{"id":21194,"date":"2025-08-18T10:18:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T10:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/albaniancoasthomes.com\/\/wie-dieses-ueberraschende-land-zum-luxurioesesten-und-preiswertesten-reiseziel-europas-wurde\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T10:33:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T10:33:28","slug":"how-this-surprising-country-became-europes-best-value-luxury-stay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.albaniancoasthomes.com\/de\/how-this-surprising-country-became-europes-best-value-luxury-stay\/","title":{"rendered":"How this surprising country became Europe\u2019s best-value luxury stay"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Albania is more than a low-cost beach break \u2014 it\u2019s reinventing itself as a high-end destination (with lower prices than Greece). These are its trendiest spots <\/h2>

It\u2019s easy to miss Kep Merli, hidden in the green hills above Albania\u2019s Ionian coast. Once you\u2019ve found it, at the end of a dusty clifftop road, the elusiveness continues in the form of a sign that reads, \u201cEntry by reservation only!\u201d Even when you\u2019re inside \u2014 as a day visitor (from \u00a320pp) or as an overnight guest \u2014 there\u2019s a sense of secrecy about the place. Golf buggies shuttle guests up and down a steep road leading to a sandy cove and 24 infinity-pool villas are tucked away along tree-lined avenues \u2014 residences are also for sale and two hotels are under development (one night\u2019s self-catering for six from \u00a3760; kepmerli.com). <\/p>

Where the UK has Soho Farmhouse and Gleneagles, Albania has Kep Merli. The resort, which opened in 2021 between the coastal towns of Sarande and Ksamil, is known for its celebrity connections. The British-Albanian singer Dua Lipa stays here, and you will often hear the whirr of helicopter blades overhead. Influencers flock to the see-and-be-seen private beach for its swanky restaurant (cocktails \u00a38, mains from \u00a315) and the white sand dotted with even whiter parasols. <\/p>

This isn\u2019t necessarily what you would picture when you think of Albania, a nation that was cut off from the world by communist rule until 1991. In recent years, the European country \u2014 bordered by Montenegro and Greece \u2014 has made headlines as a low-cost beach destination. It was bound to take a while for the Balkan nation to emulate the success of its Greek neighbour on the hospitality front, but Albania appears to be catching up. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Kep Merli is a 15-minute drive north of Ksamil<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A growing high-end scene along the coast is delivering luxury and cool for less. Investors are swooping in too: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, who have spent summers yachting between Albania\u2019s beaches, are rumoured to be building an Aman-branded hotel on Sazan, Albania\u2019s largest island. Several international brands \u2014 Melia, Radisson, Marriott and Hyatt \u2014 have also set up shop, and an \u00a388 million airport that\u2019s set to open in Vlore, a city on the coast, will put the spotlight on Albania this summer. <\/p>

My friend and I were shown the country\u2019s stylish side by Elton Caushi, the founder of the tour operator Albanian Trip, over a long weekend in September. For my first visit I wanted to see Albania with a guide who knows it as well as Caushi does, and he had promised to show us the popular coastal cities of Sarande, Dhermi and Ksamil as well as some smaller spots such as Gjirokaster in the mountains. <\/p>

Caushi, 48, has spent decades taking visitors on history and nature tours of his country, but he says things are changing, with increased demand for high-end tours.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Gjirokaster is a Unesco-listed mountain town filled with characterful tavernas<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Driving is the best way to explore the coast, although buses are available if infrequent (hiring a car costs about \u00a320 a day). On the 40-minute drive from Tirana airport to Golem, a resort town on the central Adriatic coast, Caushi was frank about this emerging market. \u201cWe\u2019re an ambitious nation, but we had to develop quickly in order to survive, and luxury is a new concept,\u201d he said. \u201cOur top hotels are brand new, but they\u2019re still learning. I think we make up for that because we\u2019re doing it with heart, with authenticity, and that\u2019s our selling point.\u201d <\/p>

\u2022 10 of the best places to visit in Albania<\/a>
\u2022 11 of the best hotels in Albania<\/a><\/p>

We arrived at the boutique, family-owned Eter Hotel, on the chilled-out Golem beachfront, in time for lunch. The beachside restaurant is a favourite among \u201cthe elite of Albanian society,\u201d Caushi says. Food here was standout \u2014 seabass in puttanesca sauce, Ohrid trout carpaccio with mojito-flavoured foam, cacio e pepe linguine (mains from \u00a38.50) \u2014 as was the moreish white wine from Pogradec in eastern Albania (\u00a33.50). <\/p>

The hotel features Scandi-style, pared-back rooms, a subterranean spa and a rooftop bar. With rates from \u00a375 including breakfast, it\u2019s excellent value (eter.al). This was a theme throughout our trip: plush hotels that would cost quadruple the price in Greece, owing to the cheaper labour and living costs in Albania. <\/p>

In Dhermi, a town about 80 miles south of Golem, we stopped to admire the terracotta-roofed old town and gorgeous beaches. Glitzy travellers head to Sanur Beach House, a Bali-inspired beach club in the adult-only Empire beach resort (B&B doubles from \u00a3117, day passes \u00a317; empirebeachresort.al). The private beach is stony, but the clear sea and the fashionable restaurant (mains from \u00a311) make up for that. <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ksamil is near to the border with Greece and is now looking to compete with it for high-end tourism<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cWe\u2019ve only started focusing on high-end tourism in recent years,\u201d Mirela Kumbaro, Albania\u2019s tourism minister, told me. \u201cIf you had visited Albania five years ago, you wouldn\u2019t have found any international brands, but today it\u2019s a very different landscape.\u201d <\/p>

International brands are there, but you\u2019ll find the most discerning crowd in homegrown hotels such as Uji i Ftohte, where we spent our second night. The modern property is in the mountain town of Tepelene, a two-hour drive inland from Dhermi, and what made it so lovely was how calm and discreetly luxurious it felt. Rates are low for bright rooms with spectacular views over the mountains and Drinos River (B&B doubles from \u00a380; ujiiftohte.al). <\/p>

The Unesco-listed mountain town of Gjirokaster, a two-hour drive south of Uji i Ftohte, is increasingly trendy. Here, Kerculla Resort has become a hotspot for influencers thanks to its Instagrammable split-level infinity pool (B&B doubles from \u00a366; kerculla.al). <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Harmony Hotel has an excellent Mediterranean restaurant serving small plates<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Gjirokaster is a model of the Albanian authenticity that Caushi mentioned, with tavernas on cobbled streets serving excellent wine and food. I loved Taverna Kuka (mains from \u00a33), an alfresco restaurant with friendly service, decorated with fairy lights. Here we ordered some Balkan dishes: qifqi (rice balls), dolmas (grape leaves stuffed with meat and herbs), and oshaf, a dessert made using sheep\u2019s milk and figs. <\/p>

We continued south from Gjirokaster to Ksamil, which borders Greece. The 37-mile drive was a delight, along smooth clifftop roads past mountains and turquoise-coloured lakes. Our next stop was Sarande. It\u2019s more about nightlife than luxury on this southwestern stretch of coast, but trendy beach clubs are everywhere. The chicest of these are Lost Seaside, also a popular hotel and restaurant (B&B doubles from \u00a386; lostseaside.al), and the Demi lounge club, part of the Demi Hotel, where we stayed (B&B doubles from \u00a391; demi.al). The atmosphere in Sarande was lively and we spent an entertaining evening people-watching on the seafront promenade. <\/p>

Sarande also has a handful of laid-back hangouts. Those in the know head to Harmony Hotel, a family-owned boutique with 16 cute, white rooms, for its Mediterranean restaurant serving small plates. I\u2019m still thinking about the tuna crispy rice, panko-covered mussels, and tangy seabass marinated in orange sauce that we feasted on (mains from \u00a38, B&B doubles from \u00a341; booking.com). <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Claudia and her friend Maighna in the southern coastal town of Ksamil<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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But nowhere we visited rivalled Ksamil when it came to beaches. The town on Albania\u2019s southern tip was our final stop before we drove back to Tirana and the coves here, all white sand and electric-blue water, were ridiculously pretty. There are hip beach clubs aplenty, among them the Mykonos-vibe Principotes Beach. As for fancy hotels, there\u2019s the aforementioned Kep Merli \u2014 a 15-minute drive north of Ksamil \u2014 where we spent a morning swimming and feeling considerably shabby next to our Chanel bag-toting fellow day guests. <\/p>

But most Ksamil hotels don\u2019t come with Kep Merli prices. The cool kids also stay at Arameras Beach Resort. Five years ago, this land was a forest, now it\u2019s a sprawling hilltop hotel with 70 detached villas, a sandy beach reached via golf buggies, and a curved-edge infinity pool with views of Corfu (B&B doubles from \u00a3140; arameras-resort.al). <\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Aside from the low prices and pretty resorts, what makes Albania\u2019s burgeoning upmarket scene so impressive is how incongruous it is with how the country was under communism. On one of our coastal drives, Caushi told us about how, when he was growing up in the 1980s, chewing gum was illegal. But gum was also a status symbol for those who could get their hands on it. When Caushi managed to get hold of a stick of gum that had been smuggled in, he chewed it for two weeks until it disintegrated, storing it in a glass of water while he slept and ate. <\/p>

So for Caushi, who has witnessed his country\u2019s dramatic transformation since the days of contraband gum, luxury goes beyond upmarket beach hotels. \u201cThe real luxury here is freedom,\u201d he says.
Claudia Rowan was a guest of Albanian Trip, which has two nights\u2019 full board \u2014 one at Uji il Ftohte and one at Demi Hotel Sarande \u2014 from \u00a3750pp, including guide and transfers (albaniantrip.com<\/g>). Fly to Tirana <\/p>

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To read the original article, please click on this link<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Albania is more than a low-cost beach break \u2014 it\u2019s reinventing itself as a high-end destination (with lower prices than Greece). These are its trendiest spots It\u2019s easy to miss Kep Merli, hidden in the green hills above Albania\u2019s Ionian coast. Once you\u2019ve found it, at the end of a dusty clifftop road, the elusiveness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22269,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-market-trend-insights"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.albaniancoasthomes.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.albaniancoasthomes.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.albaniancoasthomes.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.albaniancoasthomes.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.albaniancoasthomes.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21194"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.albaniancoasthomes.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22281,"href":"https:\/\/www.albaniancoasthomes.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21194\/revisions\/22281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.albaniancoasthomes.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.albaniancoasthomes.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.albaniancoasthomes.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.albaniancoasthomes.com\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}