Beach · Ksamil
The Ksamil Islands
Four islets close enough to swim to — Albania's postcard, decoded
Four islets close enough to swim to — Albania's postcard, decoded
The image that sold the Albanian Riviera to the world — impossibly turquoise water around small green islands — was taken at Ksamil. Four islets float just off this southern beach town, two of them joined by a sandbar, all ringed by shallows of Caribbean clarity over white sediment that gives the water its famous glow. The nearest islet lies barely 200 metres offshore: strong swimmers cross from the beach, everyone else takes a pedalo, kayak or one of the small boats shuttling from the shore. Within the Butrint National Park's protected waters, they remain blessedly undeveloped — bring what you need and leave nothing.
From Ksamil's central beaches, pedal boats and kayaks rent by the hour and reach the nearest islets in ten leisurely minutes; small motorboats and water taxis do the run even faster and can drop you on the farther pair. The classic move is to land on the twin islets and walk the sandbar between them with water at your ankles on both sides. Confident swimmers can simply swim it — the channel is short and usually calm in the morning — but watch for boat traffic in high season.
For a more complete day, join or charter a boat from Ksamil or Saranda that pairs the islands with the Blue Eye spring or the Butrint lagoon's mussel beds — the corridor's best combination of swim, lunch and archaeology.
Ksamil in August is a phenomenon: beloved, brilliant and very full. The islands, however, reward early risers absurdly well — at 08:00 you can have a white sandbar in transparent water essentially to yourself. June and September offer the same palette with room to breathe. Pair a morning on the islands with lunch on the beach and a late-afternoon visit to Butrint, fifteen minutes south, and you have the single best day in southern Albania.
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