Albanian Open Water

08 September 2025

Our Albanian vacation actually started in Corfu, because we wanted to go from Ksamil in the south through Dhermi and Berat, ending up in the capital of Tiranë. Fortunately, EasyJet flys into Corfu and it is about a 30-45 minute ferry (depending upon which one you take) from Corfu Town to Sarandë. We had less than 24 hours in Corfu, landing there on Friday in time for dinner, but had enough time for a nice walkabout on Saturday morning before catching the early afternoon ferry:

Truly the only bummer about our eight days in Albania was that I didn't just stop in and swim at the Sarandë salt water sea lanes ...

... before we picked up our rental car and headed down to the stunning beach town of Ksamil. We ended up having too much fun in Ksamil to make a stop back through here again!

The city of Ksamil is, I think, Albania's premier beach town and some writers compare its clear, warm waters and white sands to places like the Maldives. I certainly found it gorgeous at sunset and sunrise/moonset ...

... but even moreso on the water. We rented a kayak (me) and SUP (Bella) on Sunday to get out on the water and, if I'm being honest, for me to scout out the distance to swim around the biggest of the Ksamil Islands right off the coast. About 2KM was the answer:

Kayak GPS track (L) with Swim GPS Track (R)

On Monday morning, I walked down to the beach (near Greg’s restaurant for those who might go there), saw a few floating people bobbing in the calm-ish, gently wavy, warm water and took off for my circumnavigation of the island, starting around 6:40am, soon after the moon had gone down over Greece to the west (see picture above), but before the sun had fully created the Albanian mountains to the east.  Other than a large cruise ship and one ferry way out in the North Strait of Corfu, there was no boat traffic.  

Picture taken after the swim of my beach entry

I had the sea to myself for my ~1,750-meter, 30 minute morning cruise of a swim.  No super pretty fish, but a lot of small ones, particularly as I got closer to the island .  The floor of the sea around there was covered more with vegetation than bald rocks, the fish weaving their ways in and out of the grassy-looking bottom.  

Bird's eye overview of my swim route

I cannot say enough great things about Ksamil - beyond the beautiful location, the people were warm and welcoming, the food was tasty and cheap, and there were plenty of things to do, such as the ~two hour boat cruise that took us past cool caves like below (and one of Dua Lipa's magnificent seaside homes) ...

... along with a lakror cooking class, a trip to a castle and more:

Ksamil was the perfect start to a great week in this beautiful country.