Aerial view of the pine-covered limestone headland with tents along the shore at Pine Side Camp

Himarë · Albanian Riviera

Tents under the pines.
A ladder into deep water.

A summer camp on a limestone headland ten minutes south of Himarë town. There is no beach here — the rock runs to the edge and you climb down into the sea.

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Pallet seating with cushions under mature pines on a bed of pine needles at Pine Side Camp

The pines

The whole camp sits under mature Aleppo pines on a limestone headland. Pitches are cut into the rock and the needle floor, so there is shade over most of them for most of the day — which on this coast in August is the difference between sleeping and not.

A steel swimming ladder dropping from the limestone ledge into clear green water

The ladder

There is no beach here. The rock runs to the edge and a steel ladder drops straight off the ledge into deep, clear water. You swim from the first rung, not from a shoreline — which is why the water is this colour and why it stays cold enough to be worth it at midday.

A concrete Hoxha-era dome bunker set into the limestone among pines at Pine Side Camp

The bunker

A concrete dome bunker of the kind built across Albania under Enver Hoxha sits in the rock between the pitches, door still on its frame. There is a hammock slung beside it.