Villa rental in Saranda, above the bay.

Saranda is the Riviera's working harbour, not its showpiece — which makes the villas above the bay a clever base rather than an obvious one. From the quiet hills over the town you get the sea view and the pool, and at the bottom of the hill you get the one thing the prettier villages lack: the marina, the ferry to Corfu, and the restaurants and services of a real town.

We place villas in the terraces above the bay and along the coast toward Ksamil — three to six bedrooms, private pools, terraces that catch the sunset over the strait. Saranda's advantage is access: Ksamil's islets twenty minutes south, Butrint half an hour beyond, the northern Riviera up the coast road, and Corfu a thirty-minute ferry away.

Because Saranda is the corridor's transport hinge, a villa here is easy to build a whole trip around. We arrange the crossing from Corfu, a car waiting at the port, a boat out of the marina and the villa itself — one contact, both shores.