Albanian Riviera Yacht Charter Itinerary from Corfu
Albania was closed to the outside world for almost half a century under communism, and as a yachting destination it is still new. That is the appeal: limestone mountains dropping straight into very clear water, beaches you reach by boat, Greek and Roman ruins with few visitors, and seafood at a fraction of what it costs across the water in Corfu.
There are only a handful of marinas, so this route is built around anchorages. It starts and ends in Corfu, where most of the yachts that cruise here are based. Sarandë is only 15 miles from Corfu, so you can be in Albania for lunch on the first day.
THE ALBANIAN RIVIERA FROM CORFU
Corfu → Sarandë → Butrint → Ksamil → Porto Palermo → Himarë → Gjipe → Dhërmi → Grama Bay → Kakome Bay → Sarandë → Corfu
7 Nights | 10‑knot cruising speed | June to September
Theme: Wild coastline, very few other yachts, and a good dose of history.
DAY 1 — CORFU → SARANDË
Distance: 16 NM
Duration: ~1 hr 35 min, plus clearance
Morning Routine
Board in Corfu; Gouvia Marina is 15 minutes from the airport. The captain clears out of Greece with the port police before you leave, so allow a little extra time.
Afternoon Routine
Across the North Corfu Channel to Sarandë, Albania’s main southern port. Clearing in is handled by a local agent we book in advance; for you it is mostly a matter of handing over passports and having lunch on deck while it is done.
Evening Routine
Drive up to Lëkurësi Castle above the town for a drink at sunset, with the view across Sarandë Bay to Corfu, then dinner on board or in town.
DAY 2 — SARANDË → BUTRINT → KSAMIL
Distance: 7 NM
Duration: ~40 min
Morning Routine
Butrint is 20 minutes by car from Sarandë, and the earlier you get there the better. People have lived on this spot for at least 2,500 years, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and Venetians in turn, and the site sits in woodland on the edge of a lagoon, so you walk from a Greek theatre to a Venetian tower mostly in the shade. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, next to the big sites in Greece or Italy, remarkably quiet.
Afternoon Routine
The yacht meets you at Ksamil, where four small wooded islands sit a few hundred metres off the beach in shallow, bright water. Swim or paddle out to them; the furthest are usually empty.
Evening Routine
Ksamil’s restaurants serve mussels from the farms on Butrint lagoon, just behind the village. Order them, with whatever fish came in that morning.
DAY 3 — KSAMIL → PORTO PALERMO
Distance: 21 NM
Duration: ~2 hrs 5 min
Morning Routine
North past Sarandë and up the Riviera, with the mountains on your right the whole way. Breakfast underway.
Afternoon Routine
Porto Palermo is a deep, almost enclosed bay with a small triangular fortress on a spit of land, usually credited to Ali Pasha of Tepelena in the early 1800s. On the far side of the bay you can see the mouth of a Cold War submarine tunnel cut into the cliff during the Hoxha years.
Evening Routine
One of the most sheltered anchorages on this coast, and a quiet night with the fortress across the water.
DAY 4 — PORTO PALERMO → HIMARË → GJIPE
Distance: 9 NM
Duration: ~55 min
Morning Routine
A short hop to Himarë. Walk or drive up to the old castle village above the modern town, where some of the houses are still lived in, and have a coffee looking down the coast.
Afternoon Routine
Anchor off Gjipe, a pebble beach at the mouth of a canyon. Most people reach it after a half-hour walk from the road; you swim in. In the afternoon, walk up the canyon behind the beach in the shade of its walls.
Evening Routine
Gjipe is open to the west, so if the afternoon breeze builds, the captain will move back to Porto Palermo or Himarë for the night.
DAY 5 — GJIPE → DHËRMI → GRAMA BAY
Distance: 11 NM
Duration: ~1 hr 5 min
Morning Routine
Dhërmi is the Riviera’s busiest beach, with beach clubs along the front and an old stone village on the hill above. Go up to the village for the view and its white church, and leave the beach clubs to the afternoon crowd.
Afternoon Routine
Round to Grama Bay on the Karaburun peninsula: no road, no buildings, just a small white-pebble beach under steep cliffs. Sailors have sheltered here for well over two thousand years and carved their names and prayers for good weather into the rocks; some of the Greek and Latin inscriptions are still easy to read.
Evening Routine
Grama is an overnight stop only in settled weather. When it works, it is the most remote night of the week, without a single light on shore.
DAY 6 — GRAMA BAY → BORSH → KAKOME BAY
Distance: 28 NM
Duration: ~2 hrs 50 min
Morning Routine
An early start south while the sea is flat, with coffee on deck and the Ceraunian Mountains behind you.
Afternoon Routine
Lunch stop off Borsh, the longest beach on the Riviera, with the ruins of a castle on the hill behind it, then on to Kakome, a small bay a few miles north of Sarandë.
Evening Routine
A last quiet anchorage in Albania. Dinner on deck, with the lights of Corfu across the channel.
DAY 7 — KAKOME → SARANDË → CORFU
Distance: 20 NM
Duration: ~2 hrs, plus clearance
Morning Routine
Into Sarandë to clear out of Albania, then across to Corfu, where the yacht clears back into Greece.
Afternoon Routine
Lunch on board, and a swim off Corfu’s north-east coast if there is time.
Evening Routine
Last night in Corfu: dinner in the old town, between the two Venetian fortresses, and disembarkation after breakfast the next morning.
Good to Know
Paperwork: Albania is outside the EU. Clearing in and out needs an agent and takes an hour or two each time, which is already built into Days 1 and 7.
Season: June to September. Outside these months many beach restaurants are shut and the anchorages are more exposed to weather.
Ten nights or more: carry on north from Grama to the Haxhi Ali sea cave at the tip of Karaburun and Sazan Island, and finish at Orikum Marina in the Bay of Vlorë, about two and a half hours by road from Tirana airport.
Money: euros are widely accepted along the coast, but carry some Albanian lek for small cafés and taxis.
The most suitable yachts for this itinerary are based in the Ionian, so Corfu is a natural starting point. FUNKY CHOICE is based in Corfu itself; ALLURE is based in Kefalonia and can be positioned north:
FUNKY CHOICE - 89ft Power Catamaran
ALLURE - 62ft Sailing Catamaran
To book your luxury yacht charter in Albania please contact your broker at charter@supersailyachts.com
Photography via Unsplash: B, Karol Chomka, Marie Volkert, Danjel Qose, Adventure Albania, Maksim Shutov.