The Albanian Riviera by road: Vlorë to Ksamil in four days

Getting there in 2026

Historically there were two ways in: fly to Tirana and drive three to four hours south, or fly to Corfu and take the ferry across to Sarandë, which takes between half an hour and 70 minutes depending on the boat and lands you at the southern end of the coast.

The third option is new. Vlora International Airport sits at the northern end of the Riviera with a 3.2 km runway, and has been announced for commercial flights in summer 2026 — Chair Airlines said it would fly Zurich to Vlora from 26 June. Local reporting has been more sceptical, because the opening date has slipped several times during construction.

A hire car is close to essential. The coast is served by furgon minibuses and summer buses, but they run between towns rather than to beaches, and half of the good stops on this route are not towns.

Day one: Vlorë, then over Llogara

Vlorë is a working city with a long seafront promenade, the place Albania declared independence in 1912, and the start of the road. Have lunch, see the Independence Monument, and go.

South of the city the road begins to climb the Llogara Pass — up through switchbacks to just over a thousand metres, with the Ionian appearing below you on the descent. It is the single best twenty minutes of driving in the country.

A tunnel now cuts under the pass, which is faster and duller. Take the old road over the top unless the weather is bad. There is a national park at the summit, a couple of restaurants that grill lamb, and paragliders launching off the ridge in good conditions.

Sleep in Dhërmi or Drymades, at the bottom of the descent.

Day two: Dhërmi, Gjipe and Himarë

Dhërmi has the long pebble beach and most of the bars; Drymades, ten minutes north, has the pines coming down to the water and is calmer. The old village of Dhërmi, up the hill on the other side of the main road, is a stone settlement with churches from the 12th century and about a tenth of the visitors.

Gjipe is the one worth the effort: a beach at the mouth of a canyon, reachable by a rough track and then a twenty-minute walk down, or by boat from Dhërmi. The canyon behind it is walkable for a kilometre or so in dry weather.

Carry on to Himarë for the night. The town has a proper harbour, a castle-topped old village above it, and Livadhi beach, which is the most swimmable on this stretch of coast.

Day three: Porto Palermo to Borsh

South of Himarë the road is cut into the cliff and every bend is a photograph. Porto Palermo has a triangular castle on a spit of land in a bay — associated with Ali Pasha, and later a Cold War submarine base, the tunnel of which is still visible in the rock.

Borsh claims the longest beach in Albania, several kilometres of it, backed by one of the largest olive groves in the country.

End in Sarandë, which is the biggest and busiest town on the coast, faces Corfu across the strait, and is where you eat the best seafood on the route.

Day four: Butrint, the Blue Eye, Ksamil

Butrint, 18 km south of Sarandë, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and an entire Greek and Roman city in a lagoon: a theatre, a baptistery with mosaics, a Venetian castle on the hill and a small car ferry that still runs on a chain. Go early; it is quiet before ten and hot after eleven.

Ksamil, between the two, is the famous one — white sand, turquoise water, small islands you can swim or wade to. In July and August it is completely full and much of the beach is loungers you pay for. In June and September it is the picture on the postcard.

Inland, half an hour from Sarandë, the Blue Eye (Syri i Kaltër) is a karst spring that pushes water up through a deep blue funnel nobody has ever reached the bottom of. Swimming is officially not allowed; people do it anyway, briefly, because the water is about 10°C.

If you have a fifth day, turn inland to Gjirokastër — a UNESCO Ottoman town of stone-roofed houses stacked up a hillside under a fortress, and the best inland stop in the south.

Driving notes

The SH8 is paved the whole way and mostly in good condition, but it is a mountain road: hairpins, no barrier in places, and drivers who overtake with more optimism than you are used to. Do not drive it at night for the first time.

Fuel stations are frequent on the flat sections and scarce on the pass. Fill up in Vlorë and again in Himarë.

Parking at popular beaches is usually a few hundred lek to a local with a lanyard. That is normal, not a scam.

Money, seasons, and when not to come

Albania uses the lek. Euros are accepted in tourist areas at a rate that always favours the person accepting them, so pay in lek where you can. ATMs charge a per-withdrawal fee, so take out more at a time. Cards work in hotels and larger restaurants; beach bars and small guesthouses are cash.

August is the mistake. The diaspora comes home, Albanians take their holidays, and prices roughly double while the beaches fill. June and September are the same weather with half the people, and the sea is warmest in September.