Porto Palermo disused submarine tunnels - Albania
DISCLAIMER
First and foremost, I want to make it clear the risks of entering this place now compared to how it was in the past. If you google this location online you'll see a few blog posts and youtube video explores that make it look easy.
The method of entry that all of these people used was sliding under the door of the access tunnels on the west side, this side is completely open to the public and even near a public beach, we went there expecting the same ease of entry however we have found that gap beneath said door has now been filled with concrete. The only way to gain access on this side now would require tools to remove a foot or two of concrete.
This means that currently the only way into the tunnels is to enter the active military restricted area on the east side, and while this was honestly extremely easy and you would be very unlucky to be caught, the risk is pretty severe. Almost every "abandoned" place with links to Albania's military past is still actively guarded as we unfortunately found out with other failed explores while in the country, this place in particular remains an active naval port.
If you get caught inside the "Military restricted area" you will likely get absolutely fucked, examples of this are previous explorers caught in the country that you can read about, examples being Lana Sator, Mikhail Zorin and Fedir Mykhaylov. They all spent around 9 months in prison on espionage charges.
If you do want to go then give me a message and I'll give you a full rundown of how we got in, as long as you are aware of the risk you are taking in doing so.
Here's a shoddy map I made of the place based on what we explored.
THE HISTORY
As you may know, Albania has a mind numbing number of military bunkers and complexes primarily due to Enver Hoxha, the communist dictator who ruled Albania for over four decades until his death in 1985. Hoxha was deeply suspicious of potential foreign invasions and sought to fortify Albania fearing attacks from NATO and the Soviet Union. As a result, he ordered the construction of thousands of bunkers across the country. Estimates suggest there could be anywhere from 100,000 to 173,000 bunkers dotting the Albanian landscape. These bunkers varied in size and design, ranging from small pillbox structures to larger underground facilities like Porto Palermo.
In 1961 Albania withdrew from Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Navy was forced to leave it's only Mediterranean base at Vlore in Albania. When the Albanians took full control of the base they seized four of the twelve Russian Whiskey class submarines stationed there. Despite protests from the Soviet Union the boats were put into service with the Albanian Navy, with technical support from their ever increasing ally, China. With Chinese help Hoxha began the construction of Porto Palermo tunnels in the late 1960's, however China soon withdrew from the joint venture and Albania completed the construction on it's own at significant cost.
The four whiskey class submarines, three have now been scrapped and the last is rotting away in Pashaliman Naval base (NOT MY PICTURE)
The main tunnel is more than 650 meters long from coast to coast and provided space for Albania's four Whisky class submarines and several fast attack vessels. The base was strategically built through a peninsular to allow vessels to enter on one side and exit from the other, it features an extensive network around the main tunnel with several connections to the navy base on the east side.
Through online research I've struggled to find any actual evidence suggesting the submarines were ever actually stationed in Porto Palermo, it seems like they were likely based at the Vlore "Pashaliman Base" where they were first seized from the USSR. One source even suggests the tunnel was intended for Chinese missile boats that never arrived after China loosened ties with the country, however there obviously isn't a lot known about this time period in Albania so as far as I can find out it is unknown. For this reason I've decided to keep calling them "Submarine tunnels" as that is what they are commonly known as.
With the fall of Hoxha's isolationist Albania and communism in the early 1990s, the base became obsolete. It was abandoned and left to decay. Today, the Porto Palermo Base tunnels are completely disused and only stand as a testament to Albania's cold war history. The port outside the tunnels is a different story, although parts of it are falling apart it is still an active naval base with several vessels often stationed there. The site has been used as recently as 2014 for large scale NATO exercises, notably Albanian and UK forces practicing an amphibious assault on Porto Palermo with 600 troops and several vessels.
THE EXPLORE
After a few failures with the boys in the north due to everything in Albania apparently being guarded by the military we drove down to Himare in the south of the country, having seen the blogs and youtube videos of this place we thought we'd get in the western entrance easily.
Walking up to the tunnel we were amazed at this huge entrance cut into the rock, only to find that the access tunnel was now filled with concrete.
Concreted access tunnel is on the middle right
The giant bulkhead sealing the tunnel from the sea
We had no option but to have a look at the other side, driving past earlier we had laid eyes on an Albanian flag flying high over the port and a guard walking around the base, a similar sight to our previous failures in the country. But we had driven too far to give up without even having a look, we parked up and walked down through thick brush until getting to the eastern side, naively hoping there was some form of access tunnel outside of the restricted area.
Our fear was ultimately confirmed by the standardized sign seen all over the country.
The military restricted area, and a guard pictured while we were hiding in bushes on the other side of the base.
We all stopped and looked at eachother once we reached the sign, the same sign that had stopped us dead in our tracks at another massive abandoned complex just a day earlier. I don't know what compelled us to go on but I do remember one of my pals saying "lets at least see what's at that hut", the hut was not far inside the restricted area and seeing how we were already in, and in relative bushy cover, we trotted over to it.
"No fucking way"
A screenshot from my headcam, the eastern access tunnel.
We couldn't believe it, just next to the unsuspecting little shack looking out onto the bay, a tunnel leading into the cliff. Not quite believing our luck we immediately threw on our head torches and headed inside, Initially there is a turn straight into a 7ft fence covered chaotically in barbed wire, I hopped over the fence and headed into a large cavernous space to see if there was a connection to the sub tunnel.
This wasn't the Submarine tunnel and I knew it, but due to its proximity I wanted to be 100% sure it had no connection to it.
At the very back of the large room I found what I was looking for, a small doorway leading down into a tunnel that ran straight north directly towards the sub tunnel. I wandered down there and could hear water splashing in the distance.
More headcam screenshots, the fence in the access tunnel and the big room after it, red circle is where the connection to the main sub tunnel is located
I ran back to tell the boys to hop over, we had our entry. We headed through the big room together, still trying to shake off the nerves of being where we were. Down the stairs and into the long narrow stretch towards the sounds of water slapping concrete in the distance. We got closer and closer, until there it was.
We were in.
We headed further in, whispering and watching our step incase anyone was on the dock outside of the tunnel
Around 50-60m in to the tunnel we reach this cutout section with a gantry above it, significantly higher ceiling than the rest of the tunnel. It looks as if this would've been where vessels would've been lifted from the water for maintenance
Reached a little raised platform and took a shot looking back at the eastern door, the second image is an accurate idea of what we could see with our lights off.
Group shot
Our next challenge was this rusted metal gangway overhanging the water, I headed over first eager to see what was around the corner, and the boys followed one by one, not trusting how much weight it could support at one time.
You can see just how long the tunnel is with this shot, the light you see in the distance is sunlight breaking through gaps in the giant bulkhead pictured earlier on the western side of the tunnel.
The walk of faith
This lead along the tunnel into a gigantic offshoot potentially used to store small boats or munitions, equipment etc.
At the end of the tunnel is a bare rock face instead of a smooth wall like the rest of the tunnels.
This was where we unfortunately reached our limit, to continue would require going over the next gangway. I was tempted as there was a small bridge in the distance that would allow me to explore the long tunnels and rooms on the other side but it was just not smart. It was sagging, completely rusted through, the railings had fallen off and large holes had appeared in it, ultimately none of us fancied a swim.
The next shot is looking back from the rotted gangway towards the east, on the left you can see a long tunnel leading to the active base, other blogs show that this tunnel leads to some old storage rooms but unfortunately we had no way to get over there.
We chilled out for abit longer, had a minor panic after thinking we heard voices (we didn't) and then headed back to get more shots of the side tunnels we entered through.
One of the small cutouts seen all along the side of the tunnel, likely used for storage and equipment.
Walking back through the long stretch connecting the Sub tunnel and the access tunnels we entered through
The tunnel leads to this big room, i'm unsure what it was used as but i'm guessing a workshop or engineering bay as there were lots of discarded engines, cogs and parts lying around. This is essentially a reverse shot of the initial picture earlier from my headcam.
An engine/motor of some sort (?)
A side room filled with old ventilation ducts
Back over the wobbly tetanus dispenser and swiftly out of the area
And finally a shot of the restricted area while walking back to the car
I'd love for someone to see this whole place one day and share it on here. It seems like the stuff out there at the moment shows most of the far western side that we couldn't get too and the northern section that connects to the Naval base, but I'm certain that there is something further along the gangway on the southern side that isn't out in the public space yet. Could be easily done with some swimming and a drybag or perhaps more balls than us to attempt that rusted shitheap of a gangway.
I'm happy though, one of the most unique places I've ever been and a fair amount of work to get there.
Shoutout to the boys, they aren't on the forum or anything so I'll leave their names out.
Hope you enjoyed.
DISCLAIMER
First and foremost, I want to make it clear the risks of entering this place now compared to how it was in the past. If you google this location online you'll see a few blog posts and youtube video explores that make it look easy.
The method of entry that all of these people used was sliding under the door of the access tunnels on the west side, this side is completely open to the public and even near a public beach, we went there expecting the same ease of entry however we have found that gap beneath said door has now been filled with concrete. The only way to gain access on this side now would require tools to remove a foot or two of concrete.
This means that currently the only way into the tunnels is to enter the active military restricted area on the east side, and while this was honestly extremely easy and you would be very unlucky to be caught, the risk is pretty severe. Almost every "abandoned" place with links to Albania's military past is still actively guarded as we unfortunately found out with other failed explores while in the country, this place in particular remains an active naval port.
If you get caught inside the "Military restricted area" you will likely get absolutely fucked, examples of this are previous explorers caught in the country that you can read about, examples being Lana Sator, Mikhail Zorin and Fedir Mykhaylov. They all spent around 9 months in prison on espionage charges.
If you do want to go then give me a message and I'll give you a full rundown of how we got in, as long as you are aware of the risk you are taking in doing so.
Here's a shoddy map I made of the place based on what we explored.
THE HISTORY
As you may know, Albania has a mind numbing number of military bunkers and complexes primarily due to Enver Hoxha, the communist dictator who ruled Albania for over four decades until his death in 1985. Hoxha was deeply suspicious of potential foreign invasions and sought to fortify Albania fearing attacks from NATO and the Soviet Union. As a result, he ordered the construction of thousands of bunkers across the country. Estimates suggest there could be anywhere from 100,000 to 173,000 bunkers dotting the Albanian landscape. These bunkers varied in size and design, ranging from small pillbox structures to larger underground facilities like Porto Palermo.
In 1961 Albania withdrew from Warsaw Pact and the Soviet Navy was forced to leave it's only Mediterranean base at Vlore in Albania. When the Albanians took full control of the base they seized four of the twelve Russian Whiskey class submarines stationed there. Despite protests from the Soviet Union the boats were put into service with the Albanian Navy, with technical support from their ever increasing ally, China. With Chinese help Hoxha began the construction of Porto Palermo tunnels in the late 1960's, however China soon withdrew from the joint venture and Albania completed the construction on it's own at significant cost.
The four whiskey class submarines, three have now been scrapped and the last is rotting away in Pashaliman Naval base (NOT MY PICTURE)
The main tunnel is more than 650 meters long from coast to coast and provided space for Albania's four Whisky class submarines and several fast attack vessels. The base was strategically built through a peninsular to allow vessels to enter on one side and exit from the other, it features an extensive network around the main tunnel with several connections to the navy base on the east side.
Through online research I've struggled to find any actual evidence suggesting the submarines were ever actually stationed in Porto Palermo, it seems like they were likely based at the Vlore "Pashaliman Base" where they were first seized from the USSR. One source even suggests the tunnel was intended for Chinese missile boats that never arrived after China loosened ties with the country, however there obviously isn't a lot known about this time period in Albania so as far as I can find out it is unknown. For this reason I've decided to keep calling them "Submarine tunnels" as that is what they are commonly known as.
With the fall of Hoxha's isolationist Albania and communism in the early 1990s, the base became obsolete. It was abandoned and left to decay. Today, the Porto Palermo Base tunnels are completely disused and only stand as a testament to Albania's cold war history. The port outside the tunnels is a different story, although parts of it are falling apart it is still an active naval base with several vessels often stationed there. The site has been used as recently as 2014 for large scale NATO exercises, notably Albanian and UK forces practicing an amphibious assault on Porto Palermo with 600 troops and several vessels.
THE EXPLORE
After a few failures with the boys in the north due to everything in Albania apparently being guarded by the military we drove down to Himare in the south of the country, having seen the blogs and youtube videos of this place we thought we'd get in the western entrance easily.
Walking up to the tunnel we were amazed at this huge entrance cut into the rock, only to find that the access tunnel was now filled with concrete.
Concreted access tunnel is on the middle right
The giant bulkhead sealing the tunnel from the sea
We had no option but to have a look at the other side, driving past earlier we had laid eyes on an Albanian flag flying high over the port and a guard walking around the base, a similar sight to our previous failures in the country. But we had driven too far to give up without even having a look, we parked up and walked down through thick brush until getting to the eastern side, naively hoping there was some form of access tunnel outside of the restricted area.
Our fear was ultimately confirmed by the standardized sign seen all over the country.
The military restricted area, and a guard pictured while we were hiding in bushes on the other side of the base.
We all stopped and looked at eachother once we reached the sign, the same sign that had stopped us dead in our tracks at another massive abandoned complex just a day earlier. I don't know what compelled us to go on but I do remember one of my pals saying "lets at least see what's at that hut", the hut was not far inside the restricted area and seeing how we were already in, and in relative bushy cover, we trotted over to it.
"No fucking way"
A screenshot from my headcam, the eastern access tunnel.
We couldn't believe it, just next to the unsuspecting little shack looking out onto the bay, a tunnel leading into the cliff. Not quite believing our luck we immediately threw on our head torches and headed inside, Initially there is a turn straight into a 7ft fence covered chaotically in barbed wire, I hopped over the fence and headed into a large cavernous space to see if there was a connection to the sub tunnel.
This wasn't the Submarine tunnel and I knew it, but due to its proximity I wanted to be 100% sure it had no connection to it.
At the very back of the large room I found what I was looking for, a small doorway leading down into a tunnel that ran straight north directly towards the sub tunnel. I wandered down there and could hear water splashing in the distance.
More headcam screenshots, the fence in the access tunnel and the big room after it, red circle is where the connection to the main sub tunnel is located
I ran back to tell the boys to hop over, we had our entry. We headed through the big room together, still trying to shake off the nerves of being where we were. Down the stairs and into the long narrow stretch towards the sounds of water slapping concrete in the distance. We got closer and closer, until there it was.
We were in.
We headed further in, whispering and watching our step incase anyone was on the dock outside of the tunnel
Around 50-60m in to the tunnel we reach this cutout section with a gantry above it, significantly higher ceiling than the rest of the tunnel. It looks as if this would've been where vessels would've been lifted from the water for maintenance
Reached a little raised platform and took a shot looking back at the eastern door, the second image is an accurate idea of what we could see with our lights off.
Group shot
Our next challenge was this rusted metal gangway overhanging the water, I headed over first eager to see what was around the corner, and the boys followed one by one, not trusting how much weight it could support at one time.
You can see just how long the tunnel is with this shot, the light you see in the distance is sunlight breaking through gaps in the giant bulkhead pictured earlier on the western side of the tunnel.
The walk of faith
This lead along the tunnel into a gigantic offshoot potentially used to store small boats or munitions, equipment etc.
At the end of the tunnel is a bare rock face instead of a smooth wall like the rest of the tunnels.
This was where we unfortunately reached our limit, to continue would require going over the next gangway. I was tempted as there was a small bridge in the distance that would allow me to explore the long tunnels and rooms on the other side but it was just not smart. It was sagging, completely rusted through, the railings had fallen off and large holes had appeared in it, ultimately none of us fancied a swim.
The next shot is looking back from the rotted gangway towards the east, on the left you can see a long tunnel leading to the active base, other blogs show that this tunnel leads to some old storage rooms but unfortunately we had no way to get over there.
We chilled out for abit longer, had a minor panic after thinking we heard voices (we didn't) and then headed back to get more shots of the side tunnels we entered through.
One of the small cutouts seen all along the side of the tunnel, likely used for storage and equipment.
Walking back through the long stretch connecting the Sub tunnel and the access tunnels we entered through
The tunnel leads to this big room, i'm unsure what it was used as but i'm guessing a workshop or engineering bay as there were lots of discarded engines, cogs and parts lying around. This is essentially a reverse shot of the initial picture earlier from my headcam.
An engine/motor of some sort (?)
A side room filled with old ventilation ducts
Back over the wobbly tetanus dispenser and swiftly out of the area
And finally a shot of the restricted area while walking back to the car
I'd love for someone to see this whole place one day and share it on here. It seems like the stuff out there at the moment shows most of the far western side that we couldn't get too and the northern section that connects to the Naval base, but I'm certain that there is something further along the gangway on the southern side that isn't out in the public space yet. Could be easily done with some swimming and a drybag or perhaps more balls than us to attempt that rusted shitheap of a gangway.
I'm happy though, one of the most unique places I've ever been and a fair amount of work to get there.
Shoutout to the boys, they aren't on the forum or anything so I'll leave their names out.
Hope you enjoyed.
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