Sarandë Travel Guide 2026: Ksamil, Butrint & Corfu Ferry

Butrint is the most important archaeological site in Albania. You walk through a forest by a lagoon and find a Greek theatre from the 3rd century BC, Roman baths, a 6th-century baptistery with a mosaic floor (usually covered with sand to protect it), a large Byzantine basilica, the Lion Gate and a Venetian castle on the top of the hill with a small museum. It became a UNESCO site in 1992 and a national park in 2000.

Price: 1,000 lek · Hours: April to October 8:30–20:00 (last entry 18:00); shorter hours in winter · Time needed: 2 to 3 hours · Tip: go at opening time; there is little shade and almost no food inside, so bring water.

Ksamil is a village built around small coves with white pebbles and very clear water. Four little islands sit just offshore; you can swim to the closest ones or rent a kayak or boat. It has become very built-up and crowded in July and August, but the water is still beautiful.

Price: free beaches exist, but most are run by bars that charge for sunbeds · Tip: visit in June or September, or arrive early.

A natural spring in the forest where water bubbles up from a hole more than 50 m deep, in an intense blue colour. Divers have never reached the bottom. The water stays around 10°C all year.

Price: 50 lek per person, plus parking for cars · Hours: roughly 7:00–19:00 · Time needed: 1.5 hours including the 2 km walk from the parking · Tip: swimming is not allowed; arrive early or after 16:00 to avoid tour groups.

A fortress built in 1537 by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent to control the bay. Today it has a restaurant with the best view in Sarandë, over the town, the Butrint lagoon and Corfu.

Price: free (you pay for drinks) · Tip: go for sunset.

The ruined 6th-century monastery on the hill gave the town its name. In the town centre, an excavated site shows the remains of a 5th-century synagogue that was later turned into a church, with mosaic floors.

Price: free · Time needed: 30 minutes each.

The seafront walk where the whole town goes after dinner, full of gelato shops and cocktail bars.

Price: free.

The "city of stone", a UNESCO site since 2005, with Ottoman tower houses roofed in grey stone slabs and a huge castle on top. It is the birthplace of the writer Ismail Kadare and of Enver Hoxha. Inside the castle there is a weapons museum and an old US Air Force plane.

Getting there: bus from Sarandë, about 1 hour, around 300 lek · Price: castle a few hundred lek · Tip: stop at the Blue Eye on the way; it is near the same road.

Take the ferry in the morning, explore Corfu Old Town (a UNESCO site), and come back in the evening. See the ferry details below.