Deluxe
Deluxe 8-bed dorm
The one with the balcony and the water in front of it. Bunks, a bath, and a door you can leave open.
- Balcony
- Sea view
- Ensuite bathroom
- Bath
- Air conditioning
- Free WiFi
8 beds · 20 m²
Potam, Himarë · Albanian Riviera
Oasison the Beach
A mixed-dorm hostel at Potam, one bay south of Himarë town, with a reed-thatched deck looking straight over the shore road to the pebbles. Sixty beds across eight rooms, a pool table under the thatch, a lawn of sun loungers behind, and the water close enough to hear from the top bunk.
8.2 / 10 · Fabulous on Hostelworld✦60 beds✦10 m from the beach
- 60
- beds
- 8
- rooms, all mixed dorms
- 10 m
- to the water
- 1.4 km
- to Himarë town
The hostel
Shade on one side, glare on the other
Oasis on the Beach sits on the shore road at Potam, one bay down the coast from Himarë, where the pebbles are white and the water turns from clear to deep within a few strides. The front of the building is a deck under a thick reed canopy, and the canopy is the whole point: you sit in the dark and look out at a sea that is far too bright to look at from anywhere else.
Sixty beds across eight rooms, and every one of them a mixed dorm — six, seven, eight or twelve beds, in three tiers. The Deluxe rooms open onto a balcony with the water in front of it. Behind the building the ground rises into the old stone houses of Potam, and the garden in between is given over to sun loungers, a fig tree and a run of yuccas.
It is the newest addition to the Oasis family, which started with the hostel up in Himarë town, and it brought the boat parties and the karaoke down to the beach with it. There is a pool table under the thatch, a tennis table on the stone patio, a shared kitchen you can actually cook in, and a tours desk that will put you on a bus to Gjipe.
Where you sleep
Three tiers, one kind of room
Every room in the house is a mixed dorm of twenty square metres, and what separates them is what they open onto and where the bathroom is. There are no private rooms on any channel.
Deluxe
Deluxe 6-bed dorm
Six beds, its own balcony, the same view. The smallest room in the house and the first to go.
- Balcony
- Sea view
- Ensuite bathroom
- Air conditioning
- Free WiFi
6 beds · 20 m²
Standard
Standard 6-bed dorm
Six bunks and a bathroom of its own, without the balcony. Quieter, and cooler in the afternoon.
- Ensuite bathroom
- Air conditioning
- Free WiFi
6 beds · 20 m²
Standard
Standard 8-bed dorm
Eight beds with the bathroom inside the room. The middle of the building and the middle of the noise.
- Ensuite bathroom
- Air conditioning
- Free WiFi
8 beds · 20 m²
Basic
Basic 7-bed dorm
Sea view and a patio off it, at the cheaper end of the list.
- Sea view
- Patio
- Air conditioning
- Free WiFi
7 beds · 20 m²
Basic
Basic 12-bed dorm
The big one, and the cheapest bed in the house. Linen on, patio outside, shared showers.
- Patio
- Shared bathroom
- Shower
- Linens
- Air conditioning
- Free WiFi
12 beds · 20 m²
Under the thatch
A pool table with the Ionian behind it
The common area is outdoors and roofed in reed, with a full-size table on the stone floor and nothing between the far end of it and the sea but a wire fence and a row of pine benches. It is the coolest place on the property in the middle of the day and the loudest at night.
Behind it: a shared kitchen with a stove, a fridge, pots, pans and a toaster, a lounge with the sport on when there is any, a tennis table on the shaded patio, and a lawn of pallet loungers under a green-and-white parasol.
Free
- WiFi in every area
- Security lockers
In the room
- Air conditioning
- Linens included
- Charging plugs
- Shower
The kitchen
- Shared kitchen
- Fridge and freezer
- Stove
- Sink
- Pots and pans
- Utensils
- Toaster
Outside
- Beachfront
- Sun deck
- Outdoor terrace
- Garden
- Outdoor furniture
- Panoramic views
Inside
- Common room
- Shared lounge and TV area
- Pool table
- Table tennis
- Live sport on the screen
At reception
- Tours and travel desk
- Safe
- Lockers
- Reception at limited hours
What happens
It is not a quiet hostel
Boat parties and karaoke
The two things Oasis carried down from the town hostel to the beach. Neither runs to a timetable you can read in advance — they turn up on the week they turn up, and the desk knows first.
The bus to Gjipe
A hostel-run bus down the coast to Gjipe, the canyon beach between Dhërmi and Himarë with no road to the sand. It runs on consecutive days through the busy weeks and is booked with the rest of the day trips.
The tours desk
Day trips and boat excursions are arranged at reception rather than online, which is also where to ask about the ones that are not on any list.
Pool, ping-pong and the screen
A full-size table under the reeds with the sea behind it, a tennis table on the stone patio, and live sport on the screen in the lounge when there is any.
Around here
What is within reach
Potam Beach
Across the shore road
White pebble, water that goes from clear to deep in a few strides, and a wooded headland closing off the southern end. Public beach, and one of the quieter ones on this stretch.
Himarë town
1.4 km up the coast
Spile beach, the promenade, the supermarkets and the cash machines, and the coach stop on the national road.
Livadhi Beach
Past the town, to the north-west
A kilometre and a half of pebble between two headlands, facing west — the long one, and the one that gets the sunset.
Himarë Castle
In the hills above the town
The walled hilltop village behind Himarë, still partly lived in, with the whole bay laid out beneath it.
Porto Palermo
South along the coast road
Ali Pasha's fortress on a spit in a turquoise bay, with a Cold War submarine tunnel cut into the hill.
The rules
Before you book
- Check in
- 14:00 – 23:00
- Check out
- By 11:00
- Cancellation
- Free until 1 day before arrival
- Prepayment
- None needed
- Taxes
- Included in the rate
- Breakfast
- Not included
- Children
- Not accommodated
- Pets
- Not allowed
- Smoking
- Non-smoking throughout
- Parties
- Not allowed on the property
- Curfew
- None
- Parking
- No parking on site
Questions
Asked often enough
- How close is the beach?
- Ten metres. The terrace looks over the shore road onto the pebbles at Potam, which is a public beach and one of the quieter ones on this coast.
- What can I book?
- A bed in a mixed dorm — six, seven, eight or twelve beds, in three tiers. The Deluxe rooms have a balcony and a sea view, the Standard rooms have their own bathroom, and the Basic rooms are the cheaper end of the list. There are no private rooms.
- Is breakfast included?
- No. There is a fully equipped shared kitchen — stove, fridge, pots, pans and a toaster — and Himarë's supermarkets are 1.4 km up the road.
- Can I park a car?
- Not on the property. There is no parking on site, so plan for the public parking around Potam and the shore road.
- Is it suitable for children?
- No. The hostel does not accommodate children, and it does not take pets either.
- How far is it into Himarë town?
- 1.4 km north along the coast. The Vlorë–Sarandë coaches on the SH8 stop in town, and taxis run the stretch in a few minutes.
- What time can I check in?
- From 14:00 until 23:00, and check-out is by 11:00. Reception is staffed at limited hours, so message ahead if you are arriving late.
- Do I have to pay in advance?
- No prepayment is needed, and cancellation is free until one day before arrival. Taxes are already in the rate.
- What is there to do at the hostel?
- A pool table under the thatch with the sea behind it, a tennis table on the stone patio, sun loungers on the lawn, a shared lounge with the sport on, and the hostel's own boat trip, karaoke and day tours booked at the desk.
Photographs
The place, as it is
