as some reviews have suggested, although surprisingly busy considering how remote it is!

Visited on a Saturday during the last week of July. Arrived early, 9:30am very peaceful and tranquil at this time! However the beach is so long that it doesn’t feel crowded if you choose your sunbed carefully (eg. Either end of the beach) and the sea is never crowded as it’s so big! Probably the clearest and cleanest water we found in Southern Albania.

Not the best day to visit with 2 kids aged 5&9 as it was 42^C. Parked in the top car park for €5 but the road was ok further down so would have been better going down to the bottom car park. Still quite a walk down though, some of it is through trees so nice and shaded, but the walk back up with 2 kids was a bit of an effort as it was so hot!

Sun beds were 2000Lek or €21 which is pretty standard for Albania, lots of people complain about this but we found that because accommodation and restaurants are relatively cheap, if you build it in to the overall cost of the holiday it evens out!

We went as far to the right as we could to avoid the crowds/music, which was ok, not too intrusive! There is an area to the left, around the rocks where you can put your own towels/umbrellas without having to pay!

We did see people parking at mirror beach and walking through the water (waist height on adults) around to Pellumbave as you can park right by the beach here, making...

Shpella e Pellumbave is an amazing place, but almost inaccessible.

The beach is beautiful, it's a combination of rocks and sand and the water is crystal clear. The beach is actually below a huge rock formation, providing natural shade in the mornings. The view from the top is also amazing.

However, the beach is practically inaccessible. You can get to Shpella e Pellumbave either by water or by these old, steep and rusty stairs (half of which are broken and the whole mission is kind of suicidal).

Options 1 involves going to the neighboring beach through a narrow and curvy dirt road (Mirror Beach or Peskyra, if I'm not mistaken) and then crossing to Shpella e Pellumbave through water while holding all of your belongings up high, so they don't get wet. This is what my group and I did when we arrived.

On our way back, half of us decided to use the stairs (option 2). It was definitely an adventure as we were praying that they don't break in half before we arrive to the top. When you get to the top, you need to walk a kilometer or so until you get to a driveable road. The road to the top is a combination of rocky stairs (pretty, yet steep) and an actual road. We got to the top and our friends picked us up.

It's an adventure, really. It's a beautiful place if you like remote beaches and you're not that into crowds and loud music, but you need to be willing to go through inconvenient means of travel...