Saranda
With a prime 8th-floor location, a clean beach at its base and a friendly, helpful atmosphere, this Irish-run backpacker hostel is a good place to chill. There's an open-plan kitchen and lounge, and two cramped and often quite hot dorm rooms, although the fans and sea breezes help temper things a bit. The unlimited breakfast pancakes are always a hit.
Follow the port road for around 10 minutes and continue when it becomes dirt; it's the orange-and-yellow apartment block on your right.
8.74 MILES
Early in the morning, before the tourist crowds arrive and when the rocks are still tinged in the yellow dawn light, you might just imagine that the…
15.91 MILES
Gjirokastra's eerie hilltop castle is one of the biggest in the Balkans. There's been a fortress here since the 12th century, although much of what can be…
17.5 MILES
The rocky headland that juts east from Corfu Town is topped by the Venetian-built 14th-century Palaio Frourio. Before that, already enclosed within…
17.35 MILES
Home to stunning artefacts ranging from prehistoric bronzes to works in onyx and ivory, this excellent museum occupies the central portions of the Palace…
24.65 MILES
Between Dhërmi and Vuno is the turn-off for this little-known gem, a gorgeous stretch of isolated white sand and rock backed by big cliffs – and as yet…
15.81 MILES
This incredible three-storey house dates from 1811 and has twin towers and a double-arched facade. It's fascinating to nose around the almost unchanged…
21.85 MILES
Set atop a steep coastal hill 12km south of Corfu Town, the Achilleion Palace was built during the 1890s as the summer palace of Austria's empress…
16 MILES
Gjirokastra's most interesting sight in no way relates to traditional architecture, but instead to a far more modern kind: this is a giant bunker built…
0.63 MILES
These ruins of a 5th-century synagogue are located right in the heart of town and provide evidence of one of the earliest Balkan-Jewish communities. There…
0.7 MILES
This one-room museum houses a well-preserved 3rd-century mosaic floor and has a display about the nearby ruins at Butrint. It's one block behind the…
0.75 MILES
Housed in Saranda's old customs house overlooking the town wharf, this interesting museum contains many fascinating photographs from the communist era,…
0.78 MILES
This excellent gallery overlooking the seafront has high-quality temporary exhibits, with many works coming down from the National Gallery in Tirana.
1.66 MILES
This former castle is now a very average restaurant, but come here for the superb views over Saranda and Butrint lagoon, especially at sunset. A taxi here…
8.74 MILES
Early in the morning, before the tourist crowds arrive and when the rocks are still tinged in the yellow dawn light, you might just imagine that the…
10.75 MILES
The last relatively undeveloped spot on the Albanian Riviera, before the urban sprawl of Saranda begins, is Bunec. The pebbly beach is divided in two by a…
11.07 MILES
The Blue Eye Spring is a magical place: a hypnotic pool of deep blue water surrounded by electric-blue edges like the iris of an eye. It's further…