The first question people asked me when I got back from my long weekend in Albania, was why there? I guess that’s understandable as it’s not yet the must see tourist destination that everyone talks about. But it won’t be long before it is! My decision to visit was in most part because I had not been there yet, plus I had heard from Albanians and travellers there that it was beautiful. I will have to concur with them, it is a beautiful place and I have come back with all my expectations exceeded.
Money
I would definitely recommend having some cash while in Albania as many restaurants and all the taxis do not take card. Albanian currency is called Lek and at time of writing £1 = 136 LEK; $1 = 106 LEK; €1= 134 LEK. There is a local bank called Creddins with many cash points around the city. This is the only bank ATM that doesn’t charge you a fee for taking out cash and it will save you a significant amount. Many places will accept Euros, but don’t rely on this.
Getting there
We went with Wizz Air, which is the main airline that flies into Tirana, the capital city. The entire journey from start to finish was literally the most efficient trip I’ve ever had. Our flight took off exactly on time and landed a few minutes early at Tirana International Airport (TIA). From landing to getting off the plane and through passport control took no joke less than 30 mins. For people from the United Kingdom, European Union and the United States, and I think a few other countries you are allowed to use the e-gates which made the process of getting out of the airport very quick and painless.
Getting from the airport to the city center can be done via the LU-NA shpk bus which will drop you at the National Museum of Tirana in the city center. The bus costs 300 Albanian LEK – the equivalent of €3. Now I’m impatient and well it was very late when we arrived, so I had arranged for a taxi to pick us up and take us to our hotel. I did this through Booking.com and it was all paid for in advance, the taxi driver had a sign waiting for us once we arrived. I paid the equivalent of £10, so I would say totally worth it.
Where to stay
I’m an avid Booking.com user, so that’s how we found our hotel in Tirana. It was a lovely, fairly new 4-star hotel near Tirana Zoo and was approximately £50 per night for the two of us. It was about a 40-minute walk from our hotel to the city center but wasn’t so bad as it took you along the lake and through the Grand Park of Tirana, which is very pretty. I would recommend staying in the city center close to Skanderbeg Square if you want to be in close proximity to the tourist sites, shopping and restaurants.
Where to eat and drink
We enjoyed some really great food in Tirana. Being pescetarian/vegetarian does make it a little difficult, but we managed to find some wonderful places.
Oda Restorant
Famous for its traditional Albanian cuisine. It also comes up as one of the top 10 restaurants in Tirana on Tripadvisor. They had some excellent vegetarian choices, and the serving sizes were quite large, so we had enough food ordering two dishes to share between us. Lovely outside terrace to sit and enjoy during warm weather.
Tartuf Shop
Now I will preface that everything they serve here has truffles in some form or fashion. So if you do like truffles do not miss this restaurant. They prepare incredible home-made pasta, had very quick service, and all with a great ambiance.
Artigiano
This Italian restaurant’s menu is a varied range of Italian dishes, pizza, and burgers. The food was good, service attentive and prompt, and the prices were reasonable.
Observator Tirana
This rooftop bar is an enjoyable place to go for a drink and watch the sunset high above the city. It’s also a piano bar in the evenings.
Millenium Garden Lounge
This outdoor lounge is very trendy and chic including an outdoor water feature, lush landscaping, and interesting art pieces.
What to see and do
Tirana city – walking tour (GuruWalk)
Our first day in Tirana started off with my favorite thing to do in a new city – a free walking tour. This 2 ½ tour was extremely informative and I left it with a greater understanding of the history of Tirana and Albania. The tour takes you past the historical sites around the city centre:
- Skanderbeg Square – where the tour starts
- Et’hem Bey Mosque – one of the few churches that survived the period where churches were removed following the ban on religion by former Communist leader Enver Hoxha
- “The Cloud” – Art installation that has served as a modern art space for cultural events in the city
- The Resurrection of Christ Orthodox Cathedral – 3rd largest church in the Balkans
- The Pyramid – a former Museum originally dedicated to the former Communist leader.
- Great Mosque of Tirana which has recently been built and still to be opened
- Saint Paul Catholic Cathedral – This was visited by Pope John Paull II in 1993 as he laid the cornerstone for the church
- The Block – upmarket area with loads of shops, bars and restaurants
- Tirana Castle
All of these sites are located in a small radius around the city centre. The tour provides a brief history of the city of Tirana as well as the country, which elaborates on the previous occupations of Albania from the early Romans, to the Byzantine Empire, and Ottoman Rule.
Albania declared its independence from the Ottomans in 1912. Following World War II, the country became a communist state under the rule of Enver Hoxha, and during his rule citizens were not allowed to leave or enter the country. After a long period of communist regime, the country became a democracy in 1991. Since this declaration of democracy, the city has transformed significantly. Several new churches and mosques have been constructed as religion is no longer banned, large modern buildings are being built with the influx of new business into the city, and you’ll see landscaped parks and green space around the city. As result, tourism has seen a significant boom.
If you want to learn more about the Communist regime, then there are two Bunk’art museums in the city. They are both based in former bunkers used by the regime and provide lots of detail on the operations, workings, as well as personal stories from survivors.
Djati Mountain cable car – Dajti Ekspres
We followed our walking tour by taking a cable car trip to Djati Mountain. To do this, you can take the L-11 bus headed toward Porcelan (it will be displayed on the front of the bus). The bus departs from behind the tower clock in Skanderbeg Square. The bus fare is 40 Leke one way, and your stop will be the very last stop, which is 17 stops (there are no signs at any of the bus stops, so just good to know it will be the very last one). Then it’s about a 10-minute walk from there to the Djati Express station. The cable car travels up 4km to the top of Djati mountain, which is 1,613m or 5,292 feet above sea level. You can then take in the beautiful panoramic views of Tirana and the surrounding countryside. There is a hotel at the top just opposite the station that has a restaurant and roof top bar inside. There was also a mini golf course adjacent to the station as well. So plenty to do while you are there!
Day Trips From Tirana
There are many options for day trips from Tirana, so it was hard to narrow it down to a few given we were only in Albania for 4 days.
Durrës
This is the closest beach from Tirana, 34 km and about a 45 mins drive. You can take a bus from the South and North bus terminal, which is called Terminali I Autobusave të Jugut dhe Veriut in Albanian. The cost is €1.20 each way and leaves every 30 mins. Alternatively, you can take a taxi and the cost is around €20-€25, or 2,500 LEK. We went with the latter to maximise our time and had the taxi drop us in the city center. From there it’s about a 10 minute walk to the beach front.
There are a few historical sites to visit in Durrës, such as the Venetian Tower which is a monument that consists of a single tower and is an extension of the Byzantine Fortress of Durrës. A short walk from the Tower you can visit the the Amphitheatre of Durrës, which is the largest one in the Balkans. It was built in 100 AD by Hadrian, and was just discovered in 1960. The cost is €3 and allows you walk through out this entire complex, which includes going through the inside tunnels. After a brief visit here we headed down to the waterfront, and then headed on to Marques Beach. As we were there over Easter break, it wasn’t quite warm enough to lay out or get in the water, but we did stop at some fantastic beach side restaurants for cocktails and food.
Zins
This restaurant was very chic and immaculately landscaped. We grabbed a table literally right by the water and enjoyed some Aperol Spitz and relaxed in the sun. This restaurant is owned by an Albanian rapper called Noizy who is from Durrës. Now we could have stayed here all day, but we decided to walk a bit further on towards West End Beach, although in early April there not much was open, so we turned around and headed back.
Aqua Lounge Bar & Restaurant
We decided to check out one more beach bar, called Aqua, which was another trendy chic place with some seats outside right along the water.
Rooftop XV
Before departing Durrës, we found a rooftop bar called Rooftop XV right across from the Venetian Tower. Some lovely views of the oceanfront and Amphitheatre from up here.
Lake Bovilla
A trip to Lake Bovilla and Gamti mountain is one of the top listed day trips to take from Tirana. It’s advertised as a hike to the top of the mountain to take in some breathtaking views of the crystal blue lake. Now what the description fails to mention is that the climb consists of rock climbing up some precarious spots with a sheer drop to the bottom at your back. You will also walk up a metal staircase that has been affixed to the mountain side. If you are afraid of heights in any way do not book this trip. But if you are up for a challenge, the climb up is worth it. You can even walk out on to a metal platform called The Balcony for incredible views and lovely photos. This balcony does not have any railing on the sides along the path until you get to the actual platform, so you must take a deep breath and walk slowly and accurately forward.
There are a few other options to test your fears even further with some smaller rock climbs to stand on top of a rock formation with the lake and mountain below . Wearing appropriate shoes is imperative on this climb, as you will be traversing areas with small rock steps, and across rocky paths where you can slide. I just wore my running trainers but wished I had brought my hiking shoes on this trip. After an equally tricky and nail biting climb back down, we stopped at the restaurant at the entrance to the climb. This restaurant, Bovilla Restaurant, has floor to ceiling glass windows that lets you enjoy the views while dining on some delicious food. You will definitely want to make sure you stop here for a visit before heading back.
Ohrid, North Macedonia
As someone on a mission to see as many countries as possible in their lifetime, an opportunity to take a day trip to a neighboring country while in Albania was hard to pass up. That and Ohrid has an interesting history. Ohrid has been referred to as the Jerusalem of the Balkans. At one point in time the city had 365 churches, one for each day of the year.
The tour we booked is an all-day tour and takes about 10 hours round trip. The drive from Tirana to Ohrid, Macedonia is about 2 ½ hours, including passing through border control. The tour includes stopping in Ohrid old town and visiting the Ancient Theatre of Ohrid, which was built around 200BC and is the only Hellenistic type theatre in the country. The theatre was built with two hills around it so that it was protected from winds thus allowing the acoustics to not be interfered with. Also, with Lake Ohrid behind it, the theatre was set amongst a beautiful backdrop.
The tour also includes a visit to Tsar Samuels’ Fortress, which is one of the largest preserved fortifications in the country. The fortress has been built and destroyed many times throughout history, but it’s earliest mention is from the 3rd century BC. Our tour gave us time to go inside, walk the rampart walls and enjoy the views of Lake Ohrid as well as the town of Ohrid below.
From the fortress you will take a short walk down to the lake side to visit the Church of St. Jovan Kaneo (Saint John at Kaneo). This 13th century Macedonian Orthodox church is dedicated to John of Patmos, the writer of Revelations. A stop here will allow you to take some iconic photos of the church with Lake Ohrid in the background. The tour gave us a short walk from here through the old town of Ohrid before departing for another short drive to the Monastery of Saint Naum, an Eastern Orthodox monastery in North Macedonia.
The monastery grounds are serene and beautifully landscaped and even include free roaming peacocks, which are a symbol of the monastery. You will find stalls selling souvenirs, an idyllic restaurant situated on the lake, as well as a small beach which we were told are full of sunbathers during the summer. The inside of the monastery is equally as impressive with painted murals of saints as well as the burial site of St. Naum, who was known as a living saint for many of the miracles he performed. After spending some time visiting the monastery and the grounds it was time to make the drive back to Tirana.
Other Day Trip Ideas
There are many other great options for day trips from Tirana, which include:
- Visiting Berat – referred to as the city of 1000 windows and a UNESCO world heritage site
- Shkodër & Krujë – ancient Albanian cities where you can explore some castles
- Kosovo – a visit to this northern country with a stop in the capital of Prizren located on the banks of the Bistrica River
- Montenegro – a day trip to visit the cities of both Kotor and Budva in this country
- The popular beaches of Ksamil and Saranda.
- These are just a few of the most popular options, and you will see when researching each one why it’s so hard to narrow it down.
My takeaway from the trip is that there are so many fantastic places to see, I will have to make a return visit to explore the places I missed.