Guide to Sarande

Ever dreamed about a turquoise sea, grilled seafood, and a general impression that maybe life isn't all about spreadsheets and missed buses? Consider directing yourself towards Sarande in South Albania. Hearing someone say the city was the ideal mix of Balkan mayhem and Mediterranean chill, I came across it. They were not wrong at all. They could have really undervalued it.

Sarande rests on a slight bend in the Ionian Sea, a hue of blue that momentarily makes you wonder if your display brightness is set too high. The waterfront seems like it was created by someone who very much wished for people to wander and imagine they are in a music video. Palm trees decorate the promenade, couples snap sunset photos that make the rest of us seem unphotogenic, and coffee shops keep open at times that I think break local labour regulations but definitely help coffee drinkers like myself.

The first thing you notice is how calm, yet also how alive, Sarande seems. You could sip a cocktail in total vacation quiet or dive into bars where the music urges you to stay out later than you intended. I came thinking I would get one calm beach day. Three days later, I was still there, telling myself I would leave tomorrow. Spoiler: Tomorrow I did not go.

Really, the beaches are the main draw, and they merit the focus. Some are sandy, some are pebbly, and all will have you rethink the sad puddles you earlier knew as beaches back home. Visit the beaches near the centre if you want an Instagram-friendly view. Take a quick trip to adjacent Pasqyra Beach or Kroreza Bay if you plan to fake you found something hidden. Be ready to boat or walk, because reaching lovely spots obviously takes work—something no one warned me about.

Then comes the food. In general, Albania is skilled at turning basic dishes into ones that taste like the chef is personally blessing you. Eating the seafood in Sarande makes you feel a little bad because it is so fresh. Plates of fried anchovies arrive at your table faster than you can say yes, please, grilled octopus, and mussels from the nearby Butrint lagoon. Furthermore, the portions are enormous, and I cannot quite get why. I came to wonder whether the servers were egging me to keep consuming.

Speaking about Butrint, it's among the simplest day excursions from Sarande and totally worth it. Think about a mix of a national park, a historical site, and an exceptionally ambitious history class. Trying to recall anything from your high school history lesson, you meander through ruins spanning several eras. Though I didn't pass that part, I nevertheless had fun with it.

Sarande lacks perfection. The traffic can be crazy, and the summer crowds sometimes make you think about retiring early to a small mountain town. Still, the area's beauty outweighs all of that. It is warm, lovely, somewhat erratic, and really enjoyable.

Sarande is perhaps the place that ruins your future holiday standards if you're looking for a place to unwind, explore, overeat, and inadvertently prolong your trip. Take yourself as warned.