Wooded limestone shore dropping into clear turquoise water at Soldier's Bay on the coast between the Cape of Qefali and Saranda
bay

Soldier's Bay

Auch: Plazhi i Ushtarit · Gjiri i Ushtarit · Soldier Beach · Soldier's Beach

Richtung von Himara
Richtung Süden
Entfernung über das Meer
About 27 km south of Himara in a straight line; roughly 9 km north-west of Saranda
Badestopp
A short swim stop, shorter than the long stop at Kroreza
Zugang
By boat only. No road reaches the cove

Soldier's Bay (Plazhi i Ushtarit) is a boat-only cove between the Cape of Qefali and Saranda. A short swim stop on the Saranda speedboat circuit, 4.9 on Google.

What Soldier's Bay Is

Soldier's Bay is a cove on the stretch between the Cape of Qefali and Saranda, and it is one of the places the Saranda boat boards mean when they promise somewhere you cannot drive to. The slope above it is wooded right down to the waterline, the shore below is bare limestone in shelves, and the water over the shallow rock runs green before it goes blue.

There is nothing here. No bar, no sunbeds, no shade, nobody selling anything. Operators lean on exactly that: their own boards describe it as reachable only by boat, with calm water and a sense of seclusion.

Swimming

  • The rock shelves along the shore give an easy entry straight off the boat
  • Clear water over pale stone, so it snorkels well without going deep
  • No shade anywhere, which matters more here than at the bays with trees over the shore
  • Bring your own water; there is no way to buy any

Where It Sits on the Circuit

Running north-west to south-east, the Saranda circuit passes Pllakoto, Kroreza, Kakome, Gremina on the Cape of Qefali, then Soldier's Bay, Gjiri i Rrojdhes, and Turtle's Cave before turning back into Saranda. Soldier's Bay is a short stop; the long one is Kroreza.

Getting There

By boat from Saranda, not from Himara — the circuit is a four-to-six-hour speedboat run leaving the promenade mid-morning. From Himara you either drive to Saranda and join a boat there, or charter privately and run south.

Booking from the Saranda side? Our Saranda boat tours guide compares the group cruises, the speedboat circuits and the private charters, with 2026 prices.

Strandbeschaffenheit

Rock and shingle below a wooded limestone slope

Wasser

Calm and clear, shelving off the rock

Beste Zeit

Morning, before the afternoon chop on the run back to Saranda

Ideal für

SwimmingSnorkellingSeclusion

Lage an der Riviera

Üblicherweise enthalten in

  • Saranda speedboat circuits to Kakome and Kroreza
  • Private charters out of Saranda port

Soldier's Bay in Bildern

Bootstouren mit Stopp an Soldier's Bay

Keine feste Route führt Soldier's Bay als geplanten Stopp.

Anbieter in Himara nehmen den Stopp auf Wunsch in einen privaten Charter auf, oder sieh dir alles an, was vom Ort aus ablegt.

Bootstouren in Himara ansehen

Weitere Touren ab Himarë

Porto Palermo Halbtagestour

~3–4 Stundenab ~20 €/Person
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Piratenhöhle Halbtagestour

~3 Stundenab ~30 €/Person

Durchgeführt von Himara Sea Escapes

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Grama Bay Ganztagestour

~5–5,5 Stundenab ~58 €/Person

Durchgeführt von Aqua & Terra Drymades

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Erweiterte Langstreckentouren

~6+ Stundenab ~80 €/Person
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Häufig gestellte Fragen

Where is Soldier's Bay?+

At 39.9011°N, 19.9187°E on the coast between the Cape of Qefali and Saranda, about 9 km north-west of Saranda by sea. Google Maps lists it as a tourist attraction with 4.9 from 14 reviews, read 20 September 2026.

Can you drive to Soldier's Bay?+

No. Operators sell it as boat-only, and we could not find a road or a mapped path down to it. It is a stop on the water, not a beach you can park at.

Why is it called Soldier's Bay?+

We could not find a source for the name. Albanian boards write it Plazhi i Ushtarit or Gjiri i Ushtarit, which both mean the soldier's beach or bay, and English boards use Soldier's Bay and Soldier Beach interchangeably. Nothing we found explains which soldier, or when.

How long do boats stop there?+

It is one of the short stops. Saranda speedboat tours run five or six of them in a day and save the long stop for Kroreza; expect a swim off the boat rather than an afternoon ashore. Ask the operator for the actual minutes before you book.

What is nearby?+

The Cape of Qefali and Gremina cove are about 1.5 km north-west, and Turtle's Cave is roughly 2.5 km south-east toward Saranda. Most itineraries take all three in the same run.