Albania Guide · 4 articles
Albania by day
The Riviera's nights start late, which leaves the day free, and the south of Albania has plenty to fill it. Here are the places that official bodies describe and protect: Butrint, the ancient city in its national park, with its published hours and ticket; the Blue Eye, a karst spring inside a protected natural park; Gjirokastër, the stone town on UNESCO's list, for a longer day inland; and the beach itself, with the rules Albania sets for public sand, sunbeds and flags in Ksamil. Where an opening time, a price or a bus has no official source, we say so rather than guess. When the sun goes down, the nights are in Ksamil and Sarandë.
By day
Gjirokastër from Sarandë: a day in Albania's town of stone
Gjirokastër is the inland half of southern Albania: a UNESCO-listed town of grey stone roofs and tower houses climbing to a castle above the Drinos valley. From Sarandë it fills a full day, and you can still be back on the coast for the night in Sarandë or Ksamil.
By day
The Blue Eye, the karst spring in Albania's south behind Sarandë
The Blue Eye (Syri i Kaltër) is a karst spring in a protected natural park by the village of Muzinë, about 18 km from Sarandë. Cold water wells up from a deep shaft into a ring of blue and starts the Bistricë river. Here is what Albania's official agencies say about it, and what they leave out.
By day
Butrint National Park: the ancient city between the lake and the sea
Butrint is where southern Albania keeps its deepest history: a UNESCO-listed ancient city on a wooded hill, ringed by a lagoon and a channel to the Ionian Sea, inside a national park that reaches the islets off Ksamil. Here are the official hours and prices, what to look for and how it fits around a night in Ksamil.
By day
Ksamil beach rules: what is public, what is leased, and the flags
Every beach in Ksamil, as everywhere in Albania, is state property run by the municipality and open to free public use. Hotels may only lease stretches of it as 'beach stations', under a national regulation that fixes distances, free strips and safety rules. This is what that regulation says, rule by rule, before you spend the evening on Ksamil's beach clubs.