Albania is perfect for backpacking and is still affordable compared with other European Destinations. The tourism industry is just starting to take off, with construction of tourism infrastructure heavily in development. Albania has so much to offer from delicious food, to stunning castles, and crystal clear beaches! We visited for 3 weeks and have written an extensive guide to visiting Albania to help you plan your 1-3 week itinerary.
Our Guide to Albania
Recommended Trip Length: 2-3 weeks
Our Daily Trip Budget (per person): $60 AUD/day*
Our Favourite Locations: Berat, Gjirokaster, Theth, Himare
What We’d Change From Our Trip: Spend more time exploring the lesser known beaches along the Albanian Riveria
Favourite Foods: Stuffed Capsicum, Rice balls, Meat Balls, RAKI
*This budget figure is based on our travel expenses during our time in the country. For a more detailed breakdown of what we spent, click here.
Visa Information
A visa is generally not required for Albania for Australians. However if you wish to spend more than 3 months in Albania, you can register for one here.
Transport
One of the toughest things to get used to in Albania is the buses (or furgons). These are privately owned minibuses carrying about 8-12 people that operate long-distance between towns and therefore can sometimes be unpredictable with leaving times.
We found the best way to plan for your trips is to check google maps for any recent photos at the bus stop, and when you arrive at your destination to ask locals for the bus times. We also found this website to be useful in pre-planning, but we would never buy tickets using it and still check with locals when we arrived!
A blogger turned resident of Albania has also spent some time putting together a timetable for popular bus routes. You can check it out here.
Destinations
Albania has many highlights scattered throughout the country. Your itinerary can change depending on your interests, such as hiking, relaxing at beaches, or seeing old historical buildings.
Albania is also a relatively cheap location to rent a car, which also grants you access to many more locations that are unreachable without the public transport furgons.
We would recommend a minimum 2 weeks in Albania, but you can easily spend 3 plus. We started from the south as we entered via Greece, but your itinerary can easily be modified if you arrive from the north, or by plane in Tirana. Here is our itinerary:
Tirana – 2 nights – Albania’s capital city. In our opinion your time is better spent elsewhere in Albania, but there are still many nice things to see.
Berat – 2 nights – Famous city of 1000 windows with nice castle overlooking the city
Gjirokaster – 2 nights – Famous old stone city. Similar to Berat but different enough to recommend including both locations (read more on our blog post here)
Himare – 3 nights – Smaller seaside town south of Sarande. Closer access to Butrint and nice beaches
Ksamil – 2+ nights – The most famous beach town in Albania. Great place for relaxing and beach days but note most beaches are privatised so it costs money to hire a sunbed.
Shkoder – 3 nights – Good base to explore local region (Shkoder lake and castle) as well as glacial swimming spots. Also the base to get to the Theth-Valbona hike.
Theth – 2 nights – Base for the Theth- Valbona hike. Even if you don’t want to do the full hike there are many smaller hikes you can do in this mountain town (read our full blog post here)
Tirana
Although Tirana was not one of our favourite places to visit in Albania, there are still many amazing things to see and do. It is definitely still worth spending a couple of days here!
Where to Stay?
As with most of Albania, we found it cheaper as a couple to stay at Booking.com apartments instead of hostels. We stayed at Vila Kodra and absolutely loved it! Our host was amazing and he had some great recommendations for us.
We would recommend staying somewhere central as most sites in Tirana are within walking distance (except Bunkart1).
Where to Eat?
We actually found that Tirana was our least favourite place for food in Albania. Not that it is bad, but everywhere else was so fresh, delicious, locally produced, and a lot cheaper. We only have one recommendation for you which we found that similarly represents the food of Albania – ODA, which you can find here.
What to See?
Most of Tirana’s sights are centrally located and within walking distance except for Bunkart1 (which is a must-see in our opinion). One of the only places in the world where you can visit an old communist bunker, we think this provides the perfect insight into communist Albania. There is a bus from near the Friendship Monument in the city centre that takes you right outside the entrance. You can easily spend 2 hours here.
There is also a Bunkart2 which is centrally located! Although we didn’t attend, we heard numerous times that it is also good to go to, but if you’re going to choose one, head to Bunkart1!
There are several other sites to see in the city centre where you can easily spend a day walking around. These include Skanderberg Square, Tirana Castle (now a renovated shopping street) and the Pyramid of Tirana. There is also the Grand Park of Tirana and for a (expensive) sunset drink overlooking the city, the Observator could be a choice.
Transport in Tirana
Buses in Tirana can be a bit confusing. Googlemaps doesn’t really work throughout Albania. However, we did find this blog here provided maps and routes for buses. We’d recommend checking it out as we found it super helpful!
Shkoder
Shkoder is a great destination to base yourself for a few day trips to the nearby Albanian Alps, or as a stepping stone if you want to do the Valbona-Theth hike. The town itself doesn’t have too many things to do, but if you rent a car for even a day, there are many hidden gems nearby to explore.
How to get there
You can get here from Tirana or from Ulcinj in Montenegro as it’s close to Albania’s northern border. As with all buses in Albania, just show up to the bus stop and ask when the next one leaves.
Where to Stay?
We have two recommendations for you:
Mi Casa Es Tu Casa – A relaxed hostel with a bit of a family feel. The host is lovely, good facilities, and they were very helpful for us. Although a more relaxed hostel, there was still a bit of a vibe in the outdoor bar area where you can get some beer, wine, raki and meet people/play cards
The Wanderers Hostel – Although we didn’t stay, we would have loved to if there was availability for us. A bit more of a social and party vibe, we only heard good recommendations of this hostel
What to See?
Shkoder is a great place for day trips. We rented a car and drove to see the Mesi Bridge on our way up to swim in a beautiful river with crystal clear water (located here), and also drove to have a swim in Lake Shkoder.
You can also rent a bike and ride (or walk if you want) to Rozafa Castle in the south.
Shkoder is also the base to catch a bus to either Theth or Valbona to undertake the Valbona-Theth hike (one of our highlights of Albania!). Your hostel can organise this for you. We weren’t sure whether we would be able to undertake the hike due to weather conditions, but absolutely loved it! We’ve written another blog post about our experience here!
Berat and Gjirokaster
Berat and Gjirokaster are two stunning towns with old heritage and traditional buildings. They are both UNESCO Heritage sites with stunning displays of traditional Albanian architecture. We visited both, but if you’re wondering what the difference is between them, read more in our post here!
Albanian Beaches
If you are heading to Albania, you have to spend some time along the Albanian coast (or the Albanian Riveira). The beaches are stunningly beautiful and have become very popular recently (especially Instagram-famous Ksamil). We visited multiple beaches during our trip up the coast in Albania, and have some recommendations on which are the best here (blog post coming soon).
When often asked what our favourite country has been in our travels, Albania often comes to mind. Albania has something to offer everyone, from the food, to the history, culture, architecture, and don’t forget those stunning beaches. We loved our time in Albania and would definitely recommend it as a great place to backpack for 2+ weeks! We can easily see Albania becoming more and more popular so would recommend you get over there soon!
