Saranda & Butrint In Your Pocket

Saranda is the most tourist-friendly city in Albania, and they know it: there's a large sign along the road to Tirana reading Good Luck! in English.

Draped along a curving bay with a narrow strip of beach, the town has witnessed a construction boom, and it's tricky to spot any pre-1990 buildings. In summer, many foreigners arrive by ferry at the passenger terminal (Albania's best-looking building) on the southern end of the harbour on daytrips from Corfu.

There's not much to see in Saranda except for some excavations near the main square, but the city makes a good base for trips to nice beaches, and for visiting Butrint.

If you'd like guidance, contact Sipa Tours (Rruga Skenderbeu 3, tel. +355 85 22 33 84/+355 69 27 95 589, arben@sipatours.com, www.sipatours.com), who offer tailor-made trips to Butrint and around southern Albania.

The Limani restaurant (tel. +355 68 207 74 71) on the pier in the harbour offers the best views of town, massive pizzas (one feeds two) and great home-made ice cream. The promenade is uniquely car-free, and hosts the evening xhiro, and there are plenty of bustling bars here.

The pricy Butrinti Hotel, at the southern end of the bay, is the swankiest place to stay (tel. +355 85 22 55 92, www.butrintihotel.com; doubles €105-125, suites €160-270). Alternatively, try the decent three-star Porto Eda hotel near the pier (tel. +355 85 22 33 63, www.portoeda.com; doubles €50). Nearby, the Kaonia Hotel is a good cheaper option (tel. +355 85 22 26 00; doubles €30-35).

The ProCredit Bank ATM at the Porto Edo hotel accepts all foreign cards and can dispense lek and euro notes. You can only check email at the Butrinti Hotel (500 lek/hr).

Ferries to and from Corfu are run by Ionian Cruises, who have an office in Saranda (tel. +355 85 22 67 12, www.ionian-cruises.com); ferries to Saranda depart daily at 10:30 and Tue-Sun at 16:15. A one-way ticket costs €19.


Butrint
Just south of Saranda lies one of the Mediterranean's most important archaeological sites, the ancient city of Butrint (open 08:00 - dusk; admission 700 lek), a National Park and World Heritage site.

Thousands of years of settlement by Neolithic tribes, Illyrians, Greeks, Trojans, Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Normans, Angevins, Ottomans and Venetians have left their traces here. The city was abandoned relatively recently, in the Ottoman period, and subsequently was covered by vegetation and forgotten.

Other than the famous sites in Greece and Turkey, Butrint is mostly untouched, with bits of masonry poking from the ground here and there, and woods providing a romantic atmosphere. Excavation is in progress, and you'll see sheets protecting mosaics and other artworks.

Still, there's plenty to see: the well preserved theatre; the Temple of Asklepios; the remains of a large Roman house; an early Christian baptistry and a church; the Greek-era Well of Nymphs, and some massive Illyrian city walls. Climb up the acropolis for a great view of the site and the bay. You now get a good brochure at the entrance, and there are also excellent new information signs throughout the site.

The beautiful lagoons, marshlands, forests and olive groves of the National Park can be explored on foot, by boat or on horseback with CISP, an Italian eco-tourism agency (tel. +355 85 22 46 00/+355 68 20 52 274, www.cisp-ngo.org).

Several city buses run to Butrint daily (50 lek, from Saranda's main square, via the Butrint hotel; 30 minutes).