Butrinti  is an city and an archeological site in Saranda, Albania. The city is located on top of a hill overlooking the Vivari Channel, some 14 kilometres south of Saranda and close to the Butrinti lake and the Greek border. Inhabited since prehistoric times...

Butrinti was the site of an Epirote city and a Roman colony.As the legend has it and according to the Roman writer Virgil, the city’s legendary founder was Helenus, a son of the king Priam of Troy, who moved West after the fall of Troy. Butrinti was in a strategically important position due its access to the Straits of Corfu.

Around 228 BC Bouthroton (latin name for Butrinti) became a Roman protectorate alongside Corfu and the Romans increasingly dominated Bouthroton after 167 BC. In the next century, it became a part of a province of Illyricum.In the 3rd century AD, an earthquake destroyed a large part of the town. In the early 6th century AD, the walls of the city were extensively rebuilt, but by the 7th century, following the model of classical cities throughout the Mediterranean, Butrinti had shrunk to a much smaller fortified post and with the collapse of Roman power.

The city changed hands many times in the course of centuries being controlled by First Bulgarian Empire, the Byzantine Empire in the 9th century, Charles of Anjou in 1267, the Republic of Venice around 1386, the Ottoman Empire, the French empire until in 1799, the local Ottoman governor Ali Pasha Tepelena conquered it, and it became a part of the empire until Albanian independence in 1912.

The first modern archaeological excavations began in 1928, lead by an Italian archaeologist, Luigi Maria Ugolini. After the communist government of Enver Hoxha took over the country in 1944, foreign archaeological missions were banned. The Albanian Institute of Archaeology began large-scale excavations in the 1970s and since 1993 further major excavations have taken place led by the Albanian Institute of Archaeology in collaboration with the Butrint Foundation.

Nowadays, the remains of Butrint are included in the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites. The Albanian Government established the Butrint National Park in 2000 and ever since the site has attracted an ever increasing number of foreign tourists from all countries. It is one of the most attractive places in Saranda and an important cultural and educational stop in any tour undertaken in the city.