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Best kept secret in Albania

Gjirokaster a true treasure. You’ve never heard of it probably, but it is  a mountainous city in Albania. It’s impossible to get to, anyway – the only nonstop UK flights go from London to Tirana, and Tirana to Gjirokaster is a four-hour drive at best and a 12-hour drive at worst, using an unreliable public transport system and often impassable roads.

Of course, if you looked at where Gjirokaster was situated, just behind the seaside town of Sarande on Albania’s southern coast, then you might realise it’s so close to Corfu that you can see the Greek island from Sarande’s shore. And then you might find out that there’s actually a cheap ferry you can take from Corfu to Sarande, which departs three times a day each way, and only takes 30 minutes – but that sounds like too much of a fuss for a holiday.

You can go paddling in the same, crystal-clear Ionian Sea before you can even work out how to get to your next destination.

Spotted in the Independent

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