Blue Eye Albania – Know Before You Go

Blue Eye Albania is one of Albania’s most famous attractions. The Blue Eye is a natural phenomenon where the turquoise and green colors of water amaze every visitor. It is a spring of water that gushes furiously from the depths of the unknown to the surface. You can see the water rumbling from your point of view. The phenomenon looks like an eye and the vegetation that surrounds it look like eyelashes.

Where is Blue Eye Albania and how to get there?

When driving from Tirana to Saranda, one should take the road to Gjirokastra and then reach Saranda. Near Muzine Pass, on the way down descending the pass, in Vlore County, there is a wooden sign that says Blue Eye. You will follow the signs, cross the bridge (there will be a small fee) and you will drive into a bumpy road, a few minutes driving in this area you will notice a parking spot and a bar, you stop there, and follow the footpath that leads to this tropical paradise. Located beneath trees and surrounded by green vegetation that reflects in the water you will be enchanted to jump in the ice-cold water.

It is located 22 km away from Saranda, which is pretty close to the city.

How deep is the Blue Eye Albania and how cold is the water?

The Blue Eye Albania is more than 50 meters deep but it is not clear how much more as nobody has reached the end of the cave where the waters gush from. Although many divers have tried to reach the end, no one of them has succeeded.

Diving in the blue eye is an extremely dangerous activity as you have to dive towards the stream that pushes you upwards and the pressure is enormous.

If one jumps in the blue eye, they are pushed directly upwards.

The water temperature is near 10 degrees celsius and it is really cold, however that doesn’t stop anyone to jump in, or swim around.

Can you swim at the Blue Eye in Albania?

You can swim in this magical place, and there is a metal balcony that people use to jump in the water even though there are signs that prohibit swimming and jumping, you can still do it. So if you are brave and strong enough to withstand the low temperatures of the water go ahead and jump.

The Legend of the Blue Eye

What is interesting about the blue eye Albania is that there is a legend linked to it, the legend is passed family to family and today is served as a tale in the area.

At Mali, i Gjere where many people have their homes, and towns and villages are settled there is a strange line of trees that follow the slope. This is where the legend gets interesting. People of the area thought that this path that had no trace of trees and vegetation was created by a giant snake who crossed the mountain and left his trace on the way.

Where did the legend begin?

Like many other tales that are told by the seamen, this one starts at the sea, where a terrible wind hit the coast of Saranda and a giant snake was unleashed from the sea. The snake slithered through the southern coast and reached a spring where people were gathered to fetch water and ate everyone there. Later, he slithered down the Mali i Gjere and ate the herds and shepherds he found in the way.

As the shock of the news hit the whole village, an old wise man had an idea. He brought his donkey and a load of sacks of straw with him to the cave where the snake was resting. He set fire to the straw when he saw the snake approaching, and as the snake swallowed the donkey with the straw sacks he started to burn.

The beast started crying in pain and started slithering uncontrollably across different fields until he crossed the mountain leaving a trace of burned trees and reached the place where the Blue Eye spring is found nowadays, the beast with the blue eyes cried until the water overflew from the tears and nowadays, it is believed that the sea beast still cries, this is where the water spring is.

Are there any restaurants around the Blue Eye Albania?

Yes, actually there is a restaurant at the Blue Eye Albania, the restaurant offers refreshment drinks, ice cold water, great food and ice cream. Located under the trees that provide a great shade during the summer heat.

What to do at the Blue Eye Albania?

You can swim in the cold water, you can jump and you can sit and enjoy this wonder of nature. You can eat nearby or have a coffee. But you can also buy a souvenir from the souvenir shops around the blue eye, they sell really beautiful things.

How to get to know the Blue Eye better?

Well that is possible through one of our tours, which you can instantly book and we take you to an amazing adventure to this little tropical paradise on earth.