Albania

The coast south of the Llogara Pass is the draw: the pass road itself (a spectacular switchback descent) gives way to a string of pebble coves and small resorts. Dhërmi and Jale are the stylish beach-camp scene, Himarë the relaxed all-rounder with a ruined castle above it, and Ksamil, down by the Greek border, the busiest: white sand, swim-to islets, and in August, serious crowds.

Gjipe beach, at the end of a canyon between Dhërmi and Himarë, is the pick of the wilder options: a half-hour walk in, a handful of campers, and water that barely looks real. The Karaburun Peninsula, reachable by boat from Vlorë, hides the coast's most untouched coves.

Berat, the 'town of a thousand windows', stacks white Ottoman houses up a hillside beneath a castle where families still live inside the walls. Gjirokastër, further south, is its stone-roofed sibling: a steep bazaar street, a brooding castle, and the birthplace museum of Ismail Kadare. Both are UNESCO-listed and both deserve a night, not a stopover.

Butrint, near Ksamil, is the archaeological highlight: a Greek, Roman and Byzantine city shaded by woods at the edge of a lagoon, mercifully free of the crowds you'd find at an equivalent site anywhere else in the Mediterranean.

The north is for hikers. The Komani Lake ferry, a three-hour boat ride through a flooded gorge, is regularly called one of the world's great ferry journeys and deposits you near Valbona, an alpine valley of guesthouses and trailheads. The classic walk is the Valbona-Theth pass, a full-day trek over a 1,800-metre saddle between the two valleys.

Theth, with its stone lock-in tower and waterfall walk, is reached over a now-paved mountain road from Shkodër. Guesthouse half-board (big dinners, local raki) is the standard arrangement and part of the experience. The season runs roughly June to early October; outside it, snow closes the passes.

Fly into Tirana (TIA), worth a day for the Bunk'Art museums (vast communist-era bunkers turned into galleries) and the Blloku café district, formerly the sealed-off party quarter. For the Riviera alone, Corfu airport plus the 30-minute ferry to Sarandë is often easier than the five-hour drive from Tirana.

Rent a car for anything beyond one resort. Main roads are fine now; it's the mountain routes and the Riviera switchbacks that need care. Albania is cheap by European standards, cash is king outside Tirana, and the local furgon minibuses cover the country informally if you're travelling light and patient.

May, June and September are the sweet spot; the sea is swimmable into October, and the mountain trails are best in June and September.