Albania spent 2025 promising to fix Ksamil. The prime minister said in September that Ksamil and Dhërmi had been "violated" and would be brought back under municipal control. In January 2026 the Council of Ministers gave municipalities the power to set maximum umbrella and sunbed prices by zone, written into operators' contracts, with penalties for anyone charging more.
Then, on 1 June 2026, Sarandë's municipal council actually used it. It approved price tiers of 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000 lek, and then two councillors proposed a fourth tier for the main Ksamil beaches, "especially those around the islands," at 4,000 lek. That is about 42 euros a day for an umbrella. Two councillors voted against. It passed.
So the reform designed to stop the gouging at Albania's most famous beach has, on that beach's best sand, made the top price official. It is a fitting symbol for what has happened here: Albania pulled in 12.5 million foreign visitors in 2025, up 7 percent, and a great many of them funnel into one small village at the bottom of the Riviera.
The good news is that the same coast runs for 100 kilometres north of it, most of it cheaper, emptier and, in a couple of cases, better. Here is where to go instead, and, just as usefully, two popular names that will not solve your problem.
What Ksamil is actually like now
Credit where it is due: the water is the real thing. Clear turquoise over pale sand, and four uninhabited islets sitting 100 metres offshore that you can swim, kayak or paddle out to, two of them joined by a sandbar at low tide. That is a genuinely special piece of coast, and it is why everybody came.
The problem is everybody came. In July and August visitors describe not being able to see sand between the sunbeds, and the small streets jam with cars that have nowhere to park. Albanian law requires 300 metres of every kilometre of coast to stay public and free, with sunbeds set back from the waterline, but the free sand at Ksamil in practice amounts to a modest pebbly stretch and parts of a couple of beaches. Police spent June 2026 clearing pontoons and floating platforms off the beaches and marking out swimming perimeters, issuing 68 penalties across the Vlorë region and putting 135 extra officers on the beaches at Vlorë, Himarë and Sarandë.
None of that makes Ksamil a bad place. It makes it a busy, increasingly expensive one, and it means the "Maldives of Europe" line you saw is doing a lot of work.
1. Livadhi, near Himarë: the best straight swap
If you want one answer, this is it. Livadhi sits ten minutes north of Himarë: a long sandy-pebble beach with deeper, clearer water than Ksamil's shallows and a crowd that stays relaxed even in high season. The economics are the headline. A sunbed set here runs about 1,000 to 2,000 lek, roughly 10 to 21 euros, which is half what Ksamil charges and a quarter of its new approved ceiling. Behind it is Himarë, a working town rather than a resort strip, with six buses a day down to Sarandë in season and a mix of locals and visitors that makes it feel like a place rather than a queue. The honest catch: this is pebble and coarse sand, not the white powder of the Ksamil postcards, and Himarë's own town beaches are busier than Livadhi.
2. Borsh: seven kilometres of space
Borsh is the longest beach in Albania, and length is exactly what Ksamil lacks. Seven kilometres of sand and shingle below olive groves means the crowd never concentrates. The northern end has the beach bars, the sunbeds and the parking; walk south and it thins out to something close to wild. Sunbeds here are scattered rather than gridded, and restaurants routinely give them to you free if you eat with them, which quietly makes this the cheapest beach day on the Riviera. The catch is thin facilities and no shade at the southern end, so you want a car, water and a hat.
3. Gjipe: the wild one, if you earn it
Gjipe is what people imagine Albania was ten years ago, and it is still that because there is no road. You turn off the SH8 between Dhërmi and Vuno, drive two kilometres of unpaved spur to a gravel parking area, then walk 2.5 kilometres down a canyon, 20 to 45 minutes, to a white pebble cove at the mouth of the gorge. It was ranked 28th on Europe's 50 Best Beaches for 2026, and it is the one beach on this list nobody stumbles onto. The catch is the return: that climb in August afternoon heat is punishing, facilities are minimal, and if the walk is not for you, the only alternative is arriving by boat.
4. Lukovë: the quiet one nobody mentions
Between Himarë and Sarandë, Lukovë is the beach that keeps getting skipped because the turn-off looks unpromising. A paved but narrow and steep 3.6-kilometre descent from the SH8 drops you at a pebble bay that stays genuinely uncrowded through the season, with clear water and none of the sunbed grid you get further south. It is the closest thing on this list to Ksamil's water without Ksamil's population. The catch is access: no public transport comes down to the shore, so this is a car beach, and a few drivers find the descent hairy.
5. Grama Bay: the best beach in the country, if you have a boat
Grama Bay was ranked 17th on Europe's 50 Best Beaches for 2026, eleven places above Gjipe and the highest-placed beach in Albania. It sits on the Karaburun peninsula, backed by cliffs carved with inscriptions left by ancient sailors, and it is beautiful in a way the roadside beaches are not. Be clear about the trade before you plan around it: there is no road, so this is a boat day out of Vlorë or Orikum, weather permitting. Treat it as the excursion rather than the base.
Two that will not help
Most "escape Ksamil" lists send you to Dhërmi. Do not go for peace and quiet. Dhërmi was named by the prime minister in the same breath as Ksamil as a beach where prices "exceeded every norm," and it is the Riviera's nightlife capital, with a row of clubs where a night out runs 5,000 to 8,000 lek a head. It is a fine place to go dancing on a beach. It is not the calm alternative.
Jalë has the same issue in a smaller space. The bay is only 300 to 400 metres long and one large resort-club complex sits on it, packed every weekend from June to September, foam parties included. Midweek in June or late September it is lovely. On an August Saturday it concentrates a Ksamil-sized crowd into a fraction of the sand.
Getting around the Riviera in 2026
The SH8 coastal road is fully paved now and perfectly drivable for a confident driver, all sweeping curves and viewpoints, though you want daylight for your first run at it and it gets busy in July and August when Tirana heads for the coast. The Llogara tunnel has been free to use since June 2026, which takes a chunk off the northern approach.
Without a car you are on buses and furgons. Himarë to Sarandë runs about six times a day in season and takes roughly an hour and a half; Vlorë to Sarandë runs three times. Furgons leave when they are full, so treat every timetable as an estimate and ask locally on the day.
One thing to plan around: Vlorë airport still has no scheduled passenger flights. Charters announced for summer 2026 were cancelled when the airport did not complete its international operating approvals, so the Riviera is still reached from Tirana, about four hours by road, or by flying to Corfu and taking the ferry across to Sarandë. Accommodation adds a small tourist tax of roughly 200 to 500 lek per person per night in the Sarandë area in peak season.
The verdict
Ksamil is not ruined, and you should not skip Albania because one village got popular. But it is now a beach where an umbrella can legally cost 42 euros a day and you may not see the sand under the sunbeds, which is a strange thing to fly to Albania for. The rest of this coast has not caught up with it: Livadhi will sell you the same day for half the money, Borsh will give you a kilometre to yourself, and Gjipe will make you walk for something Ksamil cannot offer at any price.
If you do want Ksamil, go in the second half of September, when the crowds go home, the sea is still warm and the sunbed price drops by a third. Our Ksamil Beach review covers the practicalities, our Albanian Riviera guide has the wider pick of the coast, and if September is the plan, the Mediterranean in September guide explains why the timing works across the whole sea.
