Well, look at that. “August slipped away into a moment in time…” (Thank you T. Swift for the great lyrics!)
In early August I went to Albania aka the Albanian Riviera aka the Maldives of Europe (the last bit is questionable…). Why Albania? Well, see this New York Times article from 2019. Plus, bloggers raved about it. More importantly, our queen Dua Lipa became a citizen of Albania, so why not go and see what’s up? My sister, mom, and I packed our bags and off we went!
This is Part I of my “Adventures in Albania” recap. Stay tuned for Part II! xoxo
Ksamil
After landing in Albania’s capital, Tirana, we hired a driver through Day Trip, who drove us about 4.5 hours to the coast. Driving in Albania is chaotic because of the lack of infrastructure. In fact, Tirana is the only city with traffic lights! If you’re a confident driver, I’d recommend renting a car, but we played it safe.
We finally arrived to Ksamil, a village-like coastal city. Walking down the main street, you’ll see swarms of people heading from the beach. It’s a very family-friendly town, so if you want something more rowdy, you may want to stay in Sarande. Sarande is 30-ish minutes away from Ksamil by car. We never made it there because we really loved the simplicity of Ksamil!
Where to Stay
We stayed at this hotel that was a 5-10 minute walk from the beach. Breakfast is pretty much included in all hotels in Albania, so don’t miss out on feasting on plenty of feta cheese, fresh fruit, vegetables, and lots of traditional Albanian fried foods (my personal favorite: soft fried dough)!
hotel rooftop views (peep the half-finished buildings! a classic scene in Albania)
**Keep in mind that when choosing a hotel or resort in Albania, the pictures can be VERY deceiving. Albania is fairly new to tourism, so lots of hotels are still under construction, or they lack amenities. Choose wisely! We found Booking.com to be the best for choosing our stays.
Where to Beach
In Ksamil, there is one main beach area that is split into two: the public beach and “reserved” beach. The public beach side has a few umbrellas that are first-come, first-served. During our first day, we relaxed on the public beach, which was nice, but the beach was quite rocky. For the rest of the trip, we reserved two beds for 20 euros on the “reserved” side and swam in the “reserved” area that was more sandy.
Where to Eat
You’ll notice food across the Albanian Riviera is pretty much seafood-based and shares a lot of similarities with Greek and Italian cuisine. Lots of restaurants offer traditional Albanian food that tastes homemade! Also, don’t be surprised if you see pizza on all the menus. They LOVE pizza here.
Oh, and if you love wine, you’ll love it here. In Albania, they don’t offer extensive wine lists. You can help yourself to a glass, 1/2 liter, or a full liter of red or white wine (the wine here tastes very natural, so if you’re into that, go to town!).
Bar Restorant Luna
This was one of my favorite restaurants in Ksamil. Come here at sunset to enjoy the nice views! This place had the tastiest fried seafood mix, too!
Fourth Island
Great seafood and friendly service.
A`Marino Restaurant
If you want something a bit more fancy, head to A`Marino. This restaurant belongs to a hotel and it has lovely outdoor area for a quiet dinner.
Cute bar with fantastic drinks! I was impressed with how great the cocktails were in all of the cities we visited.
Where to Explore
To be honest, I would have been just fine without going on any other excursions. But who knows if we will go back to Albania again! Therefore, we checked out Butrint National Park. This place is a UNESCO World Heritage site, so that was pretty cool. But I’m sad to report it was a bit underwhelming. First off, it’s quite difficult to get here. It’s a small place and large tour buses cram up the area, so don’t be surprised if you get stuck in crazy traffic!
Again, Albania is under-developed, so these historic sites aren’t taken care of that well. 😦 Here the highlight was seeing some Greek statues (that I don’t have great photos of)!
Many bloggers recommended checking out the Blue Eye. We didn’t go since we preferred to be beach bums!
Vlorë
After living our best village life, we headed to Vlorë–another coastal city. On the way there, we hit up Gjirokaster, which is also known as “the stone city.” Fun fact: it’s also a UNESCO World Heritage site! We visited a castle, walked down the main street, and marveled at the Ottoman period architecture. I highly recommend buying some tourist trinkets here, since there were much better options and various street vendors to choose from.
Highlights from Our Pit Stop in Gjirokaster
After our stop, we finally made it to our second destination! Here, we didn’t do any city exploring since our hotel had a private beach and that’s what we were there for. Eat, beach, sleep, repeat.
Where to Stay
This hotel was a fantastic choice, since we had access to a private beach. It was about a 20 minute walk to the main part of town, which was just the main strip (like Vegas, but rated-G LOL) with lots of restaurants and bars.
sis and mom (clearly, I was just there to take pics of them)
Breakfast was included and we had a beach view from our room. This hotel also had excellent air conditioning (a must in Albania because it gets HOT) and a restaurant, which saved us time choosing where to have dinner or a cheeky drink.
Where to Beach
Because we were hotel guests, we had access to the Azar Beach and got to reserve lounge chairs. For four days, all we did was chill and swim. It was fantastic!
***Caveat: although this was technically a private beach for hotel guests, the hotel saves lounge chairs for non-hotel members. So even if you don’t end up staying here, you could still enjoy the beach for 20 euros. The beauty of these private beaches is that they’re less busy and you could order food/drinks from the bar.
sis living her best mermaid life
This public beach seems like a great option, especially if you’re staying at a hotel that doesn’t have a private beach!
Where to Eat
Great food, friendly staff! The black risotto was SO good here!
Restorant Pizzeri Riviera
Pizza was tasty here! I’m not going to lie though…When we ordered pizza with potatoes, I was genuinely shocked when we received pizza with fries on top.
Another nearby option! (I would include photos, but all the food is the same!)
Would you ever travel to Albania? Let me know in the comments down below.
See you soon for Part II!
torimuser 