Butrint, Blue Eye, Ksamil & Castelo Lekuresi Tour em grupo pequeno.

Excellent guide (June 29, 2026) very friendly and knowledgeable

Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and answered everyone's questions. The driver was safe and considerate of the road and his passengers. The tour covered some of the major surrounding areas of Saranda and Ksamil. The Blue Eye cove was beautiful and we should have taken the opportunity to walk around here more, but the heat was up to 35+ by then. All in all a good trip.

Very nice guided tour. The staff that we went with was absolutely amazing. Highly recommend. 🤩

All three locations are worth visiting and the most interesting was the archeological site, Butrint. I have always had excellent expriences with Viator and recommend using them and visiting these sites but, for this location in Saranda, Albania, I would suggest that Viator use a diffenent local tour company. Our guide, Santi (sp?) was very knowledgeable, friendly and flexible, however, I did have some significant issues with the local tour company contracted by Viator. I was booked for a 8:30 am tour but we were late boarding the bus although it was there. It was almost 9:30 before we left. The tour guide shared information she was given by a tour manager who was at the pick up point. To my knowledge, all passengers for the 8:30 am tour were ready. We were waiting for a group the manager claimed were having issues tendering to the pick up point. Two different ships were involved. Passsengers stated it was the responsibility of guests to get to the meeting point on time and didn't feel we should wait for more than a short time. One passenger spoke to the manager and indicated he was quite rude. We discovered that the 8:00 am group was also waiting and would be part of our group. I want to add that this was a small group excursion. The guide explained that leaving late was not her decision to make and we understood that. Finally, our bus left but then returned to the pick up point as the "late" individuals were on their way. Close to 9:30 am, a group arrived and were put on our bus. Many passengers, believing that that were just late were quite upset with the supposedly late group although one passenger made the situation very unpleasant. We later learned that, we had at least 3 groups with different tour times. There were scheduled for 8:00, 8:30 and 9:30. It turned out that the group that was supposedly late were not late and some shared their ticked that indicated a 9:30 tour. We ultimately found out that the local tour company decided to combine the groups and use two small busses. There were several passengers that chose the early tour so they would have time to explore the port area before having to tender back to the ship. The dishonesty of the local manager caused for some initial group tension when that should never have happened. Finally, our bus left and, to make matters worse, stopped at a gas station for fuel! That was completely unacceptable. We had sufficient time at the first two locations but the last location, at the castle, had to be shortened to get passengers back to the port. My group should have returned by 3:30 pm and got back by 4:00 pm. The tour guide did the best she could but I still felt that she, due to the misinformation she was given and passed along to us, had to deal with some very frustrated passengers through no fault of her own. I place the full responsibility on the local tour company but believe Viator should know what happened and would hope that, for future excursions, they would used another local company because the sites are well worth visiting.

In port for one day with a cruise on our first visit to Albania- wanted to see as much as possible and this trip covered many different aspects- ruins, beach, and geography! Unfortunately a slow start as they merged 4 different tours start times into one, so we wasted time waiting for the last group to arrive. Good modern comfortable transport. A guide who spoke good English and ensured the group stayed together. The cafe at the Blue Eye was great for a quick snack and very reasonably priced. Some in the group claimed they didn’t know about the €6.50pp fare for the little train to the Blue Eye but it was in the tour details. A good day out.

Great combination of nature and history. Our guide, Santi, spoke perfect English and Greek I believe. Was well educated in the history of Butrint, and of her homeland. Only suggestion would be, you might need to bring a sandwich or something easy to carry as there was only a brief, quick stop to grab a bite to eat!

Good guide, nice trip and lots of information. Worth taking your time with Butrint.

This excursion was quite disorganized. For example, we were first put on a black Mercedes van for this excursion. Then, they later told us to get out of the van and go to the red bus, as we were put on the wrong tour. So then we sat in a red van and waited. Another couple joined, and then they told us to get out of the red van and go to the white one. Not a good customer experience at all, as we were bounced to 3 different vehicles - very chaotic! So on the white van I specifically spoke to two different tour guides to confirm the tour and that the one we booked had 4 stops/destinations. They said yes. We did the Blue Eye, then Lekuresi and then she said they’re switching guides. Another guide led the Butrint tour. I asked again about the stop at Ksamil to see the beaches and get lunch. She said no. Two other couples also said the same thing. However, she said she didn’t know what we were talking about, and there wasn’t time at this point anyway. So we never did get to have lunch or see the beach. It was a very frustrating experience, despite numerous efforts to ensure they had us on the correct tour. We paid for a tour with 4 stops, and time for lunch, and only saw 3 stops, with no lunch. No apologies or acknowledgment by the tour guide, or the company.

All sites were stunning & well worth the $60. Kella was an amazing guide! She knew multiple languages making everyone comfortable, very knowledgeable of Albania & the sites. She made the tour 20/10!

All in all the tour was okay. This is and getting to the pickup, even though says cruise port, is quite a hike. This is a tendered port and since the tour is indecent of cruise line excursions can take time to get onto tender. The views from the castle were pretty amazing but did not have adequate time to explore. Following the castle stop we proceeded to the Blue Eye. To get to the actual eye you could either walk approximately 1 mile or purchase ticked for the tram to take you there. Unfortunately there ins only 1 tram shuttling people back and forth and the organization to get guests on is complete chaos almost to the point of fights breaking out. We chose to walkup to the site and take tram back. On the return trip several older friends of ours were shoved and literally thrown to the ground by inconsiderate guests fighting to get on. The tour never went to Ksamil and only stopped for about 10min at the entrance of Butrint park before heading back to port. The tour would have been excellent if it was better unorganized but unfortunately was not what we expected.