The Albanian Riviera is the costal stretch between Vlorë, half way down the coast, and Ksamil near the Greek Border.

Leaving Ksamil driving north you first hit Sarandë and my favourite coastal resort of those seen. It had that sunny disposition of a seaside town, small architecturally interesting hotels, tree lined streets, a nice beach, small ferries plying to and from Corfu and an all round buzzy feel. If you fancied a look at coastal Albania I would recommend this. Fly to Corfu, ferry over to Sarandë in 30 minutes, stay there for a couple of days taking in a day trip to Butrint.

The drive onwards from Sarandë takes you inland for 20kms and then follows the coast. With massive sea scapes to your left and then a mixture of barren hillside to the right of the road or, as you move northwards, short tree covering hills. All along the coast you see the kernels of new tourism, the odd small hotel and new building sites. The main picture here is a place called Borsh, taken from the roadside. A beautiful long sandy beach sitting with Corfu to the left, but otherwise a full frontal Adriatic view. Return in 10 years and this will be an important tourist resort. Palm trees are already planted and growing along the beach in preparation for the hotels that will follow behind. It could be amazing.

Further north and now 2 hours drive from Sarandë was a late lunch spot at Dhërmi. Written up as one of the nicest spots on the coast it certainly has massive potential. It reminded me of the hill top villages in Majorca where the historical village centre sets a focal point for the tourism that builds up around it. I dont know how these places develop in the early days when inevitably builders need to move in, clear land, but at the same time blend in to not disturb the existing tourism. I assume this takes careful and strict planning. Dhërmi needs to tread carefully. The road dropping to the beach from the pretty village hanging on the cliff edge, has lots of building work, as does the beach road, a mixture of already built hotels and then wastelands in between with ad hoc car parks set up whilst the building work has broken for the summer vacation.

Two of my other favourites spots on the return route, the pretty road side village of Vuno and a very small harbour and island castle at Porto Palermo.

Coastal Albania is really only at the beginning. If it boxes clever it could be a tourist and economic success story.