Cape of Rodon

Cape Rodon is a low wooded headland running out into the Adriatic north of Durres, and at its tip stands the castle built by Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg around 1450 as a coastal stronghold, a stone enclosure with towers directly above the water, partly fallen into the sea as the cliff has eroded and left as an open ruin. A small church of Saint Anthony stands nearby and is a local pilgrimage site. The cape has beaches on both sides, quiet compared with the developed coast further south, and the whole headland is wooded with pine and maquis. The last part of the approach road is rough. It is one of the few undeveloped stretches of the central Albanian coast.

What you actually see

• Skanderbeg's coastal castle - a fifteenth-century enclosure above the sea.
• Erosion taking the walls - the cliff falling away beneath the fort.
• Saint Anthony's church - a small pilgrimage chapel on the cape.
• Quiet beaches on both sides - undeveloped shore either side of the headland.

When to go

April to October; summer for swimming and spring for the maquis in flower. Half a day. The road is rough and slow in the last stretch. Weekends bring Tirana visitors.

Honest expectations

The final road is genuinely poor and ordinary cars struggle. The castle is a ruin with no interpretation and no facilities. Litter on the beaches is a problem. There is no public transport to the cape itself.

Nearby

Durres is south; Lezhe lies north.