Where Is Sazan?
Sazan sits at the entrance to the Bay of Vlorë, where the Adriatic meets the Ionian Sea, off the tip of the Karaburun peninsula in southwestern Albania. It guards one of the most strategic points on the Albanian coast, which is exactly why it spent so long as a fortress rather than a beach. The nearest city is Vlorë, the usual departure point for tours.A Military History
Sazan’s position made it valuable to every power that controlled this coast. It was fortified by Italy in the early 20th century, and during the communist era it became a heavily armed Albanian and Soviet base, complete with tunnels, bunkers and, reportedly, defenses against chemical attack. The island reflects the same siege mentality that defined Enver Hoxha’s Albania, the isolated state that also banned religion and covered the country in bunkers. Abandoned barracks, gun positions and tunnels still dot the island.What to See on Sazan
- Abandoned military structures: barracks, bunkers, tunnels and old gun emplacements, slowly being reclaimed by the landscape.
- Clear waters and coves: because it was closed for so long, the sea around Sazan is exceptionally clean and clear.
- Views over the Karaburun: the boat trip itself, along the wild Karaburun peninsula, is a highlight.
How to Visit Sazan
Sazan is reached by boat, usually on a day tour from Vlorë that also takes in the caves and coves of the Karaburun marine park. Tours run mainly in the summer season. Access to parts of the island can be restricted because of its military past, so going with an organized tour is the practical way to see it. Combine it with the beaches of the Albanian Riviera to the south, or the resort areas near Saranda and Ksamil.When to Go
The tour season runs roughly from late spring to early autumn, with July and August the busiest and hottest. Late June and September offer calmer seas and fewer crowds. For a country wide safety overview, see is Albania safe to visit.Sazan in Numbers
Published figures for Sazan vary from one report to the next, so the table below gives each number with the source that states it. Where two sources disagree, the more conservative figure is used.
| Fact | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Size of the island | About 5.7 square kilometers (2.2 square miles) | Tirana Times; National Geographic |
| Troops once stationed there | About 3,000 | AFP via France 24, 2015 |
| One-person bunkers on the island | About 3,600 | AFP via France 24, 2015 |
| Marine park declared | 2010 | National Agency of Protected Areas (AKZM) |
| Marine park area | 12,437.7 hectares | AKZM |
| Protected category | National Marine Park, IUCN category II | AKZM |
| First opened to foreign tourists | 2015 | AFP; Tirana Times |
| Scheduled visiting season | 1 May to 31 October | Tirana Times |
Who Held Sazan, and When: A Timeline
The short version of Sazan’s history is that whoever wanted to control the entrance to the Adriatic wanted this island. Encyclopaedia Britannica gives its Italian name as Saseno and its ancient name as Saso, and notes that together with the Karaburun peninsula it shelters the Bay of Vlorë. National Geographic and Britannica together allow a fairly precise timeline.
- Antiquity: the Romans used the Bay of Vlorë as a naval haven, and fighting in the Roman civil war of 49 to 45 BC reached this stretch of coast.
- 1264: Venetian and Genoese fleets fought a naval battle near the island.
- 15th century: Sazan became an official naval outpost of the Ottoman Empire.
- 1912: after Albania declared independence, the island was disputed among Greece, Albania and Italy.
- 1920: Italy took possession of Sazan, and from 1922 Mussolini’s government built barracks and other military installations.
- Second World War: Italian and then German forces held the island, and Britannica records that it served as a submarine base for both.
- 1947: Albania gained ownership under the Paris Peace Treaty.
- 1950s: the bay became a Soviet naval station. AFP reports that Nikita Khrushchev visited the Pashaliman submarine base in the Bay of Vlorë in 1958.
- 1961: the break between Tirana and Moscow ended the Soviet presence. National Geographic cites a CIA memo of that year that referred to Sazan as a “Red Gibraltar” in the Mediterranean.
- 1990s: the communist government fell and the garrison was wound down.
- 2010: the sea around the island was placed inside the Karaburun-Sazan National Marine Park.
- 2015: the island opened to tourist visits.
Life on the Base
When the island opened in 2015, AFP reporters described what the garrison left behind. About 3,000 soldiers had been stationed on Sazan, and the island was covered with roughly 3,600 one-person bunkers and kilometers of tunnels meant to withstand a nuclear attack. Underground there was a cinema, a school and a hospital, which shows that Sazan worked as a closed community and not just as a gun platform. A former soldier who served there for 17 years told AFP that the men thought about war around the clock and that the psychological pressure was enormous.
The same report describes an island covered in pine, oleander and fig trees and ringed by turquoise water. That contrast, heavy concrete inside a green and almost untouched landscape, is what most visitors remember.
The Karaburun-Sazan National Marine Park
The water you cross to reach Sazan is Albania’s only national marine park. The National Agency of Protected Areas (AKZM) lists it as IUCN category II and gives its current area as 12,437.7 hectares, slightly enlarged from the original 12,428 hectares by a Council of Ministers decision of 26 January 2022. The park covers a belt of sea one nautical mile wide along the Karaburun peninsula and around Sazan island.
According to AKZM, the park shelters about 36 marine species of international, regional or global importance, among them the Mediterranean monk seal, common and bottlenose dolphins and sea turtles. Meadows of the seagrass Posidonia oceanica support a high diversity of seabed life. The coast is cut by sea caves, including the Haxhi Ali cave, which the national tourism agency describes as a natural monument carved by the sea, and the seabed holds ancient Greek, Illyrian, Roman and medieval shipwrecks.
The national tourism agency lists diving, coastal exploration, wildlife watching and sailing as activities that fit the park, provided they respect its conservation rules. Good practice in any marine protected area applies here too: leave shells, coral and archaeological objects where they are, do not feed wildlife, and ask your skipper to anchor on sand and not on seagrass. It is also fair to ask how the boat handles its waste before you book.
Access Rules and Practical Cautions
Sazan is not an ordinary beach stop, and the rules reflect that. Tirana Times reported in 2015 that the island was managed by Albania’s defence ministry, and that visits became possible under an arrangement signed between the tourism and defence ministers, with scheduled visits from 1 May to 31 October. Balkan Insight reported in January 2026 that Sazan nominally remained a military base until December 2024, when a presidential decision removed it from the list of national military assets. The news site Exit reported that a small Italian and Albanian naval base still operates in the island’s port.
That military status can affect your day. On 4 July 2020, Exit reported, a boat carrying about 70 foreign tourists from Vlorë was not allowed to disembark on Sazan because the defence ministry had not cleared the landing, even though the tourism ministry had promoted the island as a destination. The outlet said it was the third such case that year. The lesson for travelers is simple:
- Book with a licensed boat operator in Vlorë and ask directly whether the trip includes a landing on Sazan or only a swim stop nearby.
- Carry an identity document, since you are entering a zone under military administration.
- Stay out of tunnels and derelict buildings unless a guide leads you. The structures have been abandoned for decades and are not maintained for visitors.
- Bring water, sun protection and closed shoes. The island has been left largely undeveloped, so do not count on finding shops or shade.
- Expect changes with the weather. The crossing is on open water at the mouth of the bay, so a trip may be cancelled or rerouted when the sea is rough.
The Kushner and Ivanka Trump Resort Plan for Sazan
Sazan Island is also the site of a proposed luxury resort backed by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of U.S. President Donald Trump, and his wife Ivanka Trump. Balkan Insight reports that Kushner announced the plans in March 2024 through his investment firm, Affinity Partners. There are two parts: a resort on Sazan, put at about 1.4 billion euros, and a larger development of about 4.7 billion euros on the mainland at Zvërnec, inside the Vjosë-Nartë Protected Landscape north of Vlorë.
What Albania has approved
According to Citizens.al, a presidential decree of 2 December 2024 took Sazan out of the armed forces deployment plan, and on 30 December 2024 the Strategic Investments Committee gave the Sazan proposal strategic investor status for ten years. Balkan Insight says the decision covers 562 hectares, of which about 45 would be developed, and foresees 1,000 jobs. Tirana Times says a final agreement would need parliamentary approval.
The 2024 change to protected-area law
On 22 February 2024 parliament amended the Law on Protected Areas, Euronews Albania reported. Balkan Insight says the change allows five-star hotels inside protected areas and came a month before Kushner’s projects were announced.
Environmental objections
On 23 January 2026, 41 environmental organisations from 28 countries asked Prime Minister Edi Rama to suspend decisions advancing the Sazan project, citing the Mediterranean monk seal and other threatened marine species (Balkan Insight). The conservation group PPNEA says members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) adopted a motion in 2025 urging Albania to amend the law, co-sponsored by EuroNatur. On 17 June 2026 the European Parliament called for the amendments to be repealed and for a moratorium on construction in protected areas, according to EuroNatur and BirdLife. The Vjosa became Europe’s first Wild River National Park on 15 March 2023, but IUCN’s announcement shows that first phase covered the river channel, not the delta lagoon. See our report on the wildlife of Sazan and Vjosë-Nartë.
Protests and investigation
Slate reports that groundwork began at Zvërnec on 5 May 2026. After private security guards clashed with residents, nightly protests spread to Tirana. We covered the Zvërnec clashes and charges, the Tirana protests and the prime minister’s response, and the voices behind the protests. On 2 June 2026 the anticorruption prosecution office, SPAK, said it was investigating the money used to acquire land titles at Zvërnec (Al Jazeera), and OCCRP reported that prosecutors froze the bank accounts of a landholding company tied to the project. A SPAK spokesperson told CBS News the investigation does not concern any company associated with Kushner, and Reuters said in July it found no evidence that the resort’s backers knew of suspicions about the land.
Rama has said the investment will not stop while he is in office (Reuters via Al Jazeera), and also that no formal project exists yet because the investor is still assessing the environmental impact (Balkan Insight). The developer, Sazan Real Estate Development, told CBS News on 18 June 2026 that the project is still in a design phase and that its future will be decided by Albania and its people.
Where things stand in September 2026
On 9 June 2026 bne IntelliNews, citing Politico, reported that Albania’s environment minister told the European Commission that work was suspended pending an environmental impact assessment, and that no construction permits had been issued. Slate reported on 8 September that the Zvërnec works had been brought to a temporary halt and that protests continued. No construction on Sazan itself has been reported, and boat visits continue.
| Date | What happened | Reported by |
|---|---|---|
| 22 February 2024 | Parliament amends the Law on Protected Areas (Law 21/2024) | Euronews Albania; PPNEA |
| March 2024 | Kushner announces plans for Sazan and Zvërnec | Balkan Insight |
| 2 December 2024 | Presidential decree removes Sazan from the armed forces deployment plan | Citizens.al |
| 30 December 2024 | Strategic Investments Committee grants strategic investor status for Sazan | Citizens.al; Tirana Times |
| 23 January 2026 | 41 environmental groups ask the government to suspend the project | Balkan Insight |
| 5 May 2026 | Groundwork begins at Zvërnec, followed by protests | Slate |
| 2 June 2026 | SPAK confirms an investigation; accounts of a landholding company frozen | Al Jazeera; OCCRP |
| 9 June 2026 | Environment minister tells the European Commission work is suspended pending an environmental impact assessment | bne IntelliNews, citing Politico |
| 17 June 2026 | European Parliament calls for repeal of the 2024 amendments and a construction moratorium | EuroNatur; BirdLife |
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you visit Sazan Island?
Yes, Sazan can be visited on day boat tours from Vlorë during the summer season, though parts remain restricted because of its military history.Why was Sazan Island closed?
Sazan was a strategic military base for much of the 20th century, used by Italy and then by communist Albania and the Soviet Union, so it was off-limits to the public for decades.Is Sazan Island worth visiting?
Yes, for its unusual mix of abandoned Cold War military structures and some of the clearest, least developed waters on the Albanian coast.How do you get to Sazan?
By boat tour from Vlorë, usually combined with the Karaburun peninsula marine park.How big is Sazan Island?
Sazan covers about 5.7 square kilometers, or 2.2 square miles, according to Tirana Times and National Geographic. It is usually described as Albania’s largest island. Despite its small size, AFP reported that it once housed about 3,000 soldiers and roughly 3,600 one-person bunkers, along with an underground cinema, school and hospital.
Is Sazan part of a protected area?
The sea around it is. The Karaburun-Sazan National Marine Park was declared in 2010 and is Albania’s only national marine park. The National Agency of Protected Areas lists it as IUCN category II with an area of 12,437.7 hectares, covering a belt of sea one nautical mile wide along the Karaburun peninsula and around Sazan.
Who controls access to Sazan today?
The island is state property. It was long managed by Albania’s defence ministry, and Balkan Insight reported that a presidential decision in December 2024 removed it from the list of national military assets. Exit News reported in 2020 that a small Italian and Albanian naval base operated in its port. Tourist visits run under an arrangement between the tourism and defence ministries, with a scheduled season from 1 May to 31 October. Landings have occasionally been refused, so confirm with your boat operator before paying.
Who owns Sazan Island?
Sazan is public property of the Albanian state, not a private island. PBS NewsHour and Balkan Insight both describe it as state-owned land, and it was a military zone under the defence ministry until a presidential decision in December 2024. Strategic investor status, granted on 30 December 2024, speeds up permits and access to state land, and Tirana Times reports that any final agreement would still need parliamentary approval.
Is Ivanka Trump building a resort in Albania?
A resort has been proposed, not built. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner back a plan, tied to Kushner’s firm Affinity Partners, for a resort on Sazan and a larger development at Zvërnec. Albania gave the Sazan proposal strategic investor status in December 2024. The developer told CBS News in June 2026 that it was still in a design phase, and Slate reported in September that groundwork at Zvërnec had halted.
Is Sazan Island still open to visitors in 2026?
Yes. Balkan Insight reported in January 2026 that boats from Vlorë run daily trips to Sazan in summer, and a Slate reporter joined a guided walking tour of the island for an article published in September 2026. Slate notes that overnight stays are not permitted. Rules can change while the resort plan is under review, so confirm landing arrangements with your boat operator.
Explore More of Albania
Continue with the Albanian Riviera, our Albanian city travel guides, and the best places to visit in Albania.Sources
- Karaburun-Sazan Marine Park, National Tourism Agency of Albania
- National Geographic: Albania’s Sazan Island has been fought over for millennia
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Vlorë
- France 24 (AFP): Derelict Albanian military island opens to tourism
- National Agency of Protected Areas (AKZM): Karaburun-Sazan National Marine Park
- National Tourism Agency of Albania: Karaburun-Sazan National Marine Park
- Tirana Times: Albania’s most secretive military base under communism opens up to tourists
- Exit News: Tourists unable to disembark on Sazan Island due to ministry mix up
- Balkan Insight: Albania Greenlights Jared Kushner Plan to Develop Island as Luxury Resort
- Tirana Times: Kushner granted strategic investor status for Sazan development
- Citizens.al: How Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner secured Sazan
- Euronews Albania: Parliament approves draft law on Protected Areas despite environmental concerns
- PPNEA: IUCN Demands Albania to Amend Law Undermining the Protection of Protected Areas
- Balkan Insight: Environmentalists Urge Suspension of Kushner Island Resort Project in Albania
- Balkan Insight: Albanian Protests Mount Against Kushner-Linked Luxury Resort
- Balkan Insight: Across the Balkans, Foreign-Backed Luxury Developments Cause Local Anger
- Al Jazeera (with Reuters): Thousands protest in Albania against coastal resort linked to Jared Kushner
- Al Jazeera and Reuters: Land sold for Kushner-backed Albania resort suspected of forged deeds
- OCCRP: Albania Freezes Assets in Kushner Resort Probe
- CBS News: Albania protests sparked by Jared Kushner-backed luxury resort plans
- NBC News: Why a luxury resort plan by Trump’s son-in-law sparked mass protests in Albania
- PBS NewsHour: A look at the Albanian island where a Kushner-Trump resort plan has sparked protests
- bne IntelliNews: Albania suspends Kushner luxury island resort after EU warning
- EuroNatur: The European Parliament is stepping up the pressure on Albania
- BirdLife International: European Parliament backs nature as Albania’s flamingo protests reach Strasbourg
- IUCN: Vjosa becomes Europe’s first Wild River National Park
- Slate: Ivanka Trump’s attempt to develop an Albanian island into a luxury resort
Author: Val Demiri
Valbona is an editor and writer at ALB Connection, where she covers the people, businesses, and culture shaping the Albanian diaspora. A journalism graduate of the University of Iowa, her work spans community profiles, success stories, and features on Albanian life across the US, Europe, and beyond. She is drawn to stories that celebrate Albanian achievement and keep the community connected across borders.
