Albania is a beautiful country, with plenty to see and do during your time. But, one place you simply have to visit if you head to nowhere else is the Blue Eye, or Syri i Kalter, as it’s known in Albanian.

If you’re keen to check out this famous spot for yourself, you’ll need to know plenty of information beforehand. Handily for you, we’ve got everything you need to know in one place.

The Blue Eye, or Syri i Kalter, is a beautiful freshwater spring that is surrounded by lush greenery. From above, the water looks just like a bright blue eye, hence the name. The outer part – the iris – is a stunning bright blue, and the inner dot – the pupil – is a dark cave spanning far down under the water.

The water is so stunningly clear that you can see right to the bottom, although we don’t actually know how deep it is as nobody has ever actually been to the bottom! Officially known as a vertical karst spring, it’s thought to be around 50 meters deep at least, but again, there is no official reading – that’s simply as far down as any diver has actually been able to go. The water is also freezing cold, which is excellent for cooling off during a hot summer’s day.

Put simply, once you see the Blue Eye, you literally won’t be able to take your own eyes off it.

As you can imagine, the Blue Eye is extremely popular so the months of July and August are always extremely busy, not to mention hot. The area is also not so large, so you’ll find crowding seems a lot worse due to this. So, if you want to avoid crowds, you’re best to stick to the shoulder months, perhaps June and September, to get good weather and less crowds.

However, there’s no denying that sticking your feet in the freezing cold water during a boiling hot summer is one of the most refreshing sensations you’ll ever have in your life! The water is never higher than 10 C, which is a stark contrast to the air temperature during the summer.