Saranda · Butrint National Park · Albania

Butrint Ancient Theatre

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easy

9/10

best: morning, late-afternoon

serene, archaeological, remote

A local would say...

Every empire that ever passed through the Mediterranean left its fingerprints here — then the forest swallowed it.

Renowned for their extraordinary size, beauty and tranquillity, the ancient ruins of Butrint sit in a 29-square-kilometre national park where Greek, Roman and Byzantine layers pile on top of each other in serene lakeside forest. Greeks from Corfu settled this hill in the 6th century BC; two-and-a-half millennia later their amphitheatre still stands. Allow at least two hours to absorb the silence and scale.