"The south gate to Albania" Top 5 Page for this destination Sarande by SirRichard

Sarande Travel Guide: 135 reviews and 253 photos

Daytrip from Corfu

Sarande is a medium sized coastal town in the south of Albania, in front of the Greek island of Corfu.
I visited Sarande in a daytrip from Corfu. There is a boat that takes you there in about 2 hours. Then the group goes to visit the Butrint roman ruins, but I didn't want to go, so I stayed in the city and wandered around the streets, had a nice meal in a terrace and met the group at 4pm, just to go back to the boat and return to Greece.

The first impression

The beach

The first impression you get when the boat arrives is that of a grey unfinished concrete city, with a small beach that is not really very attractive.

Sarande is actually a touristic center in Albania, people from Tirana come here to spend their holidays by the beach, but you really don't see much international tourism, maybe a few italians and greeks...

But at the end

Me at lunch

But as an overall impression is a nice place to spend a lazy day at the beach (an urban beach anyway) and start to know the country, though I wouldn't come for a long holidays here, as there is really not much to see around...

Last visit to Sarande: Aug 2004
Intro Updated Sep 24, 2004
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Reviews (15)

Mercedes Benz Favorites (6)

One of the things that will shock you more in this town is the high density of Mercedes Benz cars all around. In fact... more travel advice

Butrint Restaurant Restaurants (1)

I was looking for a typical restaurant, not so new, not so small, not so dirty... and I found this nice place with a... more travel advice

A tourist place Favorites (6)

You could feel that Sarande is a really touristic place, at least at a national level. It reminded me the "Costa del... more travel advice

Unfinished buildings Favorites (6)

I was shocked while wandering around by all these unfinished buildings you could see. Most of them were half unfinished,... more travel advice

Transportation (3)
See All Bus to Tirana
Warnings Or Dangers (1)
No buses at night
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Comments (7)

klodi Aug 23, 2007 at 2:36 PM Report Abuse

10 euros its not to much for you but for someone living in albania it is and the roads are very very bad and for thos mercedes are oll ilegal and its not sow safe you can say
johanfier Dec 3, 2006 at 8:13 AM Report Abuse

Dear Sir Richard, you talk very bad about Albania, and you should travel around in Albania to learn the people know, they are very kind, and the roads are very good now.
valbi Aug 17, 2006 at 3:33 PM Report Abuse

that my house :)
illumina Apr 20, 2006 at 10:52 AM Report Abuse

Hi! Nice page. So why didn't you want to visit Butrint? It's shame you didn't, unless you'd been there before. There might not be much to see in Sarande itself, but the surrounding area is packed with historical sites, not to mention the Blue Eye.
budapest8 Nov 28, 2005 at 1:41 AM Report Abuse

My first visit to your pages and a nice suprise. I have long planned to visit Albania and it is the least visited country I think in Europe.My ex-wife spent 2 weeks there Summer and says it was nice! Will come back to your pages for a good browse.Tim
JetlagCity Sep 28, 2004 at 4:24 PM Report Abuse

The Costa del Sol from the 60's, huh? That sounds pretty good, as does the ferry ride itself. How odd about the half unfinished buildings.
yen_2 Sep 27, 2004 at 1:00 AM Report Abuse

Those Mercedez are obviously illegal, I must say! And maybe not;-) Interesting little town!