Saranda - Albania

As NSC are such a well travelled bunch and seen many similar threads was wondering if anyone has been to Saranda in Albania before ?

It was voted no 1 destination by lonely planet a few years ago but there is very little on google about it.

Just wanted to know the usual stuff as in places people stayed, whats worth visiting, is it a tourist trap/expensive and how safe it is ? Seems like mostly eastern europeans go there and not many english but can't see why as looks like a great place to visit.

Any help much appreciated.

gumbopickles said:

As NSC are such a well travelled bunch and seen many similar threads was wondering if anyone has been to Saranda in Albania before ?

It was voted no 1 destination by lonely planet a few years ago but there is very little on google about it.

Just wanted to know the usual stuff as in places people stayed, whats worth visiting, is it a tourist trap/expensive and how safe it is ? Seems like mostly eastern europeans go there and not many english but can't see why as looks like a great place to visit.

Any help much appreciated.

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A colleague of mine just come back from there last week said it was fantastic, 1 hour ferry ride away from Corfu, beer sooooooo cheap. He highly recommended it.

Not been but heard plenty of good things about it. Nearest I got to it was when in Roda/Corfu a couple of years ago. Have had a fascination with Albania for 30 years or so and reckon it'll be a major tourist spot in the next 10-15 years (particularly as they've relaxed their policy of shooting dead Italian tourists who tried to swim there from Corfu!).

I went there on a day trip from Corfu about five or six years ago. Admittedly it was very cheap, but that apart it didn't IMO have a lot going for it. My one abiding memory was of a massive building site.

gumbopickles said:

As NSC are such a well travelled bunch and seen many similar threads was wondering if anyone has been to Saranda in Albania before ?

It was voted no 1 destination by lonely planet a few years ago but there is very little on google about it.

Just wanted to know the usual stuff as in places people stayed, whats worth visiting, is it a tourist trap/expensive and how safe it is ? Seems like mostly eastern europeans go there and not many english but can't see why as looks like a great place to visit.

Any help much appreciated.

Click to expand...

It was till being developed when I went, and felt a bit 'wild west' - lots of beggars and, I expect, nefarious construction deals being done, etc. Not a very big place, but pleasant enough. However...

There's a World Heritage site called Butrint that's about 30 minutes away by bus. The journey there is one of the most amazing I've ever taken - there's a vast lake half way up a mountain that just defies description, and the scenery is incredible.

Butrint itself is the largest in-tact Roman settlement in Europe. It's basically a Roman town that's hardly been touched. A marvellous place to have visited if you like that kind of thing.

So, Butrint - yes. Saranda - meh...

A couple of years ago me and a mate travelled down from the macedonian border at hani-hotit to tirana via shroker, i saw things on that journey that i never ever thought i would see in europe. The border looks like a nuclear bomb has gone off, twisted rusting metal everywhere, rubble, litter, roads full of craters, stray dogs and various farm animals wandering in amongst the traffic, incredible place. It is totally lawless, the traffic on the roads consisted of hose and carts, really, really old merc's or top end bentleys, range rovers, porsches etc all on u.k or itallian plates! After a taxi (which i thought had been dumped at the roadside, the cabbie hotwired it to get it going) and 2 minibuses it took us about 6-7 hours to get to tirana (maybe 120 kms), what a laugh we had that day. Tirana is pretty crazy, we managed to stay in the Blocc area, full of top end clubs and restaurants in a square of about 4 streets surrounded by complete poverty in the rest of the city. Everybody we met was so helpful and friendly and everybody said go to the coast, i will definately go back one day, go and explore it before it all gets westernised in a couple of years