Uji i Ftohtë, Vlorë: 32 cold springs, old villas and a changing coast

Uji i Ftohtë, literally “Cold Water”, is the coastal neighbourhood on the southern side of Vlorë, about 7.5 km by road from Flag Square, where the promenade reaches an old road tunnel and the shore turns to pebbles and clear water. Its name comes from 32 freshwater springs along 1.7 km of coast that still supply the city’s water.

Written by the Valza team, who live and work in Vlorë. Updated October 2026.

The neighbourhood that waters a city

Lie on the pebbles of Uji i Ftohtë on an August afternoon and you are within a stone’s throw of the plumbing of an entire city. Hidden in the rock behind the beaches, three horizontal galleries run parallel to the shore, 60–70 metres back from the water and only 0.2–0.5 metres above sea level. They were dug to catch the spring water before it reaches the sea. On average they collect about 2.0 cubic metres a second, some 2,000 litres every second, and around 0.8 cubic metres a second goes into Vlorë’s water supply. The figures come from a 2023 study by the hydrogeologist Romeo Eftimi and colleagues in the journal Hydrology.

What the galleries miss still slips into the bay, and you can feel it. Swim out from the shore and, without warning, the sea around your legs turns cold, then warm again two strokes later. Albania’s National Tourism Agency describes exactly this: natural freshwater springs flowing into the sea, in sharp contrast with the temperature of the water around them. Once you know this, the name on the road signs stops sounding like a slogan. It is a description.

Where the cold water comes from

The ridge behind Vlorë’s southern coast belongs to the Lungara massif, which rises to 1,863 metres at Qiramanga; one of its summits, Tragjas, reaches 1,281 metres. A major fault line runs along its western flank from Dukat to Uji i Ftohtë, which is why the mountain drops so steeply into the bay. Much of the rain that falls on those slopes never becomes a river. It sinks into the Tragjas karst massif, a body of Triassic dolomite and Jurassic to Eocene limestone, and travels through fractures and cavities until it meets the coast. Our piece on how limestone shapes the Albanian Mediterranean explains the process.

Why does the water come out fresh, right at the edge of the sea? Here the limestone meets younger clay formations, and that contact works as a barrier that keeps seawater out of the aquifer. It is not the rule on this coast: along the 147 km from Vlorë to the Greek border, a 2022 review by Eftimi and colleagues estimates that about two thirds of the karst water is brackish.

The coast, from the tunnel to Lungomare 3

1. 1920

   After the Vlorë War, when Albanian fighters drove the Italian army out of the city, Qazim Koculi, who had headed the insurgents’ military committee, is given a villa on top of the Uji i Ftohtë hill.

2. Communist era

   The hill becomes the regime’s spring and summer address: Enver Hoxha has a three-floor villa with a veranda facing the sea, and Mehmet Shehu one almost at the water’s edge.

3. 2 April 1976

   During one of his stays, Hoxha holds a meeting with party and government cadres of the Vlorë district; the minutes survive in the Central State Archive.

4. Early 1990s

   The political changes alter Uji i Ftohtë completely: apartment blocks, hotels, restaurants, cafés and beach venues are built in the post-communist decades.

5. 2011

   Albanian television reports works to widen the old road tunnel, dug during the First World War by military engineers, from one lane to two.

6. 2023

   Work begins on Lungomare 3, a new seafront designed to run from Uji i Ftohtë to Radhimë and Orikum, with a cycle lane planned from the tunnel to Orikum.

The villas that kept the coast for the few

Good views attract power. Ordinary citizens could not come close to the villas: the grounds were fenced and guarded, and older residents of Vlorë remember the years when the area was closed off. In his final years, a reportage republished by Memorie.al says, the main villa was used more by Hoxha’s children than by Hoxha himself. The villas still stand, and they are still government property, so enjoy them from the sand and the road. The beach beside them took their name: Te Vilat, literally “at the villas”, open today to every swimmer.

The regime chose this coast for the reasons people choose it today: height above the water, pines, views across the bay and distance from the crowded centre. Locals now call the modern neighbourhood Lungomare 2, and the pavement carries you from the city into it without a break. The view once reserved for a Politburo now belongs to whoever reaches the beach first in the morning.

A walk along the springs coast

The best way to understand Uji i Ftohtë is on foot, with swims along the way. The walking is short and easy; the swims take the rest of the morning. Our own favourite walk goes the other way: early in the morning, before the sun comes up over the mountains, or in the late afternoon, we leave Uji i Ftohtë on foot and follow the sea towards the city. The promenade is quiet, the bay is still, and Vlorë wakes up, or slows down, in front of you.

1. Start at the tunnel. This is the hinge between city and coast, and Te Tuneli, next to Te Vilat beach, where the spring water surfaces beside the road.

2. Follow the shore south. At Te Kalaja there is no castle: “Kalaja” is a tall natural rock above the water, and on summer days the young people of Vlorë dive from it, as our page on the freshwater springs and Kalaja Beach describes. Te Vilat lies beside the old villas.

3. Swim where the water turns cold. Take a mask: the rocks, their small fish and the pale seabed begin a few metres from the shore, and snorkelling in the Bay of Vlora needs no boat at all.

4. Continue to the small bays. Further south, a succession of small bays follows along the coast, quieter and rockier underfoot.

5. Come back for sunset. Walk back north as the sun goes down behind Sazan Island and the long ridge of Karaburun.

Two safety notes. If you jump from the rocks, check the depth first and never jump alone. And get into the water slowly: the cold patches catch first-time swimmers by surprise.

Uji i Ftohtë in pictures

Myths and legends

Did you know?

• 32 springs

  Emerge at sea level along this shore

• 1.7 km

  The stretch of coast where the springs rise

• 2,000 litres

  Collected every second on average by three galleries parallel to the shore

• 1,863 m

  Height of Qiramanga, the peak of the Lungara massif behind the coast

Plan your visit

What to bring

Is Uji i Ftohtë worth it?

Go deeper

Our corner of Vlorë

Valza Boutique Hotel, a 4-star boutique hotel in Uji i Ftohtë, our pick for where to stay in Vlorë, is a few minutes from this walk. Family-run, it is about 300 metres from the nearest beach, a 5 to 6 minute walk, with Te Kalaja in one direction and Te Vilat in the other. Each of our 40 rooms and suites has a private balcony. In the evening, Eden by Valza, on the hotel’s sixth-floor rooftop, looks across the Bay of Vlora with a 180-degree view. If you want to start this walk fresh, that is a good place to begin.

Frequently asked questions about Uji i Ftohtë