Saranda 4 Hidden Beaches Boat Tour with Snorkeling

Saranda seafront: departure point

The trip starts on the seafront promenade of Saranda, the lively resort town at the southern end of the Albanian Riviera, where the boats tie up a few steps from the cafes and the palm trees. Saranda's bay faces Corfu, and on a clear morning the Greek island seems close enough to touch. Most hotels are within a 10-minute walk of the departure point, so there is no transfer to arrange.

The speedboat leaves in the morning or late morning and heads north, past the last apartment blocks and the hill of Lekursi Castle, into a coastline of bare limestone cliffs that drop straight into the water. Within 10 minutes the town is behind you and the first cave is ahead, which is the quickest way anyone can get from Saranda to the hidden beaches of the north coast.

Turtle Cave and the second sea cave

Turtle Cave, Shpella e Breshkës in Albanian, is the first stop and the one everyone photographs. The boat slows and slides into the opening, where the sun reflecting off the pale seabed lights the whole chamber in shades of blue and green. The stop is short, about 10 minutes, but long enough to see the colours change as the boat moves and to take pictures from inside looking out to the bright sea.

A second, smaller sea cave on the same stretch of cliffs is visited when the swell allows. Both caves face west, so the light is strongest around midday, which is why the late-morning departure times them well. For anyone searching for the sea caves near Saranda, these two are the ones the local skippers know best, and the boat approach is the only way to see inside them.

Soldier's Beach

Plazhi i Ushtarit, Soldier's Beach, is a narrow strip of pale pebbles beneath the cliffs, named for the small military post that once watched this coast during the years when the country was closed. Today there is nothing but rock, water and silence, and the boat anchors here for about 20 minutes of swimming in water so clear that the anchor is visible on the seabed.

It is a quiet, sheltered place, good for a first swim of the day and for a few photos of the boat against the cliffs. Soldier's Beach is only reachable by sea, and because it is small the boat is usually the only one there, which gives this stop a feeling of having the coast entirely to yourself.

Qefali Cape

Beyond Soldier's Beach the coast juts out into the Ionian as Kepi i Qefalit, Qefali Cape, a headland of pale rock cut by coves and underwater ledges. This is the best snorkelling on the route: the seabed drops away in steps, fish gather around the rocks and the visibility in calm weather is excellent. The boat stops for about 20 minutes so you can swim from the stern and explore the edges of the cove.

From the water the cape shows the scale of the cliffs that line this part of the Albanian Riviera, with the coast road invisible high above. If you have your own mask and snorkel, this is the stop to use them; if not, the water is clear enough that simply floating face-down shows you the rocks and the fish below.

Kakome Bay

Kakome Bay is a wide, horseshoe-shaped bay with a long pebble beach and hardly a building in sight, one of the few large bays on this coast that development has not reached. Closed to the public for many years, it has kept its untouched look, and by land it still requires a long walk down from the road. The boat anchors off the beach for about 20 minutes of swimming in water that runs from pale green near the shore to deep blue mid-bay.

The hills around Kakome rise in terraces of olive and scrub to bare limestone, and from the water the whole amphitheatre is visible at once. It is the last swimming stop before Krorez and, for many guests, the most beautiful of the four beaches on this Saranda speedboat tour, precisely because there is nothing on it.

Krorez Beach: the long stop

Krorez is where the boat stays longest, about 2.5 hours. It is a long curve of white pebbles between two headlands, with pines behind it, a beach restaurant and rows of umbrellas and sun loungers, and on this tour the umbrella and loungers are included, so you walk off the boat and straight to your spot. No road reaches Krorez; everyone here came by boat or on foot over the hills, and the beach stays calm even in August.

The water is shallow and clear for a long way out, good for children and for lazy snorkelling along the rocks at either end. Most guests have lunch at the restaurant, swim, nap in the shade and swim again before the skipper calls everyone back on board. Krorez Beach is what most travellers mean by the best beach near Saranda, and this tour gives you a real afternoon there.