A Tour of the Albanian Riviera

The Albanian riviera has a lot to offer including beautiful sights, nice beaches, and a sun tan. It is a cheaper destination than most other beaches in Europe and was perfect for a sunny spring weekend getaway from England. Here’s what we did on our tour of the Albanian Riviera.

Go As Locally Tour of Riviera from Tirana 
We based ourselves in Tirana, Albania during our trip to the Balkans and booked all of our day tours through Go As Local. All of our guides were fabulous and we had a great time on each tour we did. They picked us up directly from our hotel and we traveled in a small group with stops along the way. Our guides were knowledgable with history and answered our questions! I highly recommend Go As Local and they have many different tours throughout the Balkan countries to choose from.
View more info and book our Day Tour to the Albanian Riviera HERE.
View and book other tours with Go As Local HERE.

Blue Eye
Our first big stop (besides a coffee stop and a bathroom break) was the Blue Eye park! It is quite a hike down into the park but for just €3 per way you can ride the train. I thought it was worth it to save time and our feet! It is also worth noting that almost the entire walk is in the sun, so be prepared. Your admission into the park is included with your tour but if you want to take the train you will have to pay yourself.

Blue eye is beautiful to admire! It is protected so you are not allowed to swim inside, also because this is a local source of drinking water. The heat really made me want to dip my feet in though…. There is not much else to do here except admire the water, there are some restrooms which were not in the best condition and a restaurant.

Our next stop was a viewpoint of the riviera. You can also see the island of Corfu, Greece behind me in the photo below.

Ksamil Beach
I wish we had time to actually lay out and tan or swim here, but it was mainly just a photo stop. There is a lovely restaurant on the water here that has beach chairs and umbrellas to rent.

Saranda
This beautiful city on the water has a marina, restaurants, and shops. We enjoyed a delicious lunch on the water at Limani Restaurant.

Porto Palermo
Our second to last stop was the little Porto Palermo. This quaint beach is rocky but has very calm and shallow waters. The water is crystal clear and perfect for kiddos. This area is quaint and only has one restaurant.

Himara Castle
Our last stop was the town of Himara. We walked up to the top of the city where the old castle use to be. Now just ruins, but the walk is beautiful through this old town and offers an incredible view of the coastline.

To read about more places we visited during our trip, check out my other posts below:
Tirana, Albania
Ohrid, North Macedonia
Prishtina & Prizren, Kosovo

Finding the fun everywhere life takes us!
Love, Olivia Michelle