“Greece Meets Switzerland” in Albania’s Affordable Riviera

Our story begins with some yelling. The irritated man was shouting something like: “Hey! People—have you lost your minds? Don’t crowd the door! We’re all going to the same place. Sit down. Now! Or I’m not opening the door.”

My translation here is based on his tone, impressive volume, and the way 20 or 30 passengers sheepishly slunk back to their seats in defeat.

It was all Greek to me—literally—since I was aboard a high-speed hydrofoil ferry from Corfu to Saranda, in the heart of the Albanian Riviera.

Yep… Albania.

Not the first country that pops to mind when contemplating where one might pursue a life in Europe.

Like Greece punctuated by hints of Arabia.

As it turns out, that messy, ferry disembarkation was a pretty good introduction to a country that’s in a mad dash to reach its future, and more than a bit Wild West. People don’t really follow rules as much as they chase the quickest path to the place they want to be. Laws at times seem more like suggestions.

It’s understandable.

Like much of Eastern Europe, Albania is only a few decades removed from communism. In the early 90s it became a constitutional republic, and functions as a parliamentary democracy.

Yet while countries like Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and others have emerged as near-West doppelgängers, Albania is still chasing tomorrow.

For decades, the country atrophied under one of the strangest—maybe even most tragi-comical—forms of communism to roll across post-war Europe. Dictator Enver Hoxha ruled a cruel, militantly isolated, and almost-hermetic society for 40-plus years.

He reigned with such an obscene sense of paranoia about the Soviets—or other potential invaders—wiping out the Albanian form of communism that he built 150,000 to 750,000 bunkers across the country, from seashore to Alpine redoubt. They sprouted like concrete mushrooms in city centers, in the middle of farmland, along sandy beaches, and up the side of mountain slopes—basically one for every family to defend the motherland. Many of these “pillboxes” remain, scattered reminders of an enemy that never came.

Today, this Adriatic nation wedged between Greece and Montenegro faces a very different invasion: digital nomads, retirees, and real estate investors… all flocking to a country that offers a pleasing mashup of Greek, Arabic, Italian, and Eastern European cultures at bargain-bin prices.

“I Think I’m in Love”

A waitress at a traditional eatery in Saranda asked me, “You’re American. So many of your people are coming here now. Why?”

Here’s one possibility: I toured an 85 square meter (915 sq. ft.), one-bedroom apartment in the heart of Vlorë, just blocks from the beach. This was a truly beautiful apartment. Well-appointed. Stylish. Easily a place anyone would happily call home. Price: $165,000.

Iced coffees around town are a buck or less. A fabulous sushi meal with a 16-ounce draft beer on a beachfront promenade—with a view of Corfu just offshore—was $24. A mound of eight or nine grilled lamb lollipops with potatoes, a heap of tzatziki, a beer, and a dessert of thick Greek yogurt swimming in local honey: $17.50. You can grab a quick Greek gyro and a soft drink for $3 or so.

And if prices aren’t a big selling point, the landscape certainly is…

This is a sea-to-sky country. From pebbly seashore to mountains 3,000 feet high—above the clouds—requires a drive of less than 20 minutes. Panoramic valleys lined with vineyards, cropland, and majestic mountain backdrops sprint down the middle of the country. And up north, well it’s basically Little Switzerland. Here, the Albanian Alps rise nearly 9,000 feet before spilling into Montenegro and Kosovo.

What I’m getting at here is that I think I’m in love with Albania.

The country is unhurried, uncrowded, and underappreciated—if not largely unknown outside of the Norwegians and Swedes who first started venturing here more than a decade ago, and the Germans and French, who are showing up now.

But here’s the kicker for Americans…

Americans (sorry, Canadians) have access to a unique, one-year tourist visa. So, I now see Albania as the single best place in Europe to live, work, or retire if you’re not sure where you want to settle, but you’re sure you want to be in Europe.

Albania is a picturesque, convenient, and ridiculously affordable base from which to explore the continent…

Or you might decide that this is where you want to wake up every day.

“Beware the Albanian Mafia?”

I wasn’t sure what I’d find when I booked my trip to this unheralded corner of Southeastern Europe.

Greece to the south is a perennial favorite among holidaymakers and those using the Greek Financially Independent Person visa to live in Europe.

Montenegro to the north, meanwhile, is a rapidly-emerging destination among the jet-set. (High-end marina real estate is taking off in spectacularly scenic Kotor Bay, and the Saudi royals have relocated their Golden Fleet of yachts to Montenegro from the South of France).

I’ve been to both countries several times. I’d happily live in either.

But Albania?

Honestly, the only comment I’d ever heard about the country came as a warning from a former girlfriend in Romania who told me years ago to “beware of the Albanian mafia”—which is saying something when even a Romanian has to warn you about crime syndicates.

What I found is not what I had in mind.

Granted, what I had in mind was amorphous at best, rooted as it was in travel blogs and whatnot on an internet that isn’t always accurate or forthright.

I’ve driven through very similar landscapes on the way to the Matterhorn.

I certainly wasn’t expecting a version of Greece, punctuated by hints of Arabia.

While more than half of Albania is Muslim, I didn’t see a single abaya, hijab, burka, or niqab while I was wandering the towns of Saranda, Vlorë, and Ksamil.

Albanians look and dress pretty much like anyone from anywhere else in Europe—though if you pack nothing but black clothes, you’ll have adequately diversified your wardrobe’s color palette, and you’ll easily blend into the local population.

Low-slung concrete buildings of up to seven or eight floors—all white or pastel colored—crawl up the side of coastal hills that end at the shoreline. Those hills themselves are grassy, scrubby, and rubbly, and generally splotched with funsized foliage, as though Albania stole its landscape vibe from Greece.

Or maybe Albania stole an Alpine design playbook.

Because when you drive pretty much anywhere outside of the coastal towns, you’re very soon navigating the pine-, poplar-, and aspen-forested switchbacks that climb up into the jagged and awe-inspiring Ceraunia Mountains of southern Albania. I’ve driven through very similar landscapes on the way to the Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland, or while on assignment in Homer, Alaska.

It’s the kind of landscape that calls you to stop every 43 seconds to snap another photo more scenic than the last—if only you didn’t face the risk of automotive death as a large delivery truck rounds the bend too quickly for you to leap out of the way on a two-lane road with no shoulder.

“The Oregon of Europe “

I rolled out of the mountains just before noon and pulled into Vlorë, a city of 84,000 about 100 miles north of Saranda. In much of coastal America, that’s a 90-minute drive. Here, it takes up to three hours, because these are mountain roads—some stretches riding along cliffs high above the Ionian Sea, not unlike parts of the Pacific Coast Highway along California’s central and northern coast.

I’d come to Vlorë to meet two Americans—Denra Rawson and her husband Wayne. She’s 69; he’s 70. They met in the Air Force and have been married for 49 years. After more than two decades living and working in Portland, Oregon, they decided the time was right to leave the US. So, in January 2025 they retired to Europe.

In part, they were searching for an adventure in retirement.

“As you grow older, you do what you can to keep your mind active,” Wayne shared as the three of us chatted in one of Vlorë’s numerous seaside cafés. “Moving to a new country demands that.”

In part, they left the US because they’d grown weary of the ever widening and bitter chasm pulling apart an increasingly tribal America.

“The politics drove us out,” Wayne said. “Why stay and be a part of that?”

The one-year tourist visa is a fantastic option for Americans.

At first, they landed in Italy, where they found a stunning blonde-stone apartment built into a castle wall in the small town of Nardò, down in Italy’s bootheel region of Puglia. They realized too late, however, that “Italian taxes are just too high,” Denra said, “and the bureaucracy is just horrible.”

Because “we want our money to stay in assets outside of the US dollar,” Denra told me, they kept the apartment as a non-dollar investment, then began looking for another country to call home.

Across the Adriatic, four hours by ferry, they found Albania—a country they’d never visited, and which had not appeared in their original research on the best places to retire. Still, the country seemed interesting, particularly because of a special one-year visa Albania offers to American passport holders.

They explored, and they liked the place. In some ways, Denra said, “Albania feels like Oregon.” Lots of nature. The mountains. The sea. Waterfalls. “The big difference is that it’s much cheaper.”

By way of example, we hopped into the couple’s rental car and drove about five minutes up the side of a hill to a small real-estate development where they recently closed on their purchase of a roughly 1,000-square-foot, twobedroom apartment with killer views out over Vlorë and the Adriatic. (The Adriatic and Ionian Seas merge right near Vlorë.) The apartment’s interior is still under construction, but the showpiece will be a wall of glass and a large patio just beyond that both offer panoramic views of the sea.

The front of the apartment opens onto a second, equally large patio where Denra, a painter who holds an architectural design degree from Harvard, will offer art classes to locals.

Anywhere in the US, an apartment of this size, with patios this large, offering these views, this close to the sea and the nearby beaches would cost upwards of a million dollars. In some places, wildly more.

Here in Vlorë: $250,000.

About 10 minutes away, back down the hill and in the center of Vlorë, the couple own a second apartment where they’re living while their hillside pied-a-terre is completed. It’s a gorgeously stylish one-bedroom of about 850 square feet for $180,000.

The beach is just a few minutes’ walk, and outside their door is the heart of Vlorë, with anything they’d want—restaurants, supermarkets, pharmacies, bakeries, all kinds of retailers and banks. Basically, it’s city living in a small town on the beach along the Albanian Riviera.

“I really like it here,” Denra said. “The people are so kind, so genuine. They’ll help you with anything. The city is really modern and we rent a car, but we don’t really need it to get around unless we drive out of the city. The food is fabulous. English is pretty easy to operate in, particularly with the younger people because they all studied English in school. For us, it’s much more comfortable than Italy.”

The couple originally planned on using the one-year tourist visa to remain in Albania. But after talking to a local immigration attorney, Denra opted for a business visa to start a local art school. This visa gives her five years in Albania instead of one, though it also comes with the obligation that she pay $150 per month into the Albanian tax and healthcare system. (Her husband Wayne is in the process of obtaining a “family reunification” visa that will allow him to remain with Denra.)

For someone who wants to make a home in Albania, and who aims to earn an income as a digital nomad, the business visa can be a good way to go.

But if all you want is a European base from which to explore the continent as you search out the country that best suits your needs, then the one-year tourist visa is a fantastic option for Americans.

Just arrive with a US passport that’s valid for at least three months past the date you expect to leave Albania, and you’re good to go. When I passed through Albanian immigration at the Port of Saranda, the agent didn’t stamp my passport. Instead, she recorded my entry electronically. So, while the system will know that you have a year of local residency, you might want to keep your boarding pass or ferry ticket as personal proof of your entry date. That way you will know when you have to leave.

Remaining outside of Albania for 90 days resets the one-year visa. So, you could ferry over to Corfu, drive down to Athens, or ferry across to Italy (just four hours away) and spend three months living in Greece or Italy—or both. Each is a European Union country within the Schengen Zone, so you only need your passport for a 90-day tourist trip.

Then, return to Albania for another year.

Luxury Sea-View Rentals From $500

For digital nomads and retirees, Albania is an exceedingly affordable country. Food, apartments, transportation—it’s all shockingly inexpensive; paychecks and Social Security checks will afford a lifestyle superior to what they’d cover in the US, as well as many other parts of Europe.

Lovely, one-bedroom sea-view apartments in a luxury building rent for as little as $500 per month in the newer and more-upscale southern half of the Saranda. In the heart of the heart, in older buildings near the port, you can pay as little as $300 per month. The views won’t be as watery, and the building exteriors will probably look dated, maybe even crumbly, but the interiors are typically modern, updated, stylish, and well-appointed.

For real estate investors, meanwhile, Albania is the next—and last—great play on tourism growth along the Adriatic Sea’s eastern flank.

The movement started in Croatia a number of years ago, when Europeans and others began snapping up Croatian villas and beach properties in anticipation of the country acceding into the European union. That’s largely played out now. Croatia is a full-on EU member and real estate prices in the most popular seaside areas reflect that fact.

Montenegro, just south of Croatia, grabbed the baton a few years ago and is now rapidly emerging as a go-to destination, particularly among the moneyed crowd. I’ve witnessed Montenegro’s progress personally. I got married on a seaside cliff there in 2020, and I flew back to the Montenegrin coast in 2024 on assignment. That corner of the country, anchored by scenic Kotor Bay, has clearly gone through a massive gentrification program. High-end hotels, new apartment buildings, new roads and highways, shopping centers, high dollar apartments lining exclusive yacht harbors and marinas.

Now, Albania is on the ascent.

Albania is poised to join the EU.

I spent an afternoon with Vangel Dimo, who runs Elite’s Realty Group in Saranda, and as we explored several typical properties that Westerners are either renting or buying, he told me that prices here have already begun to move quickly.

Emails from Americans curious about real estate in Albania land in his inbox just about every day, and at the moment he’s working with clients—retirees—from New York and North Carolina, one of which recently spent about $450,000 on a penthouse apartment in one of the best buildings in Saranda. Three bedrooms, open floor-plan, spectacular views.

In the same building, a couple floors lower, Vangel showed me an equally fantastic two-bedroom apartment for about $250,000.

“There’s high demand for apartments like this,” Vangel told me on the deck of that penthouse. “But the challenge is that properties are limited, so it’s hard to find the right property at the right price for all these people.”

For long-term renters, Albania can be equally challenging… Although for owners, the income opportunity is sweet.

Because demand is so high from May to September, lots of owners aren’t interested in long-term rental contracts. Generally, they’d rather leave the apartment empty for much of the year because they know they’re going to make bank renting it on a per-night basis during high season.

On a $200,000 to $250,000 apartment along the Albanian Riviera, owners are collecting income of $18,000 to $20,000 during that six-month period, Vangel told me.

And you might be wondering, “What do apartments at that price point look like?”

The image on the right shows the view from what will be the balcony of a 720-square-foot, one-bedroom apartment now under construction in southern Saranda, just two miles to the city center and a tenth of a mile to the beach. Price: $205,000. (The link above previews what the apartment will look like when it’s completed in 2026.)

In a building nearby, I found a 1,030-square-foot, two-bedroom luxury apartment the same distance to the center of Saranda. I can think of nowhere in the US where you’ll find an apartment this close to the beach, in a climate with 300 days of sunshine a year, for under $229,000. (The same building has a first floor one-bedroom priced at under $150,000.)

“Saranda really is a great place for retirees,” Vangel said, “or investors who want affordable rental property in a high-demand market.”

Albania’s “Path of Progress”

If you’re familiar with my colleague Ronan McMahon over at Real Estate Trend Alert, you’ll know he likes to buy property in regions on a “path of progress.”

It’s the idea that some of the very best places to invest overseas are destination countries—those with tourist demand where one can clearly see the infrastructure upgrades taking place.

That’s the Albanian Riviera.

In the week I spent driving around, I saw innumerable examples of Albania’s path of progress underway.

Just north of Vlorë, a new international airport is slated to open this year. Designers built the runways to handle wide-body jets—think: Boeing 777 or the Airbus A350—an indication that planners know the Albanian Riviera is going to emerge as a popular European beach-vacation destination, and that the airport will begin to attract trans-Atlantic flights at some point. (Delta Airlines recently announced that it will begin direct flights next summer between New York and the Albanian capital of Tirana—the first ever nonstop route between the two countries, a further indication of Albania’s position as an up-and-coming travel market.)

South of Saranda, meanwhile, the town of Ksamil is in expansion mode as well.

The cost of living is shockingly low.

Ksamil is reminiscent of a quintessential Florida Panhandle beach community, like maybe Destin or Panama City, circa 1980s. That’s not to imply the place feels or looks dated. It doesn’t; most of the construction clearly happened within the last few years. It’s just that the place is still really small—a full-time population of less than 3,000—and it hasn’t yet fully developed.

That fact, however, is changing.

Workers are building a new road that will turn the current two-lane affair into a four-lane highway—a much-needed improvement.

Instagram and TikTok influencers have flocked to the town in recent years, and their videos of Greek-like waters that shimmer indigo, turquoise, and aquamarine have turned the village-like community in a station of the cross for beachgoers and travel influencers, especially among the under-40 set, as the seashore is lined with day clubs where housemusic thumps and the booze flows.

When I was there in late April, an early morning drive from Saranda to Ksamil took me about 17 minutes. But a barista at a local coffee house told me that during the height of summer, the drive can take 40 minutes or more depending on time of day. Two additional lanes will reduce the congestion and open Ksamil to even greater investment.

And all along the coast from Ksamil to Vlorë, I passed numerous stretches of otherwise quiet beaches where hotels, resorts, and seafront apartment complexes are rising up. New highways are going in that seem German in their glassine smoothness, and new tunnels are burrowing through coastal mountains to reduce travel times.

Based on what I’ve seen in my tours of the eastern Adriatic countries, Albania is almost certain to emerge as the affordable tourist destination—the place where middle-class families alight for low-cost sun and sand every summer. (Croatia will fit that bill too, but at a higher price point, while Montenegro shapes up as a more bespoke and expensive destination—a nouveau riche version of Monaco, basically.)

By the end of the decade, Albania will likely join the European Union (that process began in 2009) meaning that even more demand for properties will begin to arise along the sea since EU citizens will have easy access to relocating here without mucking about with residency visas.

Where to Live Along Albania’s Riviera

Obviously, everyone has different wants for their lifestyle.

For me, I’d be happy in Saranda, a fact I shared with my wife and a reason I’m aiming to show her the town later this summer. This would be a nice place to spend part of the year—though with just 35,000 people, you have to enjoy living small.

Nevertheless, Saranda feels comfortable. The city wraps around Saranda Bay and backs up against coastal foothills that neighborhoods crawl up. As such, the views are picturesque and very Grecian in terms of the clear, blue-hued waters and the scrubbiness of the hillsides.

The food is fantastic, with Greek, Italian, and Arabic influences, but that’s true across the entire Albanian Riviera.

And the cost of living is shockingly low. I can see owning a one- or two-bedroom apartment here—for under $200,000—for the rental income and the price appreciation that seems baked into Saranda’s future. Plus, I like that Corfu, with all its amenities, is just a short, 30-minute ferry ride across the Ionian Sea.

For those wanting a greater number of city amenities, Vlorë is the place to settle. It’s more than double the size of Saranda, and the seafront is longer and packed with far more hotels, apartment buildings, restaurants, and retail. It’s just as affordable as Saranda, though there are more apartments and villas to choose from. Plus, the new international airport is opening soon, and soon enough will offer direct flights that originate in major European cities and, I would bet, places like Dubai and Istanbul.

Vlorë also has more medical facilities. While Albanian healthcare is labeled “generally good” by those who rate global medical systems, more than half of Albanians themselves hold a negative view of local healthcare.

Denra Rawson, the American retiree, told me that “the basic medical stuff is great.” A spider recently bit her husband near his thumb and his whole hand swelled up. The doctor visit, plus an injection and medication was a grand total of $7.

“But if you need anything specialized,” Denra added, “you’re gonna want to go to Greece or take the ferry across to Italy.” In both countries, you’ll have to pay in cash (very affordable and both have high-quality healthcare systems) unless you have a global health insurance policy for expats.

As for Ksamil… I would steer clear, unless you truly want to live in a tiny beach community. The amenities are light, beyond tourist restaurants, coffee shops, and tchotchke joints. During high season, the place is overrun by travel influencers and the party set chasing cheap booze and loud music on the beach. And pretty much anything you’ll want to buy beyond the basics means you’ll need to drive into Saranda.

So, Who is Albania Right For?

Digital nomads will certainly like Albania, especially the ability to live at the beach even on a modest income. Also, there are lots of young people around.

Internet can be iffy outside the major cities, but so long as you’re working in Tirana, Saranda, or Vlorë, you should be fine. During my late-night downtime, I was streaming HBO Max on my iPhone without any buffering issues, and I was researching and filing my Field Notes dispatches with no problems.

Active retirees will likely enjoy Albania as well.

There’s lots to explore here, from scuba diving to snow skiing to hiking coastal and mountain trails. Plus, the cost of living I’ve mentioned several times means that even a modest nest egg will stretch much further than it ever will in the US. And nowhere in the US will you live this close to the beach for such a relatively small amount of money.

Albania is still developing. That’s the best time to stake your claim.

And whether you’re a digital nomad or a retiree, you’re close to pretty much everything in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. You can drive to Kotor, Montenegro in under seven hours. Athens is six hours to the south. Italy is a relatively short ferry ride to the west. And a three-hour flight from Athens will have you vacationing from Azerbaijan to the Czech Republic to Spain to Saudi Arabia.

That said, Albania is NOT a place for anyone with physical disabilities. I don’t think I saw a single wheelchair ramp, and not all buildings have elevators. Moreover, roads and parking are narrow in the cities, which will make loading and unloading a wheelchair much more challenging.

Also, be aware of the fact that this is a developing economy and electricity does randomly go out regularly. It failed almost every day at the hotel, though it was usually out for just seconds or a couple minutes at most.

Finally, real estate investors will likely love Albania.

Prices, though they’re rising, are still super affordable for apartments and villas that offer million-dollar sea views, or sit right on the beach. Tourism demand is clearly picking up and will grow substantially larger once the new airport opens. That, along with Albania’s pending accession into the European Union, promises to drive real estate prices sharply higher.

Rental returns of 7% to 10% annually sweeten the investment narrative. Just accept that the property is likely to sit empty for roughly half the year, unless you go into the long-term rental pool, which is also growing as the Albanian Riviera takes flight.

A Quick Path to EU Residency

Without question, Albania should be your list of countries to visit.

It should also be on a list for anyone who wants to live in Europe affordably…for anyone who wants a beautiful base to explore the continent… and for anyone who simply wants to live in Europe temporarily—up to a year—without the hassles of applying for a residency visa.

And for those who want a European Union passport… You can apply for an Albanian passport after living in the country for just five years. By the time that period has passed, Albanian will very likely be an EU country, meaning your Albanian passport suddenly becomes a gateway document for the rest of the continent. (Albania recognizes dual citizenship.)

Right now, Albania is still messy—a project under development.

But frankly, that’s the best time to stake your claim.

Because from here on out, Albania is on a nonstop path to its future.

IF YOU GO…

The Albanian Riviera isn’t a direct-flight destination—yet. Your best options: fly into Albania’s capital, Tirana, and then rent a car for a roughly six-hour scenic drive south. Or, fly into Corfu, Greece, and zip over to Saranda on the 30-minute high-speed ferry operated by Finikas Lines. Book early; summer ferries fill up fast.

Corfu has direct flights from London, Paris (Orly), Brussels, and Dublin, plus a quick one-hour hop from Athens, which connects globally. Also, check availability at Albania’s new Vlora International Airport—if it’s open yet.

When to go: April through October. Avoid peak crowds (and traffic jams) by steering clear of June to August. Note: Outside of these months, the Riviera’s pretty quiet. Even late April—when I visited—the popular gyro joint owner told me I was a week early, still prepping for the tourist rush.

Where to stay: Saranda has great options. Demi Hotel, right on the beach, offers fantastic sunset views, a tasty in-house restaurant (try the shrimp risotto), and is just steps from restaurants, bars, and shops along the promenade. Rooms run about $160 to $250 per night, seasonally adjusted.

Mango Luxury Resort, slightly cheaper ($140-$200/night), is also nice but less central. For budget travelers, Titania Hotel near the port has great sea views at less than half Demi’s price.

In Ksamil, hotels typically sit a few blocks back from the beach, where lively restaurants, clubs, and beach bars dominate. Think younger, influencer vibes. Duka’s Hotel offers pleasant, centrally located rooms close to the action.

Where to eat: Vela Marine Sushi & Lounge delivers excellent fresh sushi and seafood right by the sand on Saranda’s promenade. Don’t miss their tuna nigiri or hot sushi roll. Taverna Laberia, a cozy, family-run spot, serves delicious grilled lamb lollipops—and the freebie dessert, thick yogurt with local honey, is lovely.

Money matters: Albania’s currency is the lek (about 85 lek to $1 at writing). Euros are sometimes accepted, and major hotels and restaurants usually take credit cards. But cash rules in Albania—always carry some lek.

Best bet: grab a multi-currency debit card like Wise or Revolut. Load dollars, convert to lek via the app, and withdraw cash from plentiful local ATMs.

Police checkpoints: If driving, you might spot occasional police checkpoints. Typically, it’s just two officers chatting casually, barely glancing as they wave you through. But stay prepared: carry your driver’s license, passport, and rental car paperwork, just to be safe.

Jeff D. Opdyke is IL’s expert on personal finance and investing overseas, and editor of The Global Intelligence Letter. Based in Portugal, he spent 17 years at The Wall Street Journal. His free e-letter, Field Notes, is full of great financial advice. Sign up here.