TIRANA · ALBANIA
The Adriatic, the Alps and the Balkans, from one capital.
Day trips and multi-day routes out of Tirana. Berat and Gjirokastra for the UNESCO stone cities. Theth and Valbona for the Alps. Ksamil and the Blue Eye for the Riviera. Pristina, Ohrid and Kotor when you want to cross a border.
Only in Albania
Three things you can’t do anywhere else in Europe.
Mountain wilderness the rest of Europe paved over decades ago. Two UNESCO-listed stone cities a couple of hours apart. An Ionian coast still on the right side of the Mediterranean price ceiling. Each of these is specific to Albania, and each is a comfortable day from Tirana.
In the mountains
Theth and the Albanian Alps.
One of the last unspoilt corners of European wilderness. Theth sits in a glacier-carved valley of limestone walls and stone-roofed houses, three hours from Tirana on a road that only paved in 2018. The hike to the Blue Eye waterfall and the Valbona Pass crossing are why people come.
- 1 Albanian Alps and Theth Village Day Tour from Tirana
- 2 Day Tour of Theth & Hike to Blue Eye from Tirana, Durres/Shkoder
- 3 Day tour of Theth from Tirana
Stone above stone
Berat, the town of a thousand windows.
Ottoman-era houses stacked up the hillside above the Osum river, windows above windows in a single facade. That angle gave Berat its UNESCO listing in 2008. A Byzantine castle still has families living inside the walls. Most travellers do it as a day trip and wish they'd stayed the night.
- 1 Berat city UNESCO tour, the Castle & Belshi lake- From Tirana
- 2 Berat-Durres and Belsh Lake, day tour from Tirana
- 3 Berat Tour Osumi Canyons Exploration Lunch Transfer
On the Ionian
Ksamil and the Albanian Riviera.
Ksamil's small islands sit in clear water you can wade between. The Blue Eye is a karst spring fifty metres deep, so cold and clear you can see the bottom. The Riviera coast runs from here up to Saranda — the Mediterranean before the rest of the Mediterranean priced itself out.
- 1 From Tirana/Durrës: Saranda, Ksamil, and Blue Eye Tour
- 2 Semi – Private Tour of Saranda, Ksamil & Blue Eye from Tirana
- 3 Gjirokastra, Blue Eye, Ksamil & Saranda – Day Tour from Tirana
If you only have a day
The half-day out of Tirana everyone books first.
If a thousand independent reviewers all picked the same trip, it’s usually because it pays back. This is the one. A short morning drive, a real hike, a view that does the talking. Plan the rest of Albania around it.
The classics
Tirana’s Most Popular Tours and Day Trips
Bovilla Lake, Berat, Theth, Kruja Castle, the Riviera, the cooking class in town. The trips most travellers come to Albania for, ordered by what people actually book.
Across the borders
Three countries from Tirana, three different directions.
Tirana sits at a Balkan crossroads no other European capital does. Pristina is north-east. Ohrid Lake is east, on the North Macedonian side. The Bay of Kotor is north, on the Adriatic. Each is a comfortable day. The borders move quickly and the roads outside the cities are quiet.
By place
Pick a corner of Albania.
Each place is its own day or two. Berat for the UNESCO town of a thousand windows. Theth for the Alps. Ksamil for the Ionian. Durres for the Roman ruins on the Adriatic. Kruja for the castle and the bazaar. Gjirokastra for the stone city.
In one country
From the Adriatic coast to the Albanian Alps.
Albania packs a Mediterranean coast and a 2,500-metre mountain range into a country the size of Belgium. Most travellers pick one or the other. The ones who plan it right do both, and Tirana sits between them.
By tour type
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
Hike if you came for the Alps. Walk Tirana if you came for the painted facades. Cook if you came for the food. Off-road, paraglide or zipline if you came for the adrenaline. Cable car up Dajti if you came for the easy view of the city.
Up into the mountains
Hiking days out of Tirana.
Bovilla Lake and Gamti are the half-day classics. Theth and Valbona are the multi-day. Three trails our readers come back from talking about, mountains in every direction once you leave the ring road.
At the table
Albanian kitchens, vineyards and food walks.
Byrek, tave kosi, sour-cherry rakia, sheep’s-milk cheese aged in the cellar of a stone house. Cook it yourself with a family in their kitchen, walk the markets with a guide, or drive out to a vineyard for lunch. Three we’d send a friend to on a first visit.
Inside the ring road
Days that stay in Tirana.
Walk Skanderbeg Square and the painted facades of the centre. Take the Dajti cable car up for a view of the whole valley. Sit through the Albanian Night Show with a plate of fergesa in front of you. The capital’s own shortlist, when you don’t feel like leaving the city.
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