The Journey from Corfu to Himarë: 60 Kilometres, 10 Hours (2026 Saranda Transport Update)
- Charlie Chen
- Jul 16
- 4 min read
This is the kind of travel experience we want the kids to remember. Geographically, the physical distance between our hotel in Corfu and our guesthouse in Himarë is less than 60 kilometers, but logistically, it might as well have been 6,000 kilometers.
Whenever we travel, we try to use public transit as much as possible. Today, however, was one of those days where saving money required a serious investment of time and physical effort.
Our journey began with getting from the Corfu hotel to the ferry port. A hotel employee told us our best option was a taxi, claiming that taking the local bus required a complicated transfer that wasn't worth the hassle. We weren't convinced. The route between the airport and the ferry port is heavily frequented, so we figured there had to be a direct link. A quick search confirmed that regular municipal buses run right between the two. The employee wasn't necessarily lying; locals simply drive everywhere and rarely have a reason to know the public transit schedules.
In order to arrive at the port at 12pm to catch our 1:00 PM ferry, we began walking to the Airport (10 minutes away) at 11am, to board the bus. It cost us €8 total (€2 per person). We saved half the price of a taxi, but the walk with full backpacks and the bus ride meant it took more than double the time, compared to taking a taxi. The international ferry crossing itself was standard, though we had to kill a fair amount of time at the port before the boat finally departed at 1:15 PM. The journey lasted about an hour, but due to the time difference, we were still at 1:15pm when we arrived in Sarandë.
After taking our time over lunch, the real challenge began. According to my research, we would catch a furgon (the local minibus) at the city’s Friendship Park up the coast to Himarë. However, when we arrived at the park, there wasn't a minibus in sight. Instead, a city bus labeled "Terminal" picked us up and drove us a few kilometers outside the town center to a newly constructed bus terminal.
As it turned out, this new Sarandë Terminal had opened as the centralized hub for all regional buses just five days prior. The set up to keep traffic out of the center makes total sense, but practical information on-site was non-existent. When we arrived at the terminal at 3:30pm, the ticket agent informed us there were currently no buses heading north to Himarë, though he mentioned there might be one at 6:00 PM, but he couldn't guarantee it. The agent kept explaining that he only dealt with long-distance routes to major cities like Tirana, and does not know much about the local minibuses. The lack of information is horrific. Another interesting observation, other than a printed poster bus schedule, this brand new terminal in 2026 does not even have a single digital display. Welcome to Albania.
Just as we caught helpless, local taxi drivers quickly gathered around us, reinforcing the claim that all buses were done for the day and competing for our business with quotes ranging from €80 to €100 for the 1 hr car ride. I walked the perimeter of the terminal, asking every local I could find, but no one knew the schedule for the coastal routes. Fortunately, we ran into a traveler from the UK who had heard from a tourist information office that a 6:00 PM bus did exist. After almost an hour of struggling and resisting the anxiety, we decided to decline the taxis and wait it out.
We settled in for a long wait. But at around 4:45 PM, right in the middle of our first game of Monopoly Deal, the UK traveler herald to us that a furgon had arrived. We packed up and hurried over. By 5:00 PM we were on board, but the driver wouldn't leave until every seat was occupied. We sat in the stationary van for an hour as it grew progressively hotter and stuffier. Finally, at 6:10 PM, we started moving.
Halfway through the drive, the driver pulled over and instructed all of us bound for Himarë to transfer into a smaller van. At this stage, it became obvious that every single passenger on board was a foreign traveler. There were no locals heading to Himarë at this hour; they either don't travel this route or they do so early in the morning, which explains why no one at the terminal knew the schedule.
When the van finally reached Himarë, it dropped us off on the far west side of town. We then had to hike 20 minutes with all our luggage to reach our accommodation. By the time we walked through the door of the guesthouse, it was past 8:00 PM. Factor in the one-hour time difference between Greece and Albania, and the entire door-to-door transit took more than 10 hours.
Had we taken a private taxi from the bus terminal, we would have arrived by 5:00 PM, but it would have cost €80. The public route cost us roughly €40 (4,000 Albanian Lek).
This was an incredibly tiring day, and looking back, it is one of those instances where the extra cost of a taxi probably would have been worth the time and energy saved. Had I known the exact logistics beforehand, I might have opted for the taxi. But taking the hard way, putting in the physical effort, and talking to the people we met along the way is exactly what gives us stories to tell (and the bragging right for the slowest journey ever!). It’s the unpredictability and the small struggles that create the actual memories of a family trip. If everything went exactly according to plan, travel wouldn't be much of an adventure. I hope the kids appreciate this as part of the trip.
Moral of the story: Do not rely entirely on transit information found online. Always verify schedules directly with a local tourist information office on the ground whenever possible.
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