Visit Butrint and Ksamil: half-day guided tour from Saranda

Our tour in southern Albania begins with a visit to the archaeological site of Butrint Albania, where you will immerse yourselves in the ancient Greek and Roman ruins that are surrounded by nature. In the afternoon you will continue towards Ksamil beach, one of the most fascinating beaches of southern Albania, along the beautiful Ionian coast.

Starting from Saranda at 9 am with our vehicles, in about 40 minutes south to the county of Vlora you will reach the Butrint National Park. Here, nature, modeled by human hands, forms the backdrop to the ruins of an ancient city, considered one of the most important archaeological sites in the Mediterranean. Given the impressive amount of historical information, a guided tour around here is highly recommended.

Butrint was founded by the Greeks who inhabited Epirus, the mountain region included in the current southern Albania territories and northwestern Greece. Epirus was very important in the history of the Illyrian civilization and in the 4th century BC, under the leadership of Pyrrhus, this people gave the Romans a hard time. The same Romans who settled here in the second century BC, when they conquered Illyria. After them came the Byzantines and the Slavs, who helped to draw the profile of the medieval Butrint. Until an earthquake forced the local population to abandon the site. Nature thus took possession of the ruins, which have come down to us in excellent condition. It was a team of Italian archaeologists, in the period from 1924 to 1931, to help bring them to light.

During our excursion you will walk on foot in what was declared a museum-city in 1961 and, since 1992, has been part of the national heritage of UNESCO protected monuments. Among the most interesting buildings there is certainly the Greek/Roman theater, built in honor of Asclepius, God of Medicine. But the real show is to walk on foot among the olive trees and the dense vegetation of the Butrint naturalistic site, which sometimes opens onto other ruins, giving us the idea of ??the complex architectural and landscape system of the site. The museum inside the castle - a Venetian fortress, also houses important statues and remarkable mosaics. But the most beautiful mosaic is certainly the one brought to light by the Italian archaeologist Luigi Maria Ugolini inside the Roman baptistery of the sixth century. The Byzantine Basilica, with its circular plan, has a wonderful mosaic floor.

After the visit to the Butrint park, in the late morning you will continue the tour to reach Ksamil. You will find yourself in an archipelago of unique beauty, immersed in a natural park and surrounded by the crystal clear waters of the Ionian Sea. Here the landscape is varied. Sandy beaches alternate with cliffs and pine and fir tree forests that can be found a few tens of meters from the sea. From the large beach of Ksamil you can easily reach four completely uninhabited islands, rich in Mediterranean vegetation, by swimming. Each island has a strip of white sand that flows into the shallow turquoise sea. Two other islands are connected to the mainland by a thin strip of sand.

Perhaps no one would be surprised if people were to compare southern Albania with the Italian Amalfi coast. Of course, the landscape is different, but there are two very important distinctive features that unite the most famous stretch of coast in Campania to the seaside of ??southern Albania. We are talking about magnificent beaches with unspoiled nature, crystal clear waters and unique archaeological parks. We are talking about Butrint National Park, one of the best well-preserved archaeological sites in Albania and Ksamil beach, where you will find some of the most beautiful beaches on the entire Ionian Sea.

The area of southern Albania is rich in its landscape and history. You will find yourself at the center of the Mediterranean Sea basin, along routes which in the course of a millennia of history have been crossed by armies and merchants. Here the Albanian culture came to mix (and still combines) with the Greek culture, given the proximity to the island of Corfu and Corinth.

Saranda is one of the best known seaside resorts in southern Albania. To reach this important tourist destination in southern Albania, you can take the ferry to Saranda from Bari or Brindisi. Here you will find resorts and hotels, restaurants, comfortable beaches and connections for day trips and tours to the main tourist sites in the country. Of course, depending on the duration of your holiday, you will need to have a priority order for your visits. If you are on holiday in Saranda, you cannot miss the guided visit to the wonderful archaeological park of Butrinto and the fantastic sea of ??the archipelago of the Ksamil islands.