Getting around the Albanian Riviera without a car
You can have an excellent trip on this coast without hiring a car. You cannot have one by assuming the villages are walkable from each other. Here is how the pieces actually fit together.
The Albanian Riviera is a single coastal road, the SH8, running from the Llogara Pass in the north down towards Sarandë. Everything hangs off it: the villages sit above it on hillsides, the beaches sit below it in bays, and the distances between them look modest on a map and feel longer on the ground.
The reason is vertical. A beach that is one kilometre from the road may be two hundred metres below it. A village that is five kilometres from the next one has a headland in between. This is the thing to internalise before planning a car-free trip here.
Your four options
Coastal buses and furgons
Cheap, atmospheric, and genuinely useful between the larger settlements. Seasonal, infrequent, and they stop on the main road rather than at your door.
Taxis and private transfers
Door to door, on your own timing, with luggage. The right tool for airport runs, moving accommodation, evening returns and beaches at the bottom of a descent.
Boats
In season, boats connect some beaches and reach coves with no road at all. Lovely, weather-dependent, and not a transport plan on their own.
Walking
Excellent within a village and on the coastal paths. Not a way to get between villages, and not a way to get back up from a beach at four in the afternoon.
What buses are good for
Services do run along the coast road in summer, linking Vlorë, Dhërmi, Himarë, Qeparo, Borsh and Sarandë. If your plans are loose, your luggage is light and your timing is flexible, they are a perfectly reasonable way to move around, and they cost very little.
The limitations are consistent. Frequencies are low, timetables shift between seasons and are not reliably published, and the stops are on the main road — which in Dhërmi, Vuno and Qeparo means a substantial climb or descent at either end.
Treat them as a bonus rather than a backbone. If a bus turns up when you want it, take it; do not build a day around one arriving.
What taxis are good for
The honest case for a taxi on this coast is not luxury, it is topography. The descents to Jal, Gjipe and Dhërmi beach, the climb to Himarë's old town, the road up to Qeparo i Sipërm — these are the journeys where a vehicle changes your day.
Transfers are also the sane answer for anything involving luggage. Moving from Dhërmi to Himarë mid-trip with two suitcases is a different proposition on a bus than in a car.
And they are the answer for evenings. Beach bars and restaurants on this coast stay open late; the buses do not, and the walk back up to the main road in the dark is nobody's idea of a good end to the night.
Book the return, not just the outbound
The single most useful habit for a car-free trip here is to arrange the return journey at the same time as the outbound one. Mobile coverage in some bays is poor, and in August every vehicle on the coast is busy.
Agreeing a pickup time and point when you are dropped off takes ten seconds and removes the only real risk of the day.
A realistic car-free week
Base yourself in one village rather than moving every two days. Dhërmi and Himarë both work well: each has enough accommodation, food and beach to sustain a stay, and each is a sensible starting point for journeys along the coast.
Use transfers for the fixed points — the airport at both ends, any change of accommodation, and the beaches that need a descent. Use buses and walking for the flexible middle. Use boats when the weather is good and you fancy a cove you cannot drive to.
Plan one or two bigger days out — Sarandë and Butrint to the south, or Vlorë and the Llogara viewpoint to the north — and book those as journeys rather than hoping to improvise them.
Where you might go
- Stone houses of Dhërmi village on the hillside above the Ionian Sea
Taxi in Dhërmi
Local pickups in the village, on the beach road and at Drymades and Palasë.
Read more - The bay and harbour at Himarë on the Albanian Riviera, with the castle hill above
Taxi in Himarë
Transfers between Dhërmi and Himarë, plus local pickups around the bay.
Read more - The pebble bay at Jal on the Albanian Riviera, enclosed by steep green hillsides
Jal Beach
Down the access road to the bay at Jal, below Vuno.
Read more - Olive terraces above Qeparo, with the old hillside village and the sea beyond
Taxi in Qeparo
Between the old hill village and the shore, south of Himarë.
Read more - The long shoreline at Borsh, backed by olive groves and hills
Taxi in Borsh
The long shore and olive groves on the southern Riviera.
Read more - The harbour and seafront of Sarandë, looking across the channel towards Corfu
Taxi in Sarandë
The southern coast route to Sarandë, Ksamil and the Corfu ferry.
Read more
Frequently asked questions
Can I visit the Riviera without hiring a car?
Yes, comfortably, if you base yourself in one village and use transfers for the fixed points. What does not work is assuming you can walk between villages or rely on buses for timed journeys.
Are there buses between the Riviera villages?
In summer, yes, along the main coastal road. They are infrequent, seasonal and stop on the road above the villages rather than at accommodation. Useful, but not something to build a schedule on.
Which beaches can I reach without a vehicle?
The beach at the village you are staying in, usually by a steep walk. Most of the others involve a descent from the main road that is much better done in a car, and Gjipe needs a walk even after you drive.
Planning a car-free trip?
Tell us which villages and beaches you want to reach and we will work out the journeys.