Potam · Himarë · Albania
Battlements at the quiet end of the bay
The SH8 runs the length of this coast. Some 400 m off it, at the southern end of the Himarë bay and hard against the water, stands a cut-stone block with battlements on it. That is the hotel. The lawn goes down to a wall, the promenade is on the other side of the wall, and the beach starts there.
Every room faces the water with a furnished balcony on it. There is an à la carte restaurant and a bar with a terrace over the sea, breakfast is continental and Italian, and parking in the garden is free and does not need booking. The town is 1.66 km away on the mapped footway, about twenty-five minutes on foot along the front; by car it is the long way round over the bypass.
The merlons over the loggia, oleander in the foreground — the only frame that shows the parapet · booking gallery 27716001
The name
The castle is the building
Triangular merlons along the parapet, a loggia of pointed arches underneath, a rusticated stone doorway with a studded oak door in it, and cast Corinthian columns holding up the pergola. Somebody built a castle on this shore and then ran it as a hotel.
The medieval one —Kalaja e Himarës, above the old village — is 3.5 km up the coast and 172 m higher. Two different places, and this is the one with the balconies.
The fabric
Cut stone, dark timber, white balusters
The rusticated arch, the studded door, and a fluted column under the pergola · booking gallery 680636831
A slot cut through the stone, and next to it the balustrade, the sago palm and the headland · booking gallery 680637494
The walls are ashlar with the joints raked out, the paving is travertine, and where a window is cut through a thick wall it is left as a slot rather than dressed away. Inside, the same stone turns up split-faced on a bedroom wall, under dark beams and an iron lantern.
Outside the wall
Potam, then the whole bay
Potam Beach is straight across the promenade — thatched parasols, white loungers, clear turquoise water. Filikuri is 613 m south and Prinos 608 m north, and Spile, the town beach, is 1.25 km up the bay.
The minibuses to Saranda and Tirana stop 1.28 km up the bay, near the centre.
The bay from the terrace — parasols on the beach, the town across the water · booking gallery 171365321
The rooms
Two types, and both of them face the sea
Double Room with Balcony and Sea View
Sleeps 2 · One king bed
One king bed, air conditioning, a minibar and a cable television, and a furnished balcony facing the water.
Triple Room with Balcony and Sea View
Sleeps 3 · One king bed and one twin bed
The same room with a single bed alongside the double — a king bed and a twin, air conditioning, a minibar, a cable television and a furnished balcony over the sea.
What is here
- Free WiFiIn all areas, no charge
- Free private parkingOn site, no reservation needed
- RestaurantÀ la carte
- BarWith a terrace over the sea
- BreakfastContinental and Italian
- Room service
- Air conditioning
- Furnished balconyIn the rooms
- Sea view
- Minibar
- Cable TV
- Private bathroomShower, towels and toiletries
- Terrace, sun deck and garden
- Beach access
- 24-hour front desk
- Luggage storage
- Safety deposit box
- Non-smoking roomsWith a designated smoking area outside
- Mosquito nets
- 24-hour securityCCTV in the common areas, smoke alarms, key access
And what is not
- LiftThe upper floors are reached by stairs
- Cots and extra bedsNot available
- PetsNot allowed
- Swimming pool
Listed here because a stair-only building and a no-pets rule are worth knowing before you arrive rather than after.