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The first time we came over the Llogara Pass and saw the Ionian Sea drop away below us, Todd pulled the car over without saying anything. The road falls roughly 1,000 meters in a series of switchbacks from a pine forest to a coastline the color of a swimming pool, and it is the single best twenty minutes of driving we have done in Europe.
That road is the Albanian Riviera, and the stretch of coast below it runs about 120 kilometers from Vlore in the north down to Ksamil at the Greek border. This is our guide to the beaches, the towns, and which parts are worth your days.
What the Albanian Riviera Actually Is
The Riviera is the Ionian coast, and it is a different animal from the Adriatic beaches further north around Durres. The water is clearer, the beaches are pebble rather than sand, and the mountains come down almost to the shoreline, so the villages are stacked on slopes above small coves rather than spread along a flat strip.
It is also changing quickly. Ten years ago most of these villages had a handful of guesthouses. Now Dhermi has beach clubs and Ksamil has a construction crane on every block. It is still dramatically cheaper than Croatia or the Greek islands, but the window on “undiscovered” closed around 2022 and anyone telling you otherwise has not been recently.
If you are building a wider route, our Albania planning guide covers how the coast fits with the mountains and the Ottoman towns inland.
The Best Beaches, North to South
Dhermi
The Riviera’s headline beach and the one most likely to appear on a postcard. A long pebble bay under a village that climbs the hillside behind it, with clear deep water and a beach club scene that gets genuinely loud in August. Gjipe Beach, reachable by a rough track or by boat from Dhermi, is the quieter alternative in a canyon mouth and one of our favorite places on the whole coast.
Himare
The most livable town on the Riviera and where we would base ourselves. It has an actual working harbor, a decent range of restaurants that stay open outside July, a castle on the hill above, and three good beaches within walking distance: Livadhi, Potami and Spile. Less glamorous than Dhermi and much more pleasant to spend four nights in.
Porto Palermo
A small bay about fifteen minutes south of Himare with an Ali Pasha era fortress on a spit of land jutting into the water. There is a beach, a submarine tunnel left over from the communist navy, and very little else. Stop for two hours.
Borsh
The longest beach on the Riviera, roughly seven kilometers of pebble backed by olive groves, and consistently the emptiest of the big beaches. It is not the prettiest but if you want space in August, this is where to find it.
Saranda
Not really a beach town, more the Riviera’s transport hub and largest settlement. The seafront promenade is pleasant in the evening, the town beach is unremarkable, and the reason to stay here is logistics: the ferry from Corfu docks here, the buses run from here, and Butrint and the Blue Eye are both a short drive away.
Ksamil
The famous one. Four small islands sit just offshore in water so shallow and clear it looks fake in photographs, and the beaches facing them are the most photographed in Albania. It is beautiful and it is completely overrun in July and August, with sunbeds packed to the waterline and prices that have caught up with Greece.
Our advice: go, but go in June or September, and go early in the morning. You can swim out to the islands in a few minutes. By 11am in high summer the magic is gone.
Things to Do Beyond the Beaches
Butrint National Park
Twenty minutes south of Saranda, and one of the most complete ancient sites in the Mediterranean. Butrint was Greek, then Roman, then Byzantine, then Venetian, and the layers are all still there: a Greek theater, a Roman forum, a sixth century baptistery with a mosaic floor, and Venetian walls, all in a wooded peninsula between a lagoon and the sea. UNESCO listed, and far less visited than a site this good has any right to be. Allow half a day and go early to beat the heat.
The Blue Eye
A karst spring about thirty minutes inland from Saranda, where water pushes up from a cave system of unknown depth in a pool that shades from deep blue at the center to turquoise at the rim. It is genuinely striking and genuinely crowded. Swimming is officially discouraged and the water is about 10C anyway. Go at opening or late afternoon.
The Llogara Pass
The road we described at the top. If you are driving the Riviera from north to south, you get it as part of the journey. If you are based in the south, it is worth driving up just for the descent. There is a national park at the top with pine forest, a couple of restaurants and paragliding operators.
Boat Trips to the Karaburun Peninsula
From Vlore or Orikum, boats run out to the Karaburun peninsula and the sea caves along its uninhabited western edge, including Haxhi Ali Cave, which is enormous. This coast is inaccessible by road and the only way to see it is by water.
A Day Trip to Corfu
Saranda to Corfu Town is about 30 minutes on the fast ferry, which makes a Greek island day trip trivially easy from the Albanian coast. Our Corfu travel guide covers what to do with the day once you land.
When to Go
June is our first choice. Warm water, everything open, and a fraction of the August crowds.
September is our close second and the better month for value. The sea holds its heat well into October and prices drop noticeably after the first week.
July and August are hot, expensive and full. Ksamil and Dhermi roughly double their rates and the coast road backs up. If this is your window, book accommodation in the spring and stay in Himare or Borsh rather than the two famous spots.
May and October are lovely for the ruins and the driving, but the sea is cold in May and many beach businesses have closed by mid October.
November to April: the Riviera essentially shuts. Go inland instead.
Getting Around the Riviera
Drive. We say this about Albania generally and it is doubly true here. The coast road is spectacular, the best beaches require pulling off it at unmarked turnings, and the bus network hits the towns but not the coves.
The road itself is in good condition and paved throughout, but it is narrow, winding and shared with tour buses. Do not plan long distances. Vlore to Saranda is only about 120 kilometers and takes a solid three hours with stops.
If you are not driving, buses connect Saranda, Himare, Dhermi and Vlore several times a day in summer and much less often outside it. Taxis between the beach towns are affordable if you split them.
A Four Day Riviera Itinerary
Day one. Drive the Llogara Pass from the north in the morning, when the light is best, and stop at the viewpoint before descending. Settle into Himare by early afternoon and spend the rest of the day at Livadhi beach.
Day two. Dhermi in the morning, then the walk or boat down to Gjipe for the afternoon. Back to Himare for dinner at the harbor.
Day three. South to Porto Palermo for the fortress, then a long stop at Borsh, then continue to Saranda or Ksamil for the night.
Day four. Butrint at opening, the Blue Eye on the way back, and Ksamil for a late afternoon swim once the day crowd thins out.
That order matters. Doing Butrint early on your last full day means you see the site before the tour buses arrive from Corfu, and it leaves Ksamil for the part of the day when it is bearable.
Where to Stay
Himare for a base of four nights or more. Best balance of beaches, food and normal town life.
Dhermi if you want the beach club scene and the best looking bay, and you are willing to pay for it.
Ksamil only if Butrint and the islands are your priority, and ideally outside high summer.
Saranda if you are arriving by ferry, leaving by bus, or want restaurants and a promenade more than a beach.
Borsh if you want quiet and space and do not mind being far from everything.
Riviera accommodation is overwhelmingly small guesthouses and apartments rather than hotels, and it books out early. We use Booking.com for all of it, and for July and August we would book by March.
Where to Book
Accommodation through Booking.com, which has the deepest coverage of the family run guesthouses that make up most of the coast.
For the things that need a boat or a guide, Viator covers the Butrint and Blue Eye combined day trips out of Saranda, Karaburun cave boat tours, Ksamil island hopping, and the Corfu ferry day trip. The Butrint plus Blue Eye combination is the one we would book if you are not driving, because doing both by public transport in one day is not realistic.
Budget Notes
The Riviera is the most expensive part of Albania and still cheaper than any comparable coast in Europe. In June, a good guesthouse room runs 45 to 70 euros, a seafood dinner for two with wine about 35 euros, and a sunbed pair around 10 euros outside the premium clubs. In August, add 50 to 100 percent to all of it.
For the full country picture, our Albania planning guide has daily budget tiers, and how much a trip to Europe costs puts it in continental context.
Things We Wish Someone Had Told Us
Bring water shoes. Almost every beach here is pebble or shingle, and some of the prettiest coves are genuinely painful to walk into barefoot. This is the single most useful thing in our bag on this coast.
Sunbeds are usually tied to a bar. On most Riviera beaches you rent a pair of loungers and an umbrella from the beach bar behind them, and the fee is often waived or discounted if you eat and drink there. Ask before you sit down.
Shade is scarce. The cliffs behind the beaches block the late sun but not the middle of the day, and there are very few trees. Plan on the umbrella rather than hoping for shade.
Fuel up before the coast road. Stations thin out considerably between Vlore and Saranda, and the Llogara Pass is not where you want to discover that.
Our Honest Take
The Albanian Riviera is the best value coastline in Europe, and it is on a clock. The road is finished, the flights are cheap, and the construction in Ksamil tells you exactly where this is heading. It is not undiscovered and it is not unspoiled, but the water is as good as anywhere in the Mediterranean and the prices have not caught up yet.
Base in Himare, drive the Llogara Pass, do Butrint properly, and see Ksamil early in the morning in a shoulder month. That is the trip.
Keep planning: read our Tirana travel guide for the capital most people fly into, how to plan a trip to Albania for the full country route, and our Ulcinj guide for the Montenegrin beach town just up the coast across the border.
