Northern Riviera · Marine National Park
Boat Tours from Vlora: Into Albania's Marine National Park
Sazan IslandHaxhi Ali CaveGrama Bay
Vlora sits at a point of extraordinary geographical significance: the exact latitude where the Adriatic Sea meets the Ionian Sea, where Albania declared independence in 1912, and where the Albanian Riviera begins. For boat tours, it is the definitive starting point for the Albanian Riviera's most dramatic marine landscape, the Karaburun-Sazan National Marine Park.
Protected for decades by military closure during the communist era, the waters of the Karaburun Peninsula are exceptionally clear, their sea floors still rich with biodiversity that the rest of the Mediterranean has largely lost. Today, Riviera Boats AL operates daily departures from Vlora's marina into this protected coastline: to the 30-meter-tall interior of Haxhi Ali Cave, to Sazan Island (formerly Albania's most classified military installation, only open to visitors since 2015), and to pristine beaches accessible only by sea.
Three unforgettable stops: a ghost island, a pirate's cave, and a protected beach where the sea floor is still exactly as nature left it.
Book this tour →The longest and most complete journey from Vlora. The final destination holds 1,500 inscriptions carved into the cliffs by Greek and Roman sailors over 23 centuries. No road exists to this bay.
Book this tour →The Riviera's limestone cliffs turn amber at golden hour. Our most romantic experience: a glass of local wine, the Ionian at dusk, and the cave of legends at the edge of the light.
Book this tour →The entire boat is yours. Set your own pace and choose your own stops along the Karaburun coastline.
Book this tour →Albania's largest island, measuring 5.7 km² at the entrance to the Bay of Vlora. Sazan was a classified military installation from the communist era until 1997, later opened to limited tourism from 2015. The island is former home to over 3,600 bunkers, an abandoned Soviet submarine base, and decommissioned military quarters. Visitors hike short trails for panoramic views where the Adriatic and Ionian seas meet visually, and swim from a beach undisturbed for decades. Bottlenose dolphins are frequently encountered in the channel between Sazan and Karaburun.
Albania's largest sea cave, on the western face of the Karaburun Peninsula. Named after the 17th-century Albanian pirate and folk hero Haxhi Ali, who used the cave as a strategic hideout. The entrance rises 30 to 60 metres from the water, tall enough for a speedboat to motor directly inside. Extraordinary acoustic echo and luminous blue light from refracted sunlight. Snorkelling reveals depths that look shallow but reach 20+ metres.
A 30km limestone finger of land south of Vlora, forming the western edge of Albania's only National Marine Park. Grama Bay, at the southern tip, holds roughly 1,500 rock inscriptions carved by Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman sailors between the 3rd century BC and the 16th century AD: the largest collection of ancient maritime inscriptions in the eastern Mediterranean. The name derives from the Greek word gramma, meaning "letter."
Exact meeting point and GPS link sent with your booking confirmation.
