The Albanian Riviera — Rising Son Travels

August 23-28th, 2019

I ended up in Albania somewhat unintentionally. I unexpectedly ran out of days that I was allowed to be in the Schengen Zone. As an American I’m allowed to spend no more than 90 out of the past 180 days in the Schengen Zone. The Schengen Zone is, with a few notable exceptions, the same as the European Union.

Greece is part of Schengen, but none of its neighbors are. My plan was to spend a few more days in Greece and then head up to [North] Macedonia from Thessaloniki. I woke up at some ungodly hour due to jet lag and, in an abundance of caution, looked at the spreadsheet where I had been calculating my days in Schengen. Something wasn’t right. I then double-checked the numbers against an app whose sole function is to help travelers calculate how many days they have left in Schengen. I had zero days left.

I didn’t panic but I did start nervously googling. Just how bad would overstaying be? The system is so convoluted surely people make mistakes all the time. After perusing a few Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor forums enough fear was instilled in me that I decided I needed to get out and get out that day. I was lucky to be within striking distance of two countries that were not in Schengen, as long as I left that day, I would be fine.

Albania and North Macedonia were my two options. Albania was closer and beachier, so I headed to the town of Saranda. Between a transfer in a dysfunctional bus station and a border checkpoint, it took the entire day to get to Albania.

Saranda

I stayed at a Backpackers Hostel called Saranda Backpackers. The walls were covered in messages of gratitude from former guests to the owner Tommy from the past several years. It created a sort of college-campus-coffee-shop aesthetic. I met two other backpackers staying in my dorm room. When I explained how I was “Schengen-ed,” one of them appeared utterly mystified, saying that he had no issues when he spent several months in Europe last year. I began to wonder if I had overreacted until the other backpacker said he knew someone who wasn’t able to go back to the Schengen Zone for 5 years because they had overstayed.

Saranda was my first taste of the Albanian Riviera, which is the name of the coastline that spans the western part of Albania across the Adriatic Sea. As I spoke to various people at the hostel, it sounded like this was the best route for me to go up through Albania before exploring other parts of the Balkans.

I met a bunch of people at the hostel while playing a drinking game before heading out to one of the clubs that line the promenade of Saranda. The drinks in Albania were cheap and for the first time in my travels, eating out didn’t seem cost-prohibitive. I was able to get a döner for just a couple of dollars, which I would end up regretting.

The nexts day I walked around Saranda looking for a beach. They were mostly crowded and full of families. Not exactly my scene. I eventually walked far enough that I could park under an umbrella for a bit and try and chill out. Saranda is a resort town, and if you’re looking for culture, you’re better off going to nearby Gjirokaster, which is a possible (long) day trip from Saranda.

As far as enjoying the beach, I started to realize that beaches are just not that fun when you’re traveling alone. I’m restless by nature and sitting by the beach alone seemed like a waste of time when there’s so much to see and do. There also isn’t anyone to watch your stuff when you go in the water.

During my travels I’ve tried to enjoy as many sunsets as I can and in that spirit, I decided to walk up to a Lekuresi Castle, which had the best views of Saranda in the entire city. Sadly, the historic castle has mostly been converted into a restaurant, but at least they didn’t mind moochers like me climbing up for the views.

My app had the wrong information, so I barely reached the top to see any of the sunset at all.

Butrint

The next day I went to Butrint, which is an ancient city surrounded by water less than an hour south of Saranda. I almost got suckered into paying for a tour to visit Butrint, but I realized how easy it was to take public transit to get to the site. That saved me €20 easily. I caught a bus from a bus stop near the beach and it took about 40 minutes to get there with all of the traffic.

Butrint has a rich history spanning the Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires, but has been inhabited since prehistoric times. is massive enough that even if there are many visitors, there will be moments where you find yourself alone and contemplative in the face of ruins that are thousands of years old. I’d never thought too much about what was going on in Albania thousands of years ago, but obviously it has a history that goes far beyond my limited 20th-century understanding of it.

When I got back to the hostel I started to get chills, and at first I thought the AC was on too high. After the third or fourth trip to the bathroom, I realized I had a problem. To add insult to injury, I was on the top bunk, so I had to keep climbing in and out of the bed in the middle of the night.

In spite of my stomach issues, I wanted to keep moving. I got on a bus to Himare. It was an uncomfortable ride, but I managed to get to my next hostel with no problems. I passed out on the bed and napped when I arrived in an attempt to recuperate.

My strategy for the next few days was to go up the coast of Albania little by little until I got to Tirana.

Himare

Himara is a popular stop on the Riviera. Its city beach is nothing to write home about but there are other more beautiful beaches nearby. I met up with Francesco, an Italian doctor I met in Saranda, for dinner with him and his friends that he was traveling with. I learned that Albania is a popular vacation destination for Italians.

Ali Pasha Castle

Not too far from Himara is Ali Pasha Castle, a 16th century fortress rebuilt in the early 1800s. I was feeling healthy enough to check it out. I first tried to catch a bus, but it left earlier than scheduled. I then tried to hitchhike for the first time. It didn’t go well. I stood there and started googling “hitchhiking tips.” My problem was that I was too embarrassed to really commit to it, so I was halfheartedly waving my thumb out there. I got discouraged too easily and gave up, which might be representative of many things in my life. A taxi driver saw me flailing from across the street and offered to drive me. I haggled him down a bit, but still felt like a hitchhike fail.

The castle itself was pretty small, but it sat on the water and there was a small beach that ran perpendicular to it. The view from the castle was beautiful. A tour group entered and I took that as my cue to leave.

At this point I realized that I would need to hitch back to Himara. It was a busy road, and it didn’t take very long for a couple of Serbian guys to stop and offer me a ride. They had no idea where they were so when I kept saying “Himara” they just shrugged but gestured for me to get inside the car. They were very bro-y and made some comments about hot women in Albania, which made me mildly uncomfortable. They dropped me off about a 20-minute walk from where I wanted to go. Overall, I would say, a positive experience. I was also glad to get over my hitchhiking hurtle.

Dhermi

I’d heard so much about the various campsites lining the coast of Albania and was intent on experiencing it for myself. Feeling as if I was out of the woods from my illness, I stayed at a campsite called “The Sea Turtle Glamping.” It wasn’t exactly like I envisioned in my head. This wasn’t a campsite overlooking the beach, but a campsite a short walk from the beach. The tents were tightly packed together like an encampment you might see in San Francisco. At least there was a mattress inside the tent.

I went out to the beach to relax and enjoy the sunset. If I were staying longer I would have ventured out to some of the other gorgeous beaches in the vicinity.

It heavily catered to Albanians, with very little English signage around. I walked out to the beach to watch the sunset. There was free dinner, and it had a cute little bar where I sat and wrote for a bit before retiring to my tent for the night.

When I woke up, I was freezing. I looked at the temperature on my watch, which said it was supposedly 77 degrees outside. I put on as many layers as I had available but was still so cold. I couldn’t stop going to the toilet as well. A campground in Albania is not a place I’d recommend experiencing food poisoning. I knew I needed to leave but was terrified of how I’d handle getting in a bus winding around the hills of Albania. It was nightmarish, but I got to my next destination of Vlora.

I got a cheap private room in Vlora using points where I binged Nailed It! And napped. I left my room to eat a cheap pizza (probably ill-advised) and to grab some water from the supermarket. Had I been up to it I would have gone on a boat trip, but that’s not something you want to risk when you had to use the toilet 14 times the previous day.

I wanted to make one more bus trip before taking it easy for a couple days, and that was to go to Albania’s Capital, Tirana.

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