SANDERS
Palasë is the first place you reach on the Albanian Riviera when you come down from the mountains. The coast road leaves the pine forest of Llogara National Park and drops towards the sea in a long run of bends, and the village and its bay are what you see at the bottom: a wide beach of pale pebbles, clear water, and the Çika range standing close behind. For many of our buyers it was the first view of the Riviera they ever had, and the reason they came back.
The bay
The beach at Palasë is long and open, with the mountains at its back and nothing in front but the Ionian Sea. The water is clear enough to see the stones on the bottom a long way out, and the sea is still swimmable long after the summer crowds have gone. The bay faces west, so the evening is spent watching the sun go down over the water, which is the hour when most owners are on their terraces.
It is also where the coast's newest hotel opened. Euronews reported in April 2026 that the Green Coast Hotel at Palasë, open since June 2025, is the MGallery Collection's first property in Albania, with a private Blue Flag beach. For an owner that matters in plain, practical ways: a beach that is cleaned and managed, restaurants and a spa within walking distance, and a reason for the village to be looked after through the year rather than only in August.
Owning here
Green Coast and Sun Palasë are the two Sanders developments at Palasë. Both are low-rise, stepping down the slope towards the beach, with gardens, pools and apartments whose terraces face the sea. The buildings are managed, which is the part that makes ownership from abroad workable: someone looks after the gardens and the pools, holds a key, and meets the plumber so that you do not have to.
Owners tend to use their homes in one of three ways. Some come for the summer and stay. Some prefer the shoulder months, May and June and then September and October, when the sea is warm, the restaurants are open and the beach is quiet. Others let the apartment in the weeks they are not there and keep the rest for themselves. None of these needs a car every day: the beach, the hotel and the village are on foot.
For shopping, Dhërmi has what you need day to day and Himarë, further south, has more. Vlorë is the city for anything bigger, and the tunnel has brought it much closer, as we explain below.
The road to Dhërmi
Dhërmi is the next village south, and the drive is a short one along the hillside above the sea. The old village sits up the slope, stone houses and churches among the cypresses, and the beach below it has the long line of bars and restaurants that fill up in July and August. It is livelier than Palasë, and that is the point of having both: Dhërmi is where you go out in the evening, and Palasë is where you come home to.
Beyond Dhërmi the coast keeps going. Gjipe, with its canyon behind the beach, is reached on foot or by boat. Then Jalë, then Himarë, with its harbour and its castle above the town. San Nicolas, our development towards Dhërmi, sits on this stretch, and buyers who want the village close by often compare it with the homes at Palasë before choosing.
Getting there
For years the one awkward thing about Palasë was the road over the Llogara Pass. That changed in July 2024. Top Channel reported on 5 July 2024 that the Llogara tunnel, 5.9 kilometres long, opened that day, cutting the journey from Dukat to Palasë from about 40 minutes over the mountain to about seven minutes, and the drive from Vlorë to Palasë from around an hour to around twenty minutes. The pass road is still there for anyone who wants the view, and it is worth driving once; the tunnel is for every other day.
From Tirana, Euronews puts the Vlorë area at around two hours, and from there the tunnel takes you straight to the bay. British citizens can enter Albania without a visa for up to 90 days in any 180-day period, so a long stay needs no paperwork. The new airport north of Vlorë is built; Euronews reported in April 2026 that it was expected, tentatively, to open in late 2026, and that it is around an hour's drive from Green Coast. Until it does, Tirana is the airport, and the drive down is part of the trip.
The wider picture
The coast is busier than it was. INSTAT recorded 12.47 million arrivals of foreign citizens in Albania in 2025, 6.6 per cent more than in 2024. More visitors means more going on along the Riviera and a longer season for the places that serve them. It also means that where you buy matters more than it did: a proper beach, a managed development and an easy road home are the things owners at Palasë say they value most.
If you would like to see Palasë for yourself, or to talk through what owning a home there would be like for you, message the Sanders team on WhatsApp and we will arrange it.
Questions about buying in Albania? Message our team on WhatsApp.
