Sarande to Corfu Day Trip by Ferry

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Part of the reason we chose to stay in Sarande for the beach portion of our Balkan Roadtrip vacation is it’s proximity to Greece and ability to make a day trip by ferry to visit the island of Corfu. We did visit during peak season so not sure our experience is reflective of those who visit at times other than July/August but this is probably accurate for high season travel. After our experience at Blue Eye earlier in the trip and seeing what crowds can do, we adjusted our plans to not visit the most popular beach areas of Corfu, like Palaiokastritsa, on the west coast of the island. We also opted for an east coast beach where we could get a shorter local bus ride there and book a beach chair and umbrella in advance to make sure that we had some much needed shade. Not exactly an authentic Greek experience of just showing up to a beach on a whim and enjoying the bright blue waters and cliffs with a few others. It seemed much more likely we would have trouble getting a bus to the west coast popular beaches, we probably wouldn’t be able to get a chair/umbrella, I wasn’t sure about shade/food, and then we would fret about being able to get back in time for a return ferry. Maybe I would be wrong, but this is at least what I anticipated with a slight pessimistic attitude!

Our day started with the 6 am departure ferry, which they required us to arrive 1 hour prior. It made for quite an early start! Of course they didn’t open the doors to passport control until closer to 5:30, so we waited around for half an hour for nothing. The ferry ride on scheduled to take about 30 minutes on a high speed Finikas ferry. As the ferry got going, it was quite nice. The breeze was lovely and we got to see the sunrise over the Albanian hillside. After 30 minutes we realized we were about half way there. The ferry arrived about an hour and fifteen minutes after departure, more than double the advertised time. There were other ferry options advertised to take 1:15 which were slightly cheaper but we had opted to pay a little more to get there faster. Not sure if it was worth it? Maybe the 1:15 ferry actually takes over 2 hours? Once at the port in Corfu, we once again lined up for passport control. We had read horror stories of needing to wait for 1-2 hours to get through passport control here but we were through in less than 10 minutes so not a big deal.

Navigating from the port to old town was something that I had researched online but figured it would be a game time decision. The heat had already started and didn’t want to wear everyone out so early and there were taxis there so we opted for a couple taxis for $15 each. I thought they would drop us off near the old fort about 1.5 miles away but instead they drove us .5 miles and told us to walk the rest of the way through old town. I tried to argue a bit but that seemed futile. Definitely got the tourist treatment there!

The walk through old town was picturesque and we round a lovely little cafe/bakery to get some breakfast. We also stumbled upon the only Starbucks I have seen on the trip and I purchased the Greece ‘Been There Series’ mug to join my slightly embarrassing collection. They are souvenirs which I use daily at home though! We walked to get a glimpse of the old fort and then made our way to a Greek archeological museum for a dose of history and a bit of A/C.

On Corfu there are Green tourist buses and Blue city buses. It was rather difficult, even with the Green bus app, to determine when and where we could catch the Green tourist buses where as the Blue city buses are loaded into Google maps. The times, the stops and even the exact bus location as you are waiting for a bus. I like a little more certainty in my transportation when I have a ferry to catch on time so we opted for the blue city buses. We bought a day pass for 5 Euro/person. We caught the bus in Corfu town to take out to Dassia, about a 25 minutes bus ride. The bus was packed to the max from that very first stop. We got on but needed to stand the whole ride. They may have been air conditioned but it was hard to tell. The temperatures were again nearing 100 so it was a bit rough. We made it to our stop for the Malibu Beach club. (We also have seen businesses called Jamaica, Aruba and Miami which make us giggle)

The beach club is definitely a bit more posh than our typical scene, but again, they had a way to book a chair/umbrella the day before. They were 30 Euro for 2 chairs/umbrellas for the day. We also had access to food drinks, bathrooms, showers and a pool, in addition to the beach. Definitely worth it. Our hostess was very attentive and sweet which made the experience feel a bit more luxurious than normal! The beach area was fantastic. The water was very shallow and calm and perfectly clear so we didn’t worry about the kids much at all. It was also very sandy under our feet in the water which was a nice improvement from the pebbly beach at our hotel in Albania.

There were nearby options for parasailing and other speed boat ride activities that looked like fun but the kids were once again content just swimming in the sea and the pool and back and forth. Will never argue with that! I enjoyed the water as well but also enjoyed the shade and reading and taking little naps! We enjoyed the better part of the afternoon at the beach club before heading back into the city. Fortunately, the bus ride back was less crowded when we got on and we were able to get seats. Unfortunately for one 20 something year old man who had to stand, he didn’t fare as well and passed out. People rushed to catch him and douse him with water and fan him to cool him off. This heat was no joke! I don’t think we’ve ever drank so much water and I had brought hydration packs for when we were extra sweaty.

We stopped downtown for a quick Greek dinner and a little souvenir shopping before heading back to the port, this time by city bus since we had the day pass, and not a taxi. Again, we showed up an hour before and they didn’t open passport control for at least half an hour, so another half an hour wasted. Again we had read passport control could be bad but it was really only the people who were on our ferry who were going through passport control. A lot of standing and waiting and being herded around like cattle but it was short lived. And although the return trip was also scheduled for around 30 minutes, the ride was unsurprisingly over an hour.