One week in Albania itinerary
At the end of September, we spent a week in the Albanian Riviera, exploring the towns and beaches along the coast. We stayed in an Airbnb in Dhermi, which was perfectly located for us, and we hired a car from Tirana airport to get around.
You can find the full information about our trip to Albania in my blog here. But for now, this was our week’s itinerary, broken down day by day.
Day 1: Tirana to Dhermi
We landed in Tirana (the best place to fly into Albania from London) in the early afternoon and picked up our car from Capital at the airport. The drive from the airport to Dhermi takes about 3-4 hours and there aren’t any particularly interesting sights along the way, so we only stopped for quick drinks and toilet breaks.
We had checked in, unpacked, and were ready to head out for dinner at The Yacht Club/Noah on the Beach by about 8:30pm.
Noah at the Beach was full, but they directed us to The Yacht Club telling us that it was served by the same kitchen. We had a good meal here (although they wouldn’t serve anything from their cocktail menu) but it was fairly expensive… our first glimpse into the cost of eating out in the Albanian Riviera! I wish we’d come here in the day instead as the view across the beaches and the sea would have been beautiful.
Day 2: Dhermi Beach
On our first full day on the Riviera, we headed to Dhermi beach. Depending on where you’re staying it should be easy to walk to, but we wanted to head to the far south end of the beach which was a little quieter. This only took us 5 minutes to drive, and parking was about £3 for the day.
We paid €15 for two sun loungers with an umbrella and a table, and got lunch at Azul Beach Bar, where I paid about 800 LEK/£8 for a Caesar salad. That evening, we cooked at home and watched the sunset from the roof of our villa.
Day 3: Amar Beach
The next day, we were ready to go a little further afield… But not too far! AMAR beach was a 15-20 minute drive from our Airbnb. It’s close to the new Green Coast development and during our stay we were able to park for free close to the beach. We paid €15 again for two sun loungers with an umbrella and table, and had a takeaway lunch from the Summer Dream Restaurant Terrace (about 600 LEK/£5.50 for a Greek salad).
We spent a few hours at this beach, and the sea was perfect for swimming. Then, we headed for dinner at Luciano’s. This is one of the top-rated restaurants in Dhermi, so we took it as an excuse to dress up a bit. The food is not cheap, but the service was great and it’s a stunning place to watch the sunset. We each had a starter, seafood main, and plenty of wine and the bill for 8 people was still below £100 per person.
Day 4: Himare
Now we were settled into our holiday, we drove further along the coast to the town of Himare. While there’s a lot to see here, we headed out on a boat trip with Himara Beach Hopping Tours. Our guide was so fun and friendly, and he took us to secluded beaches, a submarine tunnel, a sea cave, and some wartime bunkers. He sailed us around Palermo for two hours, sharing lots of local information and giving us the choice of where we stopped to jump in the sea.
After the boat trip, we stopped for lunch at Restaurant Himara ’28. Himare has a more Greek vibe to it than a lot of the other towns on the Albanian Riviera, which I really enjoyed. We spent a while wandering around the town before heading back to Dhermi and having dinner and drinks at our villa.
Day 5: Jale Beach, Dhermi old town
On our fifth day we drove to the nearby Jale beach. This is a stunning local bay that is currently under a lot of redevelopment. Even at the end of September it was fairly busy, but we were easily able to park nearby (£5 for the day) and find a group of 8 sun loungers… But I’m not sure how the small beach will cater to the amount of tourists that the new hotels and villas are clearly hoping to bring in.
We relaxed and swam here for a few hours and got lunch from Bazz Beach Bar. Then, we drove back to Dhermi to watch the sunset in Dhermi village. We walked up the steep mountain road into the old town and stopped for drinks at Aman bar, a Turkish-feeling bar based in a small square in the village. Then, we wandered up to St Mary monastery at the very top of the hill where we watch the sun go down.
From here, we walked down to dinner at AMAREA on the main strip in Dhermi. The food here was great, and cost about £250 for 8 people having a starter, main and drink each. The service was great and the staff were really friendly. In fact, this was some of the best service we got in Albania.
Day 6: The Blue Eye
We drove two hours from Dhermi to the Blue Eye near Sarande. This place is a serious tourist trap, but it only costs 50p to enter and if you take the track rather than the main road, it’s a pretty nice hike. It’s also much more peaceful as far fewer take this route. It’s steep in places though, so it’s tough if you’re wearing flip flops!
We spent an hour or so walking near the Blue Eye, then drove 30 min into Sarande. The town is very built up and the beach in town isn’t that nice. It has a ferry port, so the water is far less clear and clean than it is along the rest of the coast. But we did have a good lunch at Frisco, with a nice view of the sea.
Find out more about what you should know when planning your trip to Albania here.
Day 7: Dhermi
On our last full day in Dhermi, we decided to chill close to the Airbnb. We spent the morning relaxing by our villa’s pool, then headed down to Dhermi beach. We thought we’d try a new spot this time, and took beds close to the 2Lips bar. They weren’t in great condition, but they were cheaper than the Azul beach bar beds at about €7 each.
That night, we headed back into town for our final dinner at Aloni. We went all out, ordering fish platters, pizzas, and salads which were all delicious. Plus, Aloni was one of the only places where we found authentic Albanian wine on the menu.
Things we didn’t do
Ksamil. It’s said to be the Maldives of Albania but honestly the sea was crystal clear where we were and it was only going to be more expensive so we skipped the 3-hour drive and stayed closer to home.
Explore more of the coast. For the same reason, really! We didn’t love Vlore or Sarande, and found that Dhermi provided everything we needed from a relaxing beach trip.
Gjipe Beach, which is meant to be beautiful but we didn’t fancy a 30 minute canyon hike in 30ºc sunshine. On a smaller (not group of 8) holiday I probably would have done this.
Tirana and the rest of Albania. I’d love to go to Shkoder and the mountains in the north but we didn't have time to fit this into our week.
Find out more about our week in Albania here.