Promenade
First-timersThe waterfront strip: restaurants, bars, the ferry terminal and most of the beds. Busy and central.
Sarandë city guide
Things To Do In Sarandë
The Albanian Riviera's main town, looking across at Corfu, with a UNESCO ruined city down the coast and a spring the colour of antifreeze inland.
13
Hostels in the city
9.3
Average, from 3,165 reviews
30min
Ferry to Corfu
€10
Entry to Butrint
50m+
Divers have reached in the Blue Eye, without finding the bottom
A concrete resort town with very good things around it
Sarandë itself is not the attraction. It is a horseshoe bay lined with apartment blocks built fast and without much planning during the boom years, and the promenade is pleasant rather than beautiful.
What makes it worth basing here is everything within an hour. Butrint, twenty minutes south, is a Greek, Roman, Venetian and Ottoman city in a lagoon and the best archaeological site in the country. The Blue Eye spring is forty minutes inland. Ksamil's islets and turquoise water are fifteen minutes away. Corfu is a thirty-minute ferry.
In July and August it is full, loud and priced accordingly. In May, June, September and October it is a cheap and comfortable base for the south. Two or three days works.
Where to stay
The town runs along one bay. Promenade for convenience, hills for quiet and views.
Above the bay
Views and valueThe streets climbing behind the front, cheaper, quieter and with the view down over the water.
Ksamil
BeachesFifteen minutes south: the islets, turquoise water and the best swimming in Albania. Rammed in August.
Orange labels are neighbourhoods, dots are the 6 top-rated hostels. Map © MapTiler © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Things to do
Things to do in Sarandë
Butrint is the reason to be here. A city continuously occupied from the Greek period through Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman rule, abandoned to a lagoon and now UNESCO-listed: a theatre, a baptistery with mosaics, a Venetian castle and forest paths between them. Entry is 1,000 lek, about €10, and the bus from Sarandë takes twenty minutes.
The Blue Eye is a spring welling up from a depth divers have not reached, forty minutes inland, and the colour is genuinely startling. It gets crowded from mid-morning.
Ksamil's four small islets are wadeable in shallow turquoise water, which is why every photograph of Albania features them and why they are overwhelmed in August.
In town, Lëkurësi castle above the bay has the sunset view and a restaurant, and the ruined synagogue and basilica are in the middle of the promenade.
Free things
Free things to do in Sarandë
The promenade and the town beach cost nothing, and the evening walk along the front is what the whole town does between six and nine.
Lëkurësi castle is free to walk up to, and the view over the bay and across to Corfu at sunset is the best free thing here.
The ruins of the fifth-century synagogue and basilica sit open in the middle of town.
Most of the coast north towards Himarë has free beaches and coves, and the ones that charge for a sunbed will not charge you to swim.
Food and drink
Eating and drinking in Sarandë
Seafood, and it is cheaper than anywhere across the water in Greece. Grilled fish and calamari run €8 to €15, and mussels from the Butrint lagoon are farmed a few kilometres away and cost very little.
The promenade restaurants charge a premium for the view; one street back, the same food is a third less.
Greek influence is strong this close to the border — souvlaki, feta and olive oil throughout — and a full meal with wine is €8 to €14.
Coffee on the front is about a euro, and the Albanian habit of sitting over one for two hours applies here more than anywhere.
Nightlife
Going out in Sarandë
In July and August this is a proper resort nightlife: beach clubs, bars along the promenade, and music until three, with a crowd of Albanians, Kosovars and Italians rather than western backpackers.
It is loud and it is seasonal. By October most of it has closed and the town belongs to the people who live in it.
Beer is €1.50 to €3 and cocktails €4 to €7, cheaper than the Greek islands opposite by some distance.
Ksamil has its own beach bars in season, and the quieter alternative is a long dinner on a terrace above the bay.
Getting around
Getting around Sarandë
The town is walkable along the front and steep behind it.
Local buses run to Ksamil and Butrint every half hour in season for about €1.50, leaving from the centre, and take fifteen and twenty-five minutes respectively.
Furgons go north up the Riviera to Himarë in about ninety minutes and to Vlorë in three hours, and inland to Gjirokastër in an hour.
The Corfu ferry takes thirty minutes on the fast boat and about ninety on the slow one, from around €20 each way, and you need your passport. Booking ahead matters in August.
Costs
What Sarandë costs
Cheap outside August and merely reasonable in it. Dorms are €10 to €22 depending sharply on the month, a meal is €8 to €14, and a beer is €1.50 to €3.
A day is €28 to €45 in season.
Butrint is about €10, the Blue Eye a couple of euros plus transport, and the Corfu ferry €20 each way. Ksamil sunbeds are €5 to €15 a pair in August and free to walk past.
Euros are taken more widely here than elsewhere in Albania, usually at a rate that favours the restaurant.
Safety
Staying safe in Sarandë
Sarandë is safe, and the summer crowds bring the usual opportunistic theft on packed beaches rather than anything worse.
The sea is generally calm here, which lulls people — but boat traffic in the bay is heavy in August and swimming outside marked areas puts you in it.
Ksamil's islets are wadeable but the channels between them drop suddenly and the current picks up in wind.
The coast road north to Himarë is spectacular and has no barriers for long stretches, which matters if you hire a scooter. Emergency number is 112.
Day trips from Sarandë
Everything worth doing in southern Albania is within an hour and a half.
Butrint
Greek, Roman, Venetian and Ottoman city in a lagoon, UNESCO-listed and the best archaeological site in Albania.
What's on
What is on while you are there
The season is the event, and August is when the diaspora comes home.
Staff pick
6–31 December
Saranda Christmas Market
Experience the magic of the Christmas Market in Saranda, Albania, where visitors can stroll through charming stalls adorned with twinkling lights and festive decorations.…
Staff pick
1 January
New Year's Celebrations
In Saranda, Albania, New Year’s Eve is celebrated with family gatherings, festive meals, and lively traditions. Tables are filled with roasted meats, vegetables, salads,…
Staff pick
14–18 October
Saranda Golden Voices
The International Choral Festival “Saranda Golden Voices” in Saranda, Albania, brings together choirs, folk ensembles, and vocal groups from various countries for a unique…
Staff pick
14–18 October
Saranda Music Fest
Saranda Music Fest in Saranda, Albania, brings together folk ensembles, choirs, and modern dance groups from around the world for a lively celebration of…
Staff pick
19–21 November
Tangerines Festival
The Tangerines Festival in Saranda, Albania, is a lively celebration of the region’s flourishing citrus industry, held during the peak of the tangerine harvest.…
Staff pick
28 November
Flag Day and Liberation Day
Each year on November 28, Albania celebrates Flag Day, also known as Independence Day, honoring the nation’s declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire…
22 November
Alphabet Day
Alphabet Day is an official public holiday in Albania celebrated annually on November 22. It commemorates the standardization of the Albanian alphabet at the…
29 November
Liberation Day
Liberation Day is an official national holiday in Albania celebrated annually on November 29th. It commemorates the end of World War II and the…
Hostels
Where to stay in Sarandë
A seasonal scene along the promenade and the streets above it, with more opening each year. Live from Hostelworld.
Saranda (SR) Backpackers
Dorms from €12 a night
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Vega 43 Hostel
Dorms from €16 a night
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Saranda Boutique Hostel
Dorms from €14 a night
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Central Boutique Hostel
Dorms from €14 a night
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Lazy Roo Hostel
Dorms from €12 a night
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Hasta La Vista Saranda
Dorms from €13 a night
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When to go
May, June, September and October. August is full and the town triples in price.
Jan
Mild and mostly closed
Feb
Quiet. The sea is cold
Mar
Warming. Butrint is at its best with nobody there
Apr
Good. Everything reopening, sea still cold
May
Excellent. Warm, affordable and quiet
Jun
The best month. Warm sea before the crowds
Jul
Hot and filling up. Prices climbing
Aug
Peak. Full, loud, and double the price
Sep
Superb. Warmest sea of the year and thinning crowds
Oct
Still swimmable and very cheap
Nov
Closing down. Mild and empty
Dec
Shut. Mild, and only the locals
Bar height is temperature. Colour is how busy it gets:
quiet
busy
peak
Average highs. The sea is warmest in September, and the Riviera season runs roughly from May to mid-October.
What your trip will cost
Pick how you travel. Per person per night, in euros, in season.
August runs well above these figures. May, June and late September are roughly half of it.
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- Beds—
- Food and drink—
- Getting around—
- Doing things—
Sarandë travel questions
The ones we get asked most.
Is Sarandë itself worth seeing?
Not especially. It is a concrete resort town on a pleasant bay, and the reason to stay is everything within an hour: Butrint, the Blue Eye, Ksamil and the ferry to Corfu.
What is Butrint?
A city occupied continuously from the Greek period through Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman rule, then abandoned to a lagoon. UNESCO-listed, about €6 to enter, twenty-five minutes by bus, and the best archaeological site in Albania.
Is Ksamil as good as the photographs?
The water genuinely is that colour, and in August the beaches are so crowded that the photographs become impossible. Go in June or September, or go early in the day.
How do I get to Corfu?
A thirty-minute fast ferry from the terminal in the middle of town, from about €20 each way. Take your passport — it is an EU border — and book ahead in August.
When should I visit?
June or September. The sea is warmest in September, May is cheapest with everything open, and August is full, loud and roughly double the price.
Is the Blue Eye worth the trip?
Yes, and go early. It is a spring welling up from a depth divers have not reached, with a colour that does not photograph convincingly, and the coaches arrive from mid-morning.
Can I get up the Riviera from here?
Yes, furgons run north to Himarë in about ninety minutes and Vlorë in three hours, along a coast road that is one of the best drives in the Balkans.
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