The bay at Namos Beach, Himarë: reed umbrellas over wooden loungers on grey pebbles, turquoise water, and a wooded headland closing the far side

Himarë · Albanian Riviera

A reed umbrella and the whole of the bay.

Namos Beach is a beach club on the Himarë seafront: rows of cut-reed umbrellas over wooden loungers, bean bags dropped straight onto the grey pebbles, and a stretched canvas lounge set back from the water.

Directions +355 69 346 3557

Where: Rruga Vangjel Zoto, Himarë
Coordinate: 40.09887° N · 19.75119° E
Instagram: @namosbeach

The water

Turquoise over the shelf, flat blue past it.

The beach shelves in coarse grey sand and pebble, so the water holds its colour close in — pale over the shallows, then a hard line where the bottom drops and it goes solid blue.

A wooded promontory closes the south side of the bay, steep on the seaward face and flat along the top, with houses on the plateau and small boats lying on the water in front of it. It is the shape this beach looks out at, and it is the mark on this site.

The wooded promontory that closes the south side of the bay at Namos Beach, with a small boat moored on flat turquoise water

03The promontory that closes the south side of the bay

On the sand

Reed, timber and canvas, and nothing that shines.

01Reed umbrellasCut reed, tied into a cone over a steel pole, standing in rows down the beach. Closed, they sit on the pebbles as loose sheaves.

02Wooden loungersSlatted honey-brown timber frames with flat sand-coloured cushions, set in lines running towards the water.

03Bean bagsDeep blue and patterned grey, dropped straight onto the pebbles between the loungers.

04The canvas loungeA stretched off-white sail behind the umbrella line, over low round tables, cane chairs and cushions.

05Banana plantsPlanted in woven baskets under the canvas, tall enough to break the view of the beach from the seats.

Frames

Four frames, and no picture of anywhere else.

A low table under a stretched canvas sail at Namos Beach, with cushions, a banana plant and the umbrella line and sea beyond

02Under the canvas, looking out

All four frames

After dark

The far shore comes on across the water.

The beach is still furnished after dark — bean bags and patterned floor cushions round low tables on the pebbles, lit low — with the lights of the shore opposite strung out along the far side of the bay.

Namos Beach after dark: low-lit seating on the pebbles and the lights of the far shore across the water

04After dark, the far shore lit across the water

Around the bay

The rest of this shore.

↗Prinos BeachThe stretch of Himarë town shore this beach sits on.

↗Potami BeachThe next named beach south along the coast road.

↗Bars and beach clubs in HimarëEverything else drinking on and around the bay.

Finding the beach