Gjirokastër to Sarandë

Both figures are for the touring route through Blue Eye of Sarandë, not the quickest drive from Gjirokastër to Sarandë.

The year · October is underlined

What to watch for

• The descent to the coast is a series of bends that collect coach traffic in season, and overtaking one on them is the common mistake.

• The Blue Eye turning is a narrow lane off the main road with parked cars on both sides in summer.

Fuel

Gjirokastër and Sarandë both easy. The middle is short enough not to matter.

Stops · in driving order

1. GjirokastërThe stone town: slate roofs stepping down a hillside under a fortress, above the Drino valley and an hour from the southern springs.on the line
2. Blue Eye of SarandëA karst spring in an oak wood half an hour inland from Sarandë: very small, very photogenic, and taking a whole coast's day trips.on the line
3. SarandëThe south's port and its practical base: ferries from Corfu, Butrint and Ksamil within half an hour, and a waterfront that fills in July.on the line

An hour or two of driving links the stone town to the coast, and it is the leg that turns two separate trips into one. The Blue Eye sits roughly halfway, a karst spring in an oak wood where the water comes up out of the rock cold all year.

Sarandë is the practical end of it rather than the point: Butrint is half an hour further south and Ksamil twenty minutes beyond the town. If the day allows only one, Butrint is the one.