TIRANA, June 15 – A film festival and an exhibition featuring the best of Albania’s 20th century visual art will accompany tourists to the southernmost Albanian town of Saranda, one of the country’s top travel destinations, this summer.
Saranda, which features some of the country’s best beaches in the Ionian Riviera and is home to the Butrint UNESCO World Heritage site, has already opened its tourist season with its traditional mussel festival in Lake Butrint.
The coastal town, nicknamed the Pearl of the Albanian Riviera, will launch this weekend its third edition of Dea Open Air film festival that will showcase Albanian and international short and feature films for one week from June 18 to 25.
In the meantime, the local art gallery has already opened a three-month exhibition featuring a collection of 50 artworks by some of Albania’s best 20th century artists, including socialist realism, also known as the “Creation of the models of the New Man,” a genre serving the communist regime propaganda cultivated between 1960 and 1986.
Tourists from neighbouring Kosovo, Macedonia but also other European destinations pack Saranda’s beaches and its seaside promenade during summer.
“Saranda offers sunshine, beautiful beaches, but above all natural and human warmness. Saranda is a perfect destination for tourists of all kinds,” says Saranda Mayor Floriana Koka.
The coastal town has already been rated as one of the must visit towns for 2016.
“Peering across a thin strip of sea at the Greek island of Corfu, Saranda is the start of a stunning national park that forms Albania’s southern border with Greece. While Saranda is arguably Albania’s most beautiful beach town and a versatile spot to either relax or party, it also serves as a perfect home base for day trips,” writes the Paste magazine.
Tourism in this southern destination close to the Greek island of Corfu could receive a real boost from the planned construction of new airport in Vlora, another major destination in southern destination.
Known as the pearl of Albanian Riviera, the southernmost Albanian district is a top destination in Albania during summer, offering tourists a combination of rocky and sandy beaches as well as cultural heritage attractions such as the Butrint UNESCO World Heritage site and the Blue Eye spring. Situated just next to the Greek island of Corfu with regular ferry lines, Saranda remains one of Albania’s top destinations despite the boom of uncontrolled constructions somehow spoiling the beauty of Albania’s southernmost coastal town.
“Saranda is a great location for summer travelers who want a good deal without having to compromise cleanliness or good food. Whether you want to relax on the beach and swim to one of the islands in Ksamil, visit ancient archaeological sites like Butrint, or perhaps just enjoy a nice meal or drink next to the glistening Ionian Sea, you will likely find yourself charmed by this unique location,” says a Saranda promotional website.
In 2013, Saranda, known for its beautiful pure Ionian waters, was named by the United States Price of Travel portal as the third cheapest beach destination in Europe.
“The town of Saranda in the south is arguably the highlight of the Albanian Riviera, and part of its appeal is that it’s just across the channel from the (also modestly priced) Greek island of Corfu. Perhaps one day it will be competing for the mass market cheap holidaymaker, so it could be a good choice for those who like to go to those places first so they can complain about the development later,” says the portal.
