In southern Albania, practically swimming distance from the Greek island of Corfu, the city of Butrint has stood for thousands of years. Its crumbled remains are a history buff’s dream: an open-air theater from when the city was a Greek colony, a Byzantine baptistery and a Roman aqueduct. Foxes, peregrine falcons and golden eagles roam the 36-square-mile national park that encompasses Butrint’s archaeological treasures.
A 10-minute bus ride away from Butrint, in the low-slung, modern beach resort of Ksamil, tourists lounge on sun beds, dance to pounding techno and maneuver jet skis around a picturesque bay made popular by social media influencers, who compare its lush setting to the Maldives.
Albania is the kind of destination where a traveler can start the day with a walk through antiquity and end it with a twirl on the sand. That might be one big reason so many people are going there. Last year, 11.7 million people visited the country — up from 10 million the previous year — and they not only headed to the beaches and historic sites, but also explored the mountains and lakes in the north, and the unspoiled Vjosa Wild River National Park, one of The New York Times 52 Places to Go in 2023.
“Albania is still an exotic place for a lot of people,” said Frenkli Prengaj, who operates tours for Discover Albania and spent two days driving me around. “When a tourist comes to Albania, they don’t have a lot of expectations. They discover the history and realize we have a lot in common with Europe, a lot of history with the Ottomans. We’re somehow stuck between East and West.”
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