Butrint National Park

Butrint is the single most rewarding excursion on the Albanian coast. Founded by Greek colonists, expanded by Rome, fortified by Byzantium and Venice, the city rose and fell for over two millennia before the forest took it back. Today a shaded loop trail winds through it all: the theatre by the sacred spring, the lion gate, the great baptistery with its mosaic floor, the basilica, and the Venetian castle on top with views over the Vivari Channel.

It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a national park at once — expect eucalyptus shade, turtles in the channels, and far fewer crowds than ruins of this calibre would draw anywhere else in the Mediterranean.