Albania

Albania, in a few days

From Tirana to the Ottoman houses of Berat, down the Riviera to Ksamil and up into the mountains at Theth, by car: the map, what is worth booking, everything that costs nothing, and where to sleep at three budgets.

Day by day

1

Tirana

Days 1-2

A young capital that painted its grey blocks in bright colours after communism fell. Its bunkers now hold museums, and a cable car climbs Mount Dajti above the city.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Bunk'Art and the National History Museum, guidedHalf day · from €15
  A nuclear bunker of the communist era turned into a museum of the regime, then the whole national story on Skanderbeg Square.
• The Dajti Ekspres cable car1h · from €10
  A quarter of an hour up Mount Dajti, for a view over the whole city and, on a clear day, out to the sea.

✦ Free to visit

• Skanderbeg Square
• Blloku, the old party quarter
• The Pyramid of Tirana
• The bazaar

📲 Book things to do in Tirana on GetYourGuide

2

Berat

Days 3-4 · 🚗 Car 2h

The 'city of a thousand windows', its white Ottoman houses stacked up the hillside below a castle where people still live. UNESCO-listed since 2008.

🎟️ Worth booking

• The citadel and Mangalem, guided2h · from €12
  The lived-in castle on the hill, then down through the Mangalem quarter, whose rows of windows gave the town its nickname.
• Berat wine tasting1h30 · from €20
  The hills around Berat have made wine for centuries. A family cellar and its local grape varieties, poured by the people who grow them.

✦ Free to visit

• The houses of a thousand windows
• The old Gorica bridge
• The King's Mosque
• The banks of the Osum

📲 Book things to do in Berat on GetYourGuide

3

The Riviera and Ksamil

Days 5-7 · 🚗 Car 3h30

The far south of the Albanian coast: coves of clear water, small islands just offshore, and the ruins of Butrint, a Greek then Roman city, by a lagoon nearby.

🎟️ Worth booking

• Boat to the Ksamil isletsHalf day · from €25
  A short crossing to the small islands off Ksamil, for a swim in water clear to the bottom.
• Butrint archaeological parkHalf day · from €15
  A Greek, Roman and Venetian city in the woods by a lagoon, with its theatre, baptistery and walls. UNESCO-listed since 1992.

✦ Free to visit

• The Ksamil beaches
• Gjipe beach, at the mouth of a canyon
• The Llogara Pass
• Dhërmi village

📲 Book things to do in The Riviera and Ksamil on GetYourGuide

Worth sorting before you go

Hire a car · The coast road over the Llogara Pass and the mountain road up to Theth are the best part of the trip, not the obstacle. Drive them in daylight and take your time.

📶 eSIM data
Online the moment you land, no roaming bill.
Get one · Holafly

🛡️ Travel insurance
Health, luggage, cancellation.
Cover it · Ekta

🚗 Car hire
Compare the agencies before you land.
Compare · Booking

💳 Fee-free card
Pay at the real rate, with no exchange markup.
Open one · Revolut

🚐 Airport transfer
A private car at a fixed price from the moment you land.
Book it · GetTransfer

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Flavours & local habits

🍽️ Worth tasting

• Byrek: flaky pastry filled with cheese, spinach or meat, eaten at any hour of the day.
• Tavë kosi: lamb baked under a set layer of yoghurt and egg, originally from Elbasan.
• Fërgesë: peppers, tomatoes and soft cheese cooked down together, a Tirana classic.
• Grilled meat, and fish on the Riviera, often sold by weight.
• Turkish coffee, and raki, the grape spirit poured as a welcome.

⚠️ Best avoided

• ATMs charge high fees: carry lek in cash and withdraw larger sums less often.
• Potholes and livestock share the roads: drive slowly, and not at night.
• The southern beaches are packed in August. June and September are calmer.
• Haggle over rooms and boat trips, but politely.

Words that help

English ↔ Albanian

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The practical page

Scan to open this guide online, always up to date.
https://offwegooo.com/en/guides/albania

Packing checklist

Have a good trip.
Guide made on offwegooo.com · Photos via Pexels · Details are indicative, check before you leave.