Dhërmi, the white village on the Albanian Riviera

Dhërmi sits on a slope of the Ceraunian mountains, a white stone village of cobbled lanes and blue-domed churches looking down at the Ionian. The resemblance everyone reaches for is a Greek island, and it is no accident: the people here are largely ethnic Greek and still speak the Himariote dialect, an old Greek kept alive in the Himarë region. Locals call the place Drymades, the name that has stuck to both the old village and the sand below it.

The coast under the houses is one of Albania's longest beaches, running some five kilometres to the monastery of Saint Theodore at its far end. Drymades adds golden sand and smooth white pebbles; a walk through the Gjipe canyon opens onto Gjipe, a cove the crowds have not yet found. Above it all the Llogara pass crests past a thousand metres before the road drops to the water, now short-cut by a tunnel.

For years this was the Mediterranean coast no one had. That is over. Albania drew more than 11.7 million visitors in 2024, a record, and the money came with them: a Marriott rising over the Vlora marina, an MGallery at Palasa, a billion-dollar plan for Sazan island offshore. The much-delayed Vlora airport, once it finally opens, will put the Riviera within a short transfer. For now the way in is Tirana, three and a half hours north, or Corfu and a ferry to Sarandë.

The question is whether the coast keeps its character while the cranes work. Dhërmi still has it. The old village is stone and quiet, the water is the colour the brochures promise, and the season is short enough that spring and autumn still feel like a secret.

Where to stay is the harder part, because polish is still thin on the ground. The most composed address in the village is Empire Beach Resort, an adults-only place of around seventy rooms on its own stretch of beach, with pools stepped toward the water and a seafood restaurant, Sanur, that cooks the catch in front of you and keeps a sushi night by the sea. It is a four-star, not a grande dame, and it does not pretend otherwise. For a base on this coast, at this moment, it is the easy call.