Albania fits inside a week. Deciding what to leave out does not.
Which Osumi canyon day actually puts you in the river. What the speedboat to Sazan costs. Whether Berat or Gjirokastër earns the overnight. Reviews of every tour you can book in Albania.
Bovilla, Berat, the Karaburun water, a kitchen in Tirana.
The four bookings a first week in Albania hangs off. What each one costs, and what the travellers who took it say afterwards.
01The half day northHike Gamti Mountain with Bovilla lake view & canyon- From TiranaA ridge walk above a turquoise reservoir, ninety minutes out of the city. Go before eleven; there is no shade on the ridge.
02The UNESCO dayBerat city UNESCO tour, the Castle & Belshi lake- From TiranaBerat under its castle, with the Ottoman quarter and Belsh lake on the way back. The cheapest big day in the country.
03The day on the waterSnorkeling 360 Experience in Sazan Island & KaraburunOut of Vlorë to Sazan island and the Karaburun cliffs, with mask and fins. The water is clearest before the afternoon wind.
04The evening indoorsCooking Classes and Traditional food tasting in TiranaByrek, tavë kosi and a kitchen table in Tirana. What to book when the coast is full and the heat has not broken.
Sazan, the Blue Eye, the Osumi canyons: pick your water.
Albania keeps its best water out of sight of the road. Four kinds of day in it, what it costs to get on each one, and which town to be standing in that morning.
Tirana first, then south down the coast or north into the Alps.
A capital rebuilt in paint and concrete, two Ottoman stone towns the hills have kept, a spring so cold it hurts, and a coastline that only opens up from a boat. Six starting points, and the best day out in each.
Tirana: bunkers before lunch, the Bovilla ridge after.
Everything in Tirana →
The centre is small enough to walk in a morning and strange enough to need explaining: a painted block city built over a dictatorship it has turned into museums. The mountains start twenty minutes past the ring road.
Skanderbeg Square on foot
Skanderbeg Square, the pyramid, the painted blocks and the Blloku streets that were closed to everyone but the Politburo until 1991. Do it on the first morning and the rest of the city makes sense.
Bovilla lake and Gamti Mountain
A rough track up to the reservoir, then a short scramble onto the ridge above it for the view everyone comes back with. Pickup from the city, back in time for dinner.
Pazari i Ri, then the small plates
Through the new bazaar for byrek, cheese and olives, then a run of places pouring raki by the carafe. The meal you will describe to people back home.
Bovilla, Berat and the Karaburun boats: what Albania actually books.
Every Albanian tour we have reviewed →The days out more travellers take than anything else in the country, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Hike Gamti Mountain with Bovilla lake view & canyon- From Tirana
Travel from Tirana to Bovilla Lake in an air-conditioned van, hike 1.95 km up Gamti Mountain, enjoy broad lake views, and visit the Ishëm river canyon. Guides such as Paola, Bledjan, Noel, and Arber add Albanian history, humor, music, and practical help along the way.
From · $12
Read our review →
2
Day Trip to Saranda and Butrint National Park from Corfu
from $68
3
Berat city UNESCO tour, the Castle & Belshi lake- From Tirana
from $12
4
Walking Tour of Tirana
from $18
5
Kruja castle, the old Bazaar & Sarisalltik- Departure from Tirana
from $24
6
Albanian Night Show: Traditional Music, Dance & Dinner in Tirana
from $53
7
Hiking Tour to Bovilla Lake & Gamti Mountain
from $12
8
Berat Rafting, Kayaking & River Tubing – Osumi Canyons
from $54
Berat, Gjirokastër, Butrint: three UNESCO sites, one small country.
Two Ottoman towns built in stone up opposite hillsides, and a Greek and Roman city going quietly back to marsh behind Sarandë. All three are day trips, and all three are cheaper than anywhere comparable across the water.
The Accursed Mountains start four hours from Tirana.
Theth and Valbona sit in glacial valleys on either side of a pass, joined by a footpath and a single ferry that runs the length of Lake Koman. The road in was gravel within living memory and the villages still shut for winter.
What a day out in Albania actually costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. The country is still the cheapest coastline in Europe, and the numbers below are why people keep saying so.
City walks, the Berat and Krujë runs, the Bovilla ridge and most of the castle days.
Full days with transport: the speedboats, the canyons, Gjirokastër and the Blue Eye, the border day trips.
Private drivers, multi-day Alps traverses and the guided treks that cross into Montenegro.
Byrek at eight, tavë kosi at one, raki whenever you sit down.
Albanian cooking is Ottoman at the base with an Italian accent on the coast: baked yoghurt and lamb, pastry in sheets, vegetables that taste of the month you are in. Most of it is learned standing in somebody's kitchen.
Every food and wine day →
Four Albanian bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can still be arranged the night before over a coffee. These four run on snowmelt, a single boat and a mountain pass that closes, none of which care when your flight lands.
- 01Shala river & Komani lake -Day trip departure from Tirana/ShkodraOne passenger ferry a day works its way up the lake, and it runs only through the warm months. Miss it and the alternative is a long drive round.
- 02Albanian Alps and Theth Village Day Tour from TiranaTheth and Valbona are snowed out for months at a time. The pass between them is a summer footpath, not a road.
- 03Self-guided: Peaks of the Balkans Tour in 8 daysThe traverse crosses into Montenegro and Kosovo, so it needs permits, and the mountain guesthouses on the route are few and fill early.
- 04Berat Rafting, Kayaking & River Tubing – Osumi CanyonsThe Osumi runs on spring snowmelt and drops away by high summer. The Vjosa holds water longer, but the good weeks are still counted in weeks.
From Tirana you can be in Kosovo, Macedonia or Montenegro by lunch.
Albania is small and its neighbours are close. Three border runs that leave after breakfast and are back the same night, and what each one actually gets you.
Prizren and Prishtina
The motorway through the Rrogozhinë valley made Kosovo a day trip. Prizren is the reason to go: an Ottoman bridge, a hillside fortress and a league of mosques and Orthodox churches in a few hundred metres. Prishtina is the other half of the day, brutalist and young, with the Newborn monument repainted every year.
- 1Day Tour of Kosovo from Tirana, Pristina and Prizren★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 93 reviews
- 2From Tirana/Durres/Golem: Prizren and Prishtina Full-Day Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 67 reviews
- 3Best of Kosovo Day Tour – Pristina & Prizren from Tirana & Durres★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 66 reviews
Ohrid and Sveti Naum
Lake Ohrid is one of the oldest lakes on earth and the town on its shore has churches stacked down to the waterline, including St John at Kaneo on its own headland. Sveti Naum sits at the southern end near the Albanian border, with springs you can be rowed around. Take a passport; the queue at Qafë Thanë can be slow in August.
- 1North Macedonia: Ohrid & Saint Naum Day Tour from Tirana★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 151 reviews
- 2Ohrid – North Macedonia Full Day Tour from Tirana & Durres/Golem★★★★★★★★★★ 4.0 · 84 reviews
- 3Private Ohrid Day Tour and Authentic Village from Tirana & Durres★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 71 reviews
Kotor and Budva
The long way round the bay puts you in Kotor by mid-morning: a walled town under a mountain, with a fortress staircase that takes an hour and repays it. Budva is the beach half. It is the furthest of the three day trips and the one that spends most of itself in the van.
- 1Semi-Private Day Tour of Montenegro: Budva & Kotor from Tirana★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 71 reviews
- 2Private Montenegro Tour – Budva, Kotor & Sveti Stefan from Tirana★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 46 reviews
- 3Private Day Tour of Montenegro , Budva and Kotor from Tirana★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 23 reviews
August on the Riviera, and the Albania that stays cool.
From late July the coast road between Vlorë and Sarandë is nose to tail and Ksamil is standing room. Inland, the same fortnight is the best of the year: canyon water running cold, shade under the plane trees, and rafting rivers still moving. Go up instead of along.
By place — coast, capital and mountains
Tirana, Berat, Gjirokastër, Sarandë: the run almost everybody does first.
The newest Albanian tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Vlore Haxhi Ali Cave Visit & Karaburun Peninsula Highlights
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Llogara Caesar’s Path,Orikum Park & Marmiroi Church Guided Tour
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Outdoor Experience in Amantia Archeological Park & Brataj Bidge
Read our review →
Vlore Speedboat Tour to Sazan Island & Haxhi Ali Cave
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Vlore Private Boat Tour to Haxhi Ali Cave & Karaburun Beach
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Vlore Speedboat Tour to Dafina Bay & Haxhi Ali Cave
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