Blue eye sarande
Blue Eye Sarande | Syri I Kalter
Published on 06/05/2026
I will warn you about something first: there are TWO Blue Eyes. This article is about the one in the south, close to Sarande (do not be fooled by this).
There are multiple ways to get to Syri i Kaltër. You can either go by car, which is by far the easiest and most flexible option. It is a 40-minute drive from Sarande and there is a big parking lot that does cost money. How much? I would not know, but it will not break the bank. Option number two is to take the local bus that leaves from the city center and arrives a bit outside of the parking lot. I think it is actually the bus that goes to Gjirokaster because when we went back with the bus from Gjirokaster to Sarande the day before, it stopped close to Syri i Kaltër and two Dutch people got in that told us they just went to Syri i Kaltër. So all the articles that say you cannot get there by public transport are lying! You do have to walk for around 20 minutes to get to the parking lot, though and there is no official walking path, so you are walking on the road, but it is definitely possible to visit if you do not have your own car. And then, the third option, for the luxury girlies (us), is to book a taxi! There are multiple companies and they all have a fixed schedule. As one of us had a meeting at 10:00, we took the only taxi that arrived at 09:00. It was a bit more expensive (€15 instead of €10), but it paid off in multiple ways, as we arrived as one of the first, so we had the whole place to ourselves.
noëlle
Hi! I am Noëlle and I wrote this article for you!!! Hopefully, you like reading this article and find my tips and struggles helpful. Also, ignore the grammar and spelling mistakes; I did not proofread it. I absolutely loved Albania and hope you will have the most amazing trip too! :)
When you arrive at the parking lot, it is still a 20-minute walk to the actual Syri i Kaltër. Very doable as it only goes downhill, but take sneakers with you to make the walk more comfortable. You can also rent an e-scooter by the way at the parking lot, which is such a great option if you have a harder time walking. At the entrance of the park, there is a cute restaurant with the best waterfront seating. It was still closed when we arrived, so we walked directly onto the Blue Eye. There we were greeted with the most beautiful, crystal clear blue water you will ever see. You can walk up to a platform to spot the famous ‘eye’ (a dark spot in the water that is surrounded by lighter water, so it looks like an eye!). It is absolutely beautiful and surrounded by the lushest green vegetation (I read there are more than 600 different plants there!).
At this point, our friend had to leave for her meeting, so she went to the restaurant to sit there. There is no wifi there, but one of the servers actually gave her mobile data from his phone, so that was very kind. My other friend and I wandered around a bit more. We really wanted to swim, but knew it was prohibited, so we doubted a lot if we wanted to do it. And yes, I know it is absolutely not something you should promote, but we are not going to lie about what we did or sugarcoat it. We also read in blogs that every day, people still go swimming and that the park accepts it, so it was a deliberate choice to still go against the rules. We stumbled upon a small side part of the river where you could easily get into the water. As we saw no one in the water yet, we did not dare to do it, but it was already so hot and the water looked so tempting, so we decided to step into the water. And I kid you not, 1 minute later, people were lining up to also get into the water. The water is extremely cold, so be aware.
We then walked back to the restaurant to have a drink there and enjoy the views. Our friend’s meeting was also over, so we could just relax now. We showed our friend the spot where we went into the water, took some pictures of the area, took a picture at the big ‘Blue Eye’ heart located at the restaurant and made our way back to the parking lot.
I think we made a deal with our taxi driver that he would pick us up at 11:30, but he already texted us at 11:00 that he would leave in 10 minutes. I think the other passengers were already back. We arrived at the parking lot at 11:07 and made our way back to Sarande.
Visiting Syri i Kaltër is a nice way to spend your morning and is a very good stop if you are making your way to either Gjirokaster or Sarande by car. We do have to be honest that the Blue Eye in Theth is more magical, but this one is better accessible and still absolutely beautiful.
Please respect the directions of the staff and enjoy this nice place!
