Marina, Luxury Resorts and Billion-Euro Investments – What’s Really Happening on the Albanian Riviera

I'll be honest with you. Five years ago, if someone had told me that Ivanka Trump would be building a luxury resort an hour up the coast from my office, that Swiss airlines would be flying directly into Vlora, and that Saranda apartments for sale would be on the radar of buyers from Miami to Munich… I would have smiled politely and ordered another macchiato.

But here we are.

And the truth is, even those of us who live and breathe this market every day are still catching our breath at how fast things are moving.

The Money Is Already Here — You Just Have to Know Where to Look

Let me give you the short version, because I know your time matters.

Right now, somewhere between Vlora and Saranda, there are billions , actual billions of euros being poured into infrastructure, marinas, airports, and luxury resorts. The Albanian government has approved a $1.4 billion deal with Donald Trump's son-in-law to develop the island of Sazan into a luxury resort, and that's just one project. One. 

The development plans include five-star eco-resort facilities, private villas, a marina for superyachts, wellness facilities, restaurants, and walking trails, and the operator they've secured is Aman — which, if you're not familiar, is the gold standard of global hospitality. The same brand that operates in Venice, Tokyo, and the Amalfi Coast. 

That's the company coming here. To us.

I still remember the first time I took a small boat past Sazan back in 2019 with a friend. Bunkers everywhere, wild lavender, nothing but the sound of seabirds. I told my fiancée that night it felt like the most beautiful forgotten place I'd ever seen. Apparently Jared Kushner had the same thought a couple of years later, sitting on a boat off the same coastline.

Funny how things work.

Vlora Airport ,The Game-Changer Nobody's Talking About Loudly Enough

Here's something that doesn't get said often enough: the single most important thing happening in Albanian real estate right now isn't a luxury resort. It's an airport.

Commercial operations are expected to launch in summer 2026, with Swiss carrier Chair Airlines already announcing Zurich to Vlora flights starting June 26, 2026. Air Albania plans to establish a base at the airport, while Ryanair, Wizz Air, and easyJet have all expressed interest in serving the new destination. 

Read that again. Ryanair. Wizz. easyJet. Once those budget carriers start running daily routes into Vlora, the Albanian Riviera stops being a "hidden gem" and starts being a weekend trip from London, Milan, Berlin, and Vienna.

The runway itself? 3.2 kilometers , the longest in the Balkans , capable of accommodating wide-body aircraft like the Airbus A330/A340 and Boeing 777. 

That's not a regional airport. That's an international gateway.

And here's the part I keep telling my clients: the people buying beachfront property in Saranda and Borsh today, before that airport opens commercially, are buying at a price that simply won't exist a year from now.

I'm not saying that to pressure anyone. I'm saying it because I've watched this exact pattern play out in Croatia, in Montenegro, in southern Spain. Infrastructure comes, prices follow. Always.

Marinas — Three of Them, All Coming

If the airport changes who can come to Albania, the marinas change who stays.

We're getting three of them. Three.

The biggest is Durres Marina, where Mohamed Alabbar — yes, the man behind the Burj Khalifa — is building what's planned to be the Mediterranean's largest marina by area, boasting multiple hotels with more than 850 rooms, business areas, eight hectares of green or open spaces, up to 700m of beachfront and up to 280 yacht berths. 

Vlora Marina is further along — Vlora Marina will be operational in mid-2027. And Saranda Marina, the closest one to us here, has been announced and is in the planning phase as part of the broader coastal development strategy. 

Now, a small honest tangent here, because I think you deserve the full picture: the marina projects have not been without their controversies. There have been debates about land deals, about how the contracts were structured, about who benefits. Three marina projects – in Vlora, Durres and Limioni [Saranda] – have jointly benefitted from some 1.1 million sqm of publicly-owned land, and there are legitimate questions being asked. 

I tell my clients this stuff openly because I think you should know it. But here's the practical reality on the ground: the cranes are turning. The money is moving. The projects are happening. Whatever the political back-and-forth, the physical infrastructure is real and it's coming.

Why This Changes the Math on Saranda Apartments for Sale

Let me get specific.

A two-bedroom seaview apartment in central Saranda today sits somewhere between €1,600 and €2,200 per square meter for a new build. In Saranda, the average price in the center reached approximately €1924 per square meter in 2025, while new developments are often listed in the range of €1600–1800 per square meter and above. 

Compare that to Croatia. Or to the Greek islands directly across from us — you can literally see Corfu from my office window on a clear day. Same sea. Same climate. Often better beaches, frankly. Prices that are three to five times higher.

I show this comparison to American clients almost every week, and I get the same reaction every single time. It's a long pause, followed by some version of "wait, what's the catch?"

There's no catch. The market hasn't priced in what's coming yet. That's it.

This is why I keep saying — and I know I say it a lot — that I truly believe the Albanian Riviera offers the best value on the Mediterranean coast right now. Not because I sell properties here. The other way around. I sell properties here because I genuinely believe it.

A Quick Detour, Because I Can't Help Myself

Speaking of clients — last week I took a couple from Boston to see a project called Slates by VivaView, which is one of the developments we're building right here in Saranda. Beachfront, modern architecture, the whole thing.

After the tour we went to this small taverna I love up the coast road toward Lukova. Nothing fancy — a stone terrace, a grill, an old man named Niko who's been making the same fish soup for thirty-five years. The husband took one bite of the soup, looked at his wife, and said: "We need to move here."

It happens more than you'd think.

If you ever come to Saranda and we view properties together, ask me about that taverna. Most tourists never find it. It's not on Tripadvisor. It's barely on Google. But it's where I bring people when I want them to understand what life here actually feels like — not the brochure version, the real one.

These are the moments that don't show up in market reports.

It's Not Just the Coast , Tirana Is Moving Too

I'd be doing you a disservice if I only talked about the seaside.

Tirana, our capital, where we just opened a second VivaView office this year  is going through its own transformation. Skyscrapers, embassies, an emerging tech scene, restaurants that genuinely compete with big European cities / capitals.. We just listed Lion Residence 2 there, and the interest from foreign buyers in central Tirana right now is something I haven't seen before. Diplomats. Remote workers. Returning diaspora.

Tirana , where the real estate market is primarily driven by domestic demand. Key factors include steady population inflow from other regions, a concentration of businesses, universities, and jobs. Yields range from 5–7%, with low vacancy risk and high resale liquidity. 

Different market, different buyer profile, but the same underlying story: a country waking up.

So What Should You Actually Do With This Information?

Look, I'm not going to give you a sales pitch. You can find that anywhere.

What I'll tell you is what I tell my friends when they ask me whether they should buy here.

The answer is: if you're going to buy on the Albanian coast, the next 12 to 24 months matter. Vlora Airport opens commercially.  The Trump-Kushner resort breaks ground. The first yachts dock at Vlora Marina in 2027. Every one of those events moves the market.

If you want to walk the coastline before the prices skyrocket — see Ksamil, see Borsh, see what a real beachfront property in Saranda actually looks like at today's prices — come visit us. I'll show you around personally. 

We can enjoy a fresh cooked meal on famous fish tavernas , watch the sun set over the Ionian, and you can decide for yourself whether what I've written here matches what your eyes see. (Hint: you won't be dissapointed.)

But come and see anyway. Albania has a way of convincing people much more effectively than any blog ever could.