Ionian Sea Beaches

The sea between western Greece, Albania and southern Italy, and the clearest water in the Mediterranean by most measurements. Its beaches are overwhelmingly white limestone pebble rather than sand, under cliffs that in places run to several hundred metres — Myrtos, Porto Katsiki, Navagio all sit at the foot of one. That geology is why the water reads as it does: pebble puts nothing into suspension. The Albanian side was militarised and closed until 1991 and is the least developed coast in the northern Mediterranean, which will not remain true for long. Practically: most of these beaches have no shade, the pebble gets hot, the shelf drops away steeply close to shore, and access is frequently a long stair or a boat. Westerly wind closes several of them at short notice. The islands on its eastern side are green and wetter than the Aegean, with a longer spring, and the sea itself is the deepest point in the Mediterranean at just over five kilometres.

They spread across three beach worlds, the largest group being two castaway beaches. Together they account for 2.9 km of shore. · computed from the 5 records below