Surely a beach holiday has its benefits, but we’re always up for a little something extra. Especially if it goes deep into the history and culture of a nation. And Ksamil has its fair share of that little extra activities to turn one’s holiday into an enriching experience. I am sure you’ve all heard about the Blue Eye, a natural wonder close to Ksamil and Sarande on the Albanian riviera. But nature unfolds itself even closer to Ksamil, at the Butrint National Park. We were lucky enough to experience both and even more.

Butrint is literally a stone throw away from Ksamil. It takes roughly 15 minutes to reach the National Park by car. There are also other options available, but I strongly recommend hiring a car to get around, for more efficient timing and comfort.

Our list of day trips from Ksamil include

1. Mussel tour – 2-3 hours on the Butrint lake near Ksamil.
2. Butrint Archeological Park – 10 minutes away from Ksamil. Decent 1-2hours hike among the ruins surrounded by history.
3. Sarande Castle – 30 minutes away from Ksamil. Must visit at sunset. Best combined with Butrint Archeological Site.
4. Porto Palermo Castle – 1h30min from Ksamil. Instagrammable views along with a history lesson.
5. Jale beach – 2h from Ksamil. Chill atmosphere, less crowded. Only 30 minutes from Porto Palermo Castle. Worth the stop if you combine both. Cheaper sunbeds, food and drinks compared to Ksamil.
6. Blue Eye – a 50 minutes drive from Ksamil to take a virtual plunge into the 50meters (or more, no one knows apparently) blue abyss. Short hike, best done early morning or off season due to the large crowds that are drawn to see it.
7. Gjirokaster – an open air museum that preserves Ottoman influence over Albania located 1h15min drive from Ksamil. Best combined with an early morning trip to the Blue Eye and an afternoon stroll through its alleys flanked by silver rooftops of stone tiles. Roughly 50 minutes drive from Blue Eye.

MUSSEL TOUR

An excellent half day trip from Ksamil is the Mussel Tour you see advertised everywhere. To be honest, the tour is a little overpriced compared to the other prices in Albania. Normal adult ticket price is 33 euros, but since it was September, they had a small discount available. My ticket was 28 euros, while Eric had a 50% discount. The tour lasts about 2.5h. We embarked on the 11am tour, but our guide mentioned they have tours available also at 2:30pm and 5pm. The tour starts from a small port, let’s say. It’s quite easy to find and a stone throw away from downtown Ksamil. The tour is on a small covered motor boat, but make sure you sit in the middle, to be further away from the sun. The tour goes through the Butrint lake, to the right, next to Butrint National Park and the guide gives you some basic information about the lake and the park. The lake is connected to the sea and gathers the water of the Blue Eye river (and others), which makes it a combination of salty and freshwater. Apparently, this is what makes the mussels taste really good. You get to see also ruins from the Butrint archeological site, and the guide showed us some remains of old churches, as well. The lake in itself is beautiful and the tour is worth it if not just for taking in the calm scenery. But, it is also an informative tour, especially for our little ones. Eric was very interested to learn how the baby mussels grew, how they are cleaned and harvested or how much it takes for them to become the queen mussels. The guide was kind enough to give him a baby mussel to check. The tour is also very interactive, we were each given a bucket of mussels to remove the beard and get them ready for cooking.

After stopping at one of the hundreds of farms on the lake, the boat is steered towards Restaurant Kalivoj, with a long-standing family tradition for cooking mussels and fresh fish. The restaurant is unassuming, basic, and gives you the unique vibe of having lunch with old friends. The tour includes lunch here, where they serve boiled mussels (which you cleaned, hopefully), as well as grilled mussels on a skewer. If you don’t like mussels, there’s also fish available, vegetables and home made bread. The tour also includes a bottle of water per person and a glass of wine (or more if you want to). Everything is home made and locally sourced. Once lunch is finished, the boat returns to the port in Ksamil. I highly recommend this tour. Eric has learnt a lot about mussels farming and it was a nice opportunity for us to connect.

BUTRINT ARCHEOLOGICAL PARK

Another option for a half day trip includes the Butrint Archeological Park. We recently started discussing history with Eric and we covered the ancient Greeks, the Roman empire, the Ottoman empire. So what better way to see ruins from all these ages and more than with a visit to Butrint? It is so conveniently located next to Ksamil that is really a pity not to visit. Children below 12 do not have to pay an entry ticket and adult prices are 1000 lek, approximately 9 euros. The site is open up to 7pm and even though you might think it is not a good option during hot days, I would have to disagree. The ruins are surrounded by a dense forest and as you go from one ruin to the other, there is plenty of shade, as most of the trails are sheltered by the trees. Do bring water and snacks if you think you might need it. And wear mosquito repellent, as they are buzzing everywhere. Allow around 2 hours to get a good picture of everything the site has to offer. Butrint is a nice little hiking option, whenever you get bored by the sea and beach.

The site is well maintained, there are signs showing you the direction of visit. Pick a leaflet with the map at the entrance to have a better overview of the entire place. Eric likes these maps as he is always eager to find its way around using one. There is no need for a guide to show you around. There are information boards everywhere describing what you see, as well as how the area has evolved over the ages. I just loved that it guided us to see first what the Greeks did, how the Romans changed the area and what it happened to it during the fall of the Roman empire. Then, you go to the medieval ages when the Venetians occupied the territory and their attempts to protect the town from Ottoman invasion.

Be careful when you reach the funerary monument, you need to pass through the lion gate to continue your ascent towards the Venetian castle at the top (which also houses a museum). The route that goes around the former walls is a secondary route and there’s a sign that indicates that. But we did not see any sign indicating the primary route towards the castle on top of the hill. The way up is short.

Practical info: Free parking is available across the street, next to the entrance. Make sure you have a look at the traditional ferry that takes cars from one side of the Vivar canal to the other. There are toilets available next to Asklepios sanctuary and at the top, at the castle. There’s a bar serving drinks and snacks at the top, next to the castle.

SARANDE CASTLE

Sarande is a larger nearby town, which might be an interesting day trip from Ksamil. We combined Butrint Archeological Park with a visit to the Sarande Castle- Kalaja e Lëkurësit, which is now home to a spacious restaurant that offers some sweeping views over the horseshoe bay of Sarande. The restaurant in itself is a little overpriced (steak – 19 euro, lamb – 12 euro, pasta bolognese- 9 euro, wine only by the bottle), with decent food, but not the best we had in Albania. While I do not recommend the restaurant for dinner, I highly recommend it for the views. Arrive here at sunset as it is magnificent. The restaurant is located on the top terrace, while the lower terrace offers only drinks. Both are good options for sunset views over the bay. While we were having dinner here, we were lucky enough to see a traditional dancing and music performance, which added to the overall cultural experience in Albania.

Practical info: the road is very steep and winding, free parking is available at the top next to the castle.

PORTO PALERMO CASTLE

An interesting half day trip from Ksamil is also Porto Palermo Castle, built by Ali Pasha Tepelena. The castle was built on a small island in the bay of Porto Palermo, but was later connected by a small strip of land created using rocks. The very same strip of land is used now as a small beach and a parking lot. Access here is possible from the main road, through a rocky path. There’s a parking on the main road, but it cannot fit more than 10-15 cars. From the parking lot, a gravel path takes you to the entrance of the castle. There’s a lot of trash along the way and a deserted building on the right of the path that gave me a cringe feeling. To be completely honest, we stopped here along the way from Ksamil to Vlore, during our 3 week holiday in Albania. I’ve included this stop as a means for Eric to visualise ottoman ruling in Albania and the castle experience, as opposed to the ottoman town vibe we had in Gjirokaster the day before. Bogdan and I agree that the castle in itself is not worthwhile. Adults pay 300 lek, while kids enter free. There are only small informative boards that label the designation of each room, but the castle in itself is completely empty. A board next to the parking gives you some extra information regarding the castle and Ali Pasha. If we were not impressed, Eric on the other hand appeared to be having a lot of fun, as he used the castle grounds and its terrace as a wide playground area. The castle terrace does have its positives, as it offers some good views over the bay, especially through the little gun hole in the outside walls. If you’re more into hiking, there are a couple of hiking routes in the area and a map that details the routes is available on a board in the parking.

JALE BEACH

The road to Porto Palermo from Ksmail is indeed scenic, with winding roads that go through the already common rocky mountains. And at each turn, you get a glimpse of the amazing Ionian Sea. You can extend this half day trip into a full day if you combine Porto Palermo castle with a stop on one of the nearby beaches. Although we did not stop, Borsh looked impressive from the main road. We opted to go a little bit further, to Jale beach. Jale is a wide beach, streching for a couple of hundred meters. In September, it was mostly deserted, with few beach bars open. The sunbeds here cost about 700lek, but there’s also a large part of the beach that is public. Kapiteni was one of the very few restaurants still operating in mid September. The service was really nice, our waiter spoke excellent English. We had sea bass and sea bream (1000 lek, good size) and a bowl of mussels (600lek). They were all delicious, so we highly recommend eating here. Card payment is also possible here.

BLUE EYE

The Blue Eye is a nice getaway from Ksamil, to break the monotonous beach time. The road to the Blue Eye is good and there is a parking space next to the entrance. Parking is free, but it’s mostly on an unorganized space. The entrance fee is 50 lek/person. Our 5 year old had a free entrance. The path goes over a bridge and then it follows the river up to the 50m deep spring. The hike is easy and on a asphalted road. There’s not much of a scenery, as you can barely see the water over the trees. It took us about 25 minutes to get to the spring. When you arrive at the restaurant, make sure to leave the asphalted road and cross the small bridge. There’s a sign that indicates the narrow pathway to get to the spring: Syri i Kalter. It’s a popular turist attraction, so probably a lot crowded during peak season. We were there in mid September and the weather was perfect for the hike with not more than 20 people around. There’s a small kiosk next to the spring selling snacks, water and sodas, as well as a couple of souvenirs . The spring is totally worth the trip there. Gazing into the deep crystal clear waters makes you wonder about the actual depth of the spring. It’s one of the sights not to be missed while here.