The Albanian Riviera in 4 days

The road climbs from the Vlorë plain through black pine forest to 1,027 metres, then drops a thousand metres in tight bends to Palasë.

Two kilometres of white pebbles below steep slopes, while the old village on the hillside has around thirty Byzantine chapels, several from the 14th century.

A 300-metre pebble beach at the mouth of a limestone canyon, reached by boat or by a 25 to 40-minute walk down.

A beach town below and, on a hilltop, ancient and Byzantine castle walls around mostly abandoned stone houses and the Church of All Saints.

A triangular fortress on a peninsula joined to the shore by a thin strip of land, attributed to Ali Pasha of Tepelena.

Small sandy coves facing three islets close to shore that you can swim or pedal out to, in shallow, clear water around 26°C in August.

Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Venetian layers on a peninsula between a lake and a channel, including a 3rd-century BC theatre for 1,500 spectators.

A karst spring rising from a vertical shaft explored below 50 metres without reaching the bottom, dark blue at the centre and ringed with turquoise.