Nikolari Resorts
A long tiled counter running down a sunlit terrace at Nikolari Resorts, stone steps and magenta bougainvillea on the left, and a white concrete screen pierced with square openings spanning the passage above
Ilias · Himarë · Albania

Two kilometres
above the beach.

Nikolari Resorts is a white house with a pierced concrete parapet, standing on the hillside in Ilias. Gjipe is below it and the ridge is opposite. Nothing here is on the sand, and that is the whole of the offer: village quiet, a wide balcony, and a short run down to the water.

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The village

Ilias, not Himarë town

Ilias is a small stone village on the seaward slope of the Ceraunian mountains, inside the municipality of Himarë but a long way from its seafront — the town is roughly seven and a half kilometres down the coast. What is close is Gjipe, the canyon beach at the bottom of the hill, and Dhërmi beyond it.

The house stands a couple of hundred metres above where the cars stop, so the last part of the journey is on foot and uphill. On the Booking.com listing that is the one thing guests mark down: location scores 8.0 where everything else sits above nine. It is also the reason they write about goats, birdsong and absolute silence.

From the door

Gjipe Beach
2.1 km
Dhërmi Beach
4.5 km
Beach Me Shpella
7 km
Jale Beach
9 km
Llogara National Park
19 km
Vlora International Airport
71 km

Measured from this address, not from the town.

Three windows

Sea one way, mountain the other, garden underneath

The sitting room of an apartment at Nikolari Resorts: a blue sofa, a grey armchair and a round dining table, with a pale band of water visible through the balcony door at the end

Sea

Ilias sits back from the coast on the shoulder of the hill, so the water arrives as a band above the roofs rather than at your feet. Gjipe is the beach below, a little over two kilometres off; Dhërmi is four and a half.

Twin beds beside a sliding balcony door at Nikolari Resorts, looking out past a white parapet punched with square openings to a green ridge across the valley

Mountain

The other half of the view is a green ridge standing across the valley, on the same Ceraunian range that carries the Llogara pass nineteen kilometres north. Most balconies see both it and the water.

The outdoor kitchen at Nikolari Resorts: pale timber cupboards and a worktop built against a rough limestone wall, a brass pot on the counter and a bougainvillea in a terracotta jar at the corner

Garden

At ground level there is a garden, a terrace and an outdoor kitchen built against the old limestone wall of the plot. Bougainvillea in terracotta, a grapevine over the tables, and nothing louder than the goats.

The apartment

30 m², and all of it yours

There is one kind of apartment in the house and it is built for a family: twin beds and a double, a private bathroom, a kitchenette, tiled floors and a balcony. The rooms are soundproofed and each has its own private entrance.

  • One apartment type, about 30 m², and the whole of it is yours
  • A private bathroom
  • A kitchenette in the apartment, and an outdoor kitchen shared by the house
  • A balcony, with a terrace and a garden below
  • Air conditioning and soundproofing
  • Free WiFi — the highest-scoring thing guests rate here
  • Family rooms, and an extra bed can be added on request
  • Free parking
A blue upholstered double bed under two framed leaf prints in an apartment at Nikolari Resorts, cream floor tiles running to a curtained balcony door
A bedroom at Nikolari Resorts with full-height white curtains drawn back from a balcony door, a framed mirror on the side wall and hills showing through the glass
The private shower room of an apartment at Nikolari Resorts, marbled white tiles floor to ceiling, a corner shower tray and a folded grey towel on the rail
The house at Nikolari Resorts after dark, its upper storeys made of concrete blocks pierced with square holes that glow warm from the lamps inside, a grapevine spread over the terrace below

After dark

The wall becomes the lamp

The two upper storeys are built of concrete blocks pierced with square holes. In the day they throw a moving grid of shadow across the terrace; at night the lamps behind them turn the whole façade into one lit screen over the grapevine.

Underneath it is where the house actually lives: a table under the vine, a garden, and the outdoor kitchen built against the old limestone wall of the plot — timber cupboards, a worktop, a fridge and the kitchenware to go with them.

“Very nice and very new place in old-fashioned small and silent village”

Dariusz · Poland

“Nice house on a hillside. Exceptional views over the mountains and sea.”

Vahur · Estonia

“Very quaint location in a village with goats etc. Yet very modern comfort.”

Béatrice · France

“The outside kitchen was nice.”

Čapka · Czech Republic

The house scores 9.0 on Booking.com — wonderful — with the family who run it rated 9.6 and cleanliness the same. Read the reviews

Before you come

The house rules, plainly

Arrival
Check-in runs from 10:00 to 19:00. Tell the family your arrival time ahead of the day.
Payment
Cash only — the house does not take cards.
Children
Children of all ages are welcome. From thirteen they count as adults. No cots.
Animals
Pets are allowed on request, and there may be a charge for them.
Noise
No parties, and no stag or hen groups. The village is the reason people come.
Languages
Greek, English and Albanian are spoken in the house.

Getting here

Turn off the SH8 and climb

Ilias sits above the coast road between Vuno and Dhërmi. Drive up into the village, leave the car at the parking area, and walk the last stretch uphill to the house. Parking is free.

Greek, English and Albanian are spoken here.

40.14351 N, 19.67304 E

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