Gjipe Beach

Gjipe is on the Albanian Ionian coast between Himarë and Dhërmi, at the point where a limestone canyon reaches the sea. There is no road to it: the approach is a walk of around forty minutes down a rough track, or a boat from Jala or Himarë.

The context is the country's isolation. Albania under Enver Hoxha was closed almost completely from 1946 to 1991, and this coastline — facing Corfu, six kilometres from a NATO member — was militarised rather than developed. Hundreds of thousands of concrete bunkers were built across the country and many are still on these beaches. What that produced, accidentally, is the least developed coast in the northern Mediterranean, thirty years behind Croatia and Greece and changing quickly.

The beach is white pebble at the canyon mouth with clear deep water and cliffs on both sides. The canyon behind it is walkable for some distance and is used by climbers. There is a seasonal campsite and bar and nothing else — no road, no power line, no building. The canyon behind the beach runs inland for several kilometres between walls of limestone and is walkable in dry conditions, which is how most campers spend a second day.

That is changing. Albania's coast is under intensive development pressure, with a national tourism programme and construction along much of the Riviera; Gjipe has so far been protected by its access, which is the only thing protecting it. Dhërmi and Jala to the north have road access and beach bars, and the difference between them and this cove is thirty minutes on foot.

Forty minutes on foot or a boat, a canyon behind, a campsite and nothing else — and this is the least developed coast in the northern Mediterranean because Albania was sealed shut from 1946 to 1991. That is unlikely to survive the decade. Go while the walk is still the only way in.