--- title: "Top 10 Things To Do in Albania (City Guides) | Wimup" description: "Browse Wimup's Top 10 guides across Albania: Tirana, the Ionian Riviera, Berat, Gjirokastër and more cities. When to go, what to eat, and where to start." url: https://wimup.com/country/albania type: Country guide updated: 2026-10-24 publisher: Wimup (https://wimup.com) --- # Top 10s across Albania A short, sunlit Adriatic and Ionian coastline, mountains that rise almost from the beach, and a capital that repainted itself into a different city. **Albania** puts Ottoman old towns, Roman ruins and an alpine trek inside a country you can drive across in a day. ## Quick answer Start in **Tirana**, with two nights for Skanderbeg Square, the Bunk'Art museums and a Blloku dinner. Then go south through **Berat** and **Gjirokastër**, the two Ottoman old towns on the UNESCO list, to the Ionian coast at **Sarandë** and **Ksamil**, with the ruins of Butrint a morning away. **Durrës** and **Vlorë** are for flat Adriatic sand. In the north, **Shkodër** leads up to **Theth** and the Valbonë pass, the best walking in the country and a summer trip only. Go in **May, June or September**. ## Quick facts - **Best months:** May · Jun · Sep - **Ideal length:** 8–12 days - **Budget per day:** $40–90 - **Language:** Albanian - **Getting around:** Coaches & furgons - **2** City guides - **2,402,113** People - **2** Video guide Albania is small, cheap and varied enough to feel like several trips at once. Tirana is the natural opening and the transport hub: intercity coaches and shared furgon minibuses run from it to the coast, the mountains and the Greek border, while the railway is not a travel option, with almost the whole network suspended or under reconstruction. The Riviera down south (Vlorë, Himarë, Ksamil, Sarandë) holds the beaches and Butrint, the Accursed Mountains up north hold the Theth to Valbonë crossing, and Berat and Gjirokastër carry the Ottoman old towns UNESCO listed in 2005 and 2008. Distances look short on the map and take longer on the ground, because the road bends around the ranges. ## 2 Albania city guides 1. [Tirana](https://wimup.com/city/tirana.md): Albania · 10 picks 2. [Gjirokastër](https://wimup.com/city/gjirokaster.md): Albania · 10 picks ## Know before you go - **Population:** 2,402,113 - **Area:** 28,748 km² - **Density:** 83.6 / km² - **Capital:** Tirana - **Major cities:** Tirana, Durrës, Vlorë, Elbasan, Shkodër - **Tourism board:** Official site - **Currency:** Albanian lek (ALL) Cards work in Tirana hotels, restaurants and supermarkets. Furgons, markets and mountain guesthouses take cash. Machines charge foreign cards a flat fee, and you should pay in lek. - **Language:** Albanian Albanian is its own branch of Indo-European, so Italian and Greek do not help. Gheg is spoken in the north, Tosk in the south. English is common in Tirana and on the coast. - **Calling code:** +355 Local SIM cards are sold at Tirana airport and in any operator shop, and coverage on the main roads and the coast is good. It thins in the high valleys of the north. - **Power:** 230V, 50Hz, plug types C and F The same round two-pin sockets as most of continental Europe. UK and US plugs need an adapter, and US devices need to handle 230 volts. - **Emergency:** 112 One number for police, ambulance and fire, and the standard European emergency line. - **Time zone:** CET (UTC+1), CEST in summer The same clock as Rome, Vienna and Belgrade, and one hour behind Athens. - **Visa:** Visa-free for up to 90 days for many passports EU, UK, US, Canadian and Australian passports enter visa-free, 90 days in any 180. The passport must be under ten years old and valid three months past departure. - **Getting around:** Coaches, furgons and a hire car Coaches link Tirana with Shkodër, Berat, Vlorë and Sarandë. Furgon minibuses reach the villages and leave when full. Trains are not running. A hire car suits the Riviera and mountains. - **Ferries:** Sarandë to Corfu, Durrës and Vlorë to Italy The fast boat from Sarandë reaches Corfu in about half an hour, which makes a Greek island the easiest add-on to a southern trip. Durrës and Vlorë run overnight sailings to Italian ports. - **Tipping:** Five to ten per cent, in cash Rounding up is normal and ten per cent is generous. Leave it in cash on the table, because card tips rarely reach the server. - **UNESCO sites:** Butrint, Berat, Gjirokastër, Lake Ohrid Butrint was listed in 1992, Gjirokastër in 2005 and Berat in 2008. The Albanian shore of Lake Ohrid joined the Ohrid site in 2019. Albania also shares the primeval beech forests. ## When to visit - **Jan** - **Feb** - **Mar** - **Apr** (good) - **May** (best) - **Jun** (best) - **Jul** (peak) - **Aug** (peak) - **Sep** (best) - **Oct** (good) - **Nov** - **Dec** ## Fun fact From 1967 to 1990 Albania was declared the world's first officially atheist state, and around 173,000 concrete bunkers were built across the country under Enver Hoxha. Two of them, in the capital, are now the Bunk'Art museums. ## Stereotypes, sorted out - **Myth:** Albania is risky **Reality:** Petty theft is uncommon and most visitors report no trouble at all. The real hazards are ordinary ones: enthusiastic overtaking on two-lane roads, and mountain trails that are less waymarked than the photographs suggest. - **Myth:** The bunkers mean the country is stuck in 1985 **Reality:** The dictatorship ended in 1990 and the bunkers have been repurposed as museums, bars and storage. Tirana spent the last two decades painting its blocks, pedestrianising its centre and building upwards. - **Myth:** It is one long beach **Reality:** It is two coasts and a mountain range. The Adriatic north of Vlorë is flat and sandy, the Ionian south of it is cliffs and coves, and the Accursed Mountains behind Shkodër are alpine enough to need a summer window. - **Myth:** Nobody speaks anything you will understand **Reality:** English is common in Tirana and along the tourist coast, and Italian is widely understood almost everywhere. Albanian itself is its own branch of Indo-European, so learning a few words earns real goodwill. - **Myth:** You can see it as a day trip from Corfu **Reality:** The ferry to Sarandë takes about half an hour, and plenty of people do exactly that. It buys you one town. The Ottoman old towns, the Riviera and the Alps are a week and a half between them. - Coffee is the social unit here. An invitation to one is not small talk, and whoever invites pays. - Hospitality is a point of pride. Refusing an offered coffee or raki outright reads as a snub, so accept and sip. - A head shake for yes and a nod for no still turns up, mostly with older people outside the cities. If a gesture confuses you, ask again in words. - Shoes come off at the door of a home, and slippers are usually offered. - Mosques and churches ask for covered shoulders and knees, including at the Et'hem Bey mosque on Tirana's main square. - Tips are cash on the table. Added to a card payment they rarely reach the person who served you. - Cash still runs furgons, markets and mountain guesthouses, and the machines charge a flat fee on foreign cards, so draw larger amounts less often. ## Famous Albanian faces - **Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg**: Held off the Ottomans for twenty-five years. The rider on Tirana's main square. - **Mother Teresa**: Born Gonxhe Bojaxhiu to Albanian parents. Nobel Peace Prize 1979, canonised 2016. - **Ismail Kadare**: Novelist from Gjirokastër and the first Man Booker International winner, in 2005. - **Dua Lipa**: Pop singer and songwriter, born in London in 1995 to Albanian parents from Kosovo - **Inva Mula**: Tirana soprano, the singing voice of the Diva in Luc Besson's The Fifth Element. - **Ferid Murad**: Born in Indiana to Albanian émigrés. Shared the 1998 Nobel in Medicine for nitric oxide. - **Anri Sala**: Tirana-born artist who represented France at the 2013 Venice Biennale. - **Aleksandër Moisiu**: Famous on German stages as Alexander Moissi. The Durrës theatre carries his name. - **Ismail Qemali**: Proclaimed independence in Vlorë on 28 November 1912 and led the provisional government. - **Zog I**: Prime minister at twenty-seven, then president, then king from 1928 to the 1939 invasion. - **Enver Hoxha**: Ruled from 1944 to his death in 1985, sealed the country off and left the bunkers. - **Naim Frashëri**: The national poet, a voice of the nineteenth-century national awakening. - **Fan Noli**: Orthodox bishop, translator of Shakespeare and prime minister for six months in 1924 - **Onufri**: Sixteenth-century icon painter known for his red. Berat castle's museum is named for him. - **Pietro Marubi**: Founded the Shkodër photo studio whose archive became the Marubi national museum. - **Kolë Idromeno**: Shkodër painter and architect whose Motra Tone of 1883 is Albania's best-known portrait. - **Rita Ora**: Singer and actor, born in Pristina to an Albanian family and raised in London - **Bebe Rexha**: Singer and songwriter, born in Brooklyn to Albanian parents - **John Belushi**: Saturday Night Live original and a Blues Brother, from an Albanian family in Illinois. - **Eliza Dushku**: American actor of Albanian descent, known for Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dollhouse - **Lorik Cana**: Defender who captained Albania at Euro 2016, its first major tournament. - **Luiza Gega**: European 3000 metres steeplechase champion in 2022, Albania's first gold at that level. - **Edi Rama**: Painter, prime minister since 2013, and the mayor who had Tirana's blocks repainted. ## Must-try Albanian food - **Tavë kosi**: The national dish. Lamb baked under yoghurt and egg, served in its clay dish. - **Fërgesë**: Tirana's own plate. Peppers, tomato and gjizë curd baked in clay, eaten with bread. - **Byrek**: Layered pastry with spinach, curd or meat, bought from a window. The cheapest good meal. - **Qofte**: Meatballs of lamb or beef with onion, garlic and mint, grilled over coals or fried flat. - **Speca me gjizë**: Peppers stuffed with salty curd cheese and baked until the skins blister. - **Flija**: The northern signature. Thin batter layers cooked one at a time under a lid, with cream. - **Lakror**: Korçë's thin pie, baked under a saç lid on embers, filled with greens, leek or tomato. - **Tavë Elbasani**: Elbasan's version of the yoghurt bake, slow-cooked until the top sets into a tangy crust. - **Grilled sea bream and sea bass**: The Ionian default, and rightly so: olive oil, lemon, salt and nothing else. - **Butrint mussels**: Farmed in the lagoon beside the ruins and served a short drive from where they are lifted. - **Koran**: The trout of Lake Ohrid, eaten on the Pogradec shore and worth the detour east. - **Trileçe**: Sponge soaked in three milks under caramel. Imported, and now on every dessert menu. - **Baklava**: Filo, walnuts and syrup cut into diamonds. An Ottoman inheritance on every holiday table. - **Petulla**: Fried dough rounds with feta, honey or jam. Breakfast, best straight from the pan. - **Raki**: Grape or plum brandy, often homemade. Poured to welcome you, not to end the night. - **Dhallë**: Salted yoghurt thinned with water and served cold, with anything from a clay pan. - **Boza**: Thick, faintly sour fermented cereal drink sold from small shops. An acquired taste. ## By theme - [Hidden gems of Europe](https://wimup.com/hidden-gems-europe.md) - [Old towns](https://wimup.com/old-towns.md) ## Films - [Tirana Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/tirana.md), 8:04 - [Gjirokastër Travel Guide](https://wimup.com/watch/gjirokaster.md), 6:40 ## FAQs ### How many days do you need in Albania? Ten days is the comfortable shape: two nights in Tirana, two in Berat and Gjirokastër, and the rest on the Ionian coast around Sarandë and Butrint. A week covers the south alone. Add three or four days for Shkodër and the Theth to Valbonë crossing, because getting into the mountains and out again is most of that time. ### When is the best time to visit Albania? May, June and September. The sea is warm enough to swim, the mountain trails are open, and the coast is not yet full. July and August bring inland heat past 40°C and the busiest beaches of the year, when the diaspora comes home. April and October are good for the cities and the old towns, less so for swimming. ### Do you need a visa for Albania? Most visitors do not. EU, UK, US, Canadian and Australian passport holders enter visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180, with a passport valid three months past departure and issued in the last ten years. Holders of a used multi-entry Schengen visa may also enter. The list changes, so check the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs page before booking. ### How do you get around Albania without a car? Coaches and furgons. Intercity coaches run between the main cities from fixed terminals, and furgon minibuses fill the gaps out to the villages, leaving when they are full. Trains are not a realistic option while the network is rebuilt. On the south coast the fast boat from Sarandë to Corfu takes about half an hour. ### Is Albania in the European Union, and does it use the euro? No on both counts, for now. Albania has been an EU candidate since 2014, opened accession negotiations in 2022, and moved into the closing phase of those talks in May 2026. The currency is the lek, and while euros are informally accepted in some tourist businesses, you will pay a poor rate. Carry lek. ## Related countries - [Italy](https://wimup.com/country/italy.md) - [France](https://wimup.com/country/france.md) - [All of Europe](https://wimup.com/europe) Part of [Europe](https://wimup.com/europe.md) ## Sources - [Tourism board](https://albania.al/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - [Visa](https://punetejashtme.gov.al/en/regjimi-i-vizave-per-te-huajt/?utm_source=wimup.com&utm_medium=referral) - Rankings are Wimup editorial picks. Prices, durations and budgets are editorial estimates, not live quotes; check the official site before you go.