Yachts & boats in Vlora.

Vlora holds the hinge of the Albanian coast: the wide bay where the Adriatic officially gives way to the Ionian, sheltered by the long wild arm of the Karaburun peninsula. Albania's second port and the city where its independence was declared in 1912, it is a real, year-round place — seafront promenade, orange trees, a working harbour — rather than a resort.

For the traveller, Vlora is above all the gateway. The Riviera road begins here, climbing south through Orikum toward the Llogara Pass and the beaches beyond; the city's own strength is its bay. Boat trips cross to the Karaburun-Sazan marine park — sea caves, white coves like Grama Bay, and the off-limits mystique of Sazan island, a former military base — while the lagoon of Narta and the island monastery of Zvernec sit quietly to the north.

With a new international airport rising on the bay's northern shore, Vlora is positioned to become the Riviera's front door. For now it remains the honest, unhurried start of the journey south — a seafood lunch on the promenade, a swim at Radhima, and the pass ahead.