The road out of Tirana ends on the Ionian.
Which day trip out of the capital is worth the early start. Berat or Gjirokastër, if you only have room for one. Reviews of every tour you can book in Albania.
The four days a first week in Albania is built on.
A reservoir above the capital, a white town on two hillsides, the boat through a drowned canyon and the water at Ksamil. What each costs, and what the people who went say.
01The day out of the capitalHike Gamti Mountain with Bovilla lake view & canyon- From TiranaNinety minutes north of Tirana, then a scramble up Gamti for the reservoir seen from above. Go early; the ridge carries no shade at all.
02The white townBerat city UNESCO tour, the Castle & Belshi lake- From TiranaOttoman houses stacked up two hillsides with every window facing the same way. People still live inside the castle walls at the top.
03The ferry dayShala river & Komani lake -Day trip departure from Tirana/ShkodraA gorge flooded by a dam, with no road along it and one boat a day through it. The bus out of Tirana leaves before dawn and it is worth the alarm.
04Down southFrom Durrës or Golem: Ksamil, Saranda and Blue Eye TourButrint under the trees, the spring at Syri i Kaltër, then an afternoon in the Ksamil islands. Long day, and the only way to get all three.
Albania turns vertical about an hour out of anywhere.
Reservoirs the colour of antifreeze, a canyon you walk up in the river itself, the last big undammed river in Europe, and a pass between two stone villages. Four kinds of mountain day and what it costs to get on each one.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,280 reviews
Hike Gamti Mountain with Bovilla lake view & canyon- From Tirana
Bovilla and GamtiA turquoise reservoir, seen from the ridge above it.
Theth and ValbonaThe mule path over the saddle in the Accursed Mountains.
The VjosaRafting the wild river, out of Përmet and Gjirokastër.
Canyons and fallsOsumi’s walls, Bogovë’s cold pool, wet feet either way. All 34 days in the Albanian mountains →
Berat, Gjirokastër and Butrint fit inside one Albanian week.
Two Ottoman towns under UNESCO protection, a Greek and Roman city standing in the trees at the border, and a castle above the bazaar at Kruja. Every one of them is a day trip from somewhere you were already sleeping.
Most of the Albanian Riviera is reached by boat or not at all.
The Karaburun peninsula has no road on it. Grama Bay, the Haxhi Ali cave and the old naval island at Sazan are all a speedboat morning out of Vlorë, and the Ksamil islands are close enough to paddle.
Six Albanian towns worth a night, and the morning after each one.
A capital that reaches the mountains before lunch, two UNESCO towns of stone and whitewash, the port where the Adriatic turns into the Ionian, the ferry town on the Greek border, and a thermal valley on a river nobody has dammed.
The Albanian days out more people take than any other.
The full Albanian list →What goes first in July, what it costs, and what earns each of them the slot.
1
Hike Gamti Mountain with Bovilla lake view & canyon- From Tirana
Hike Gamti Mountain above turquoise Lake Bovilla, visit an Ishëm canyon, and enjoy guide-led views on a low-cost day trip from Tirana.
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
From Tirana- Hiking Tour to Bovilla Lake & Gamti Mountain
from $12
8
Berat Rafting, Kayaking & River Tubing – Osumi Canyons
from $54
Three price bands, from a morning in Tirana to a week on the coast.
Every tour on the site grouped by price. The cheapest full days here cost less than the taxi from the airport, and they are not the worst ones on the list.
City walks, castle mornings, the Bovilla hike and most of the Berat day trips.
The full days: the Komani ferry, Karaburun by speedboat, rafting, cooking classes.
Private cars with a driver, paragliding, and the multi-day runs across the border.
Three things the countries either side of this one do not have.
Beaches, old towns and mountain passes run the length of the Balkans. A canyon with a ferry instead of a road, a spring nobody has found the bottom of, and a footpath that is the only link between two villages do not.
The Komani Ferry
The Drin was dammed in the eighties and the water backed up into a gorge that had a road running through it. What is left is a reservoir with walls a few hundred metres apart and no way along it except the morning boat, which takes cars, sheep and villagers as well as visitors. It docks at Fierza, and most people carry straight on to Valbona from the jetty.
- 1Shala river & Komani lake -Day trip departure from Tirana/Shkodra★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 309 reviews
- 2Semi-Private Hiking Tour; Theth, Valbona & Koman Lake in 3 Days★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 28 reviews
- 3Self-Guided Hiking Tour: Theth, Valbona & Koman Lake in 3 Days★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 26 reviews
Syri i Kaltër
Syri i Kaltër pushes cold water up through a hole in the rock hard enough to hold a wooden pole under. Divers are reported to have gone past fifty metres without reaching the bottom of it. The spring sits in a beech wood off the Saranda road, the water stays around ten degrees all year, and the signs asking people not to swim are widely ignored.
- 1Gjirokastra- The Stone City & Blue Eye- The monument of Nature.★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 180 reviews
- 2Butrint, Ksamil, Blue Eye, Lekuresi Castle. All-in-one daytrip.★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 125 reviews
- 3From Durrës/Golem: Saranda, Ksamil, and Blue Eye Day Trip★★★★★★★★★★ 4.2 · 113 reviews
Theth and Valbona
Two stone villages sit either side of a saddle at about 1,800 metres in the Accursed Mountains, joined by a mule path that takes most walkers six or seven hours. Snow closes it from roughly November and the guesthouses in Theth shut with it. By July the same path carries a steady line of people in both directions all morning.
- 1Albanian Alps and Theth Village Day Tour from Tirana★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 116 reviews
- 2Hiking Tour of Valbona, Theth & Blue Eye in 3 Days from Tirana★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 73 reviews
- 3Semi-Private Day Tour of Theth & Blue Eye from Tirana / Shkoder★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 52 reviews
Four Albanian days that sell their last seat early.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast the day before. These four cannot: one boat a day, one short season, a river level, and an island you are not allowed to reach on your own.
- 01Shala river & Komani lake -Day trip departure from Tirana/ShkodraOne scheduled boat a day up the reservoir, and it leaves early. Miss it and the alternative is a very long drive around.
- 02Albanian Alps and Theth Village Day Tour from TiranaThe pass and the guesthouses on both sides work roughly June to October. Snow shuts the path and most of Theth along with it.
- 03Rafting Vjosa River Gjirokastër Albania ARGThe Vjosa runs high on the spring melt and drops all summer. The rafting season follows the water, not the calendar.
- 04Snorkeling 360 Experience in Sazan Island & KaraburunSazan was a closed naval base and the peninsula has no road. Licensed boats only, in season, and a strong wind cancels them.
When the Riviera boats stop, Albania moves indoors.
The speedboats out of Vlorë and Saranda run roughly May to October, and the mountain guesthouses close not long behind them. What keeps going is the half of the country that happens under a roof: the bazaars, the kitchens, the raki, the castle towns in the rain.
Where in Albania
Tirana, Berat, Gjirokastër, the coast, then back over Llogara.
Freshly reviewed, from Tirana to Ksamil.
The rest of this week’s additions →
Dajti Mountain & Shengjergj Waterfall Day Trip on Land Rover
Read our review →
2 Day Tour of the Riviera, Gjirokastra UNESCO city and Blue Eye,
Read our review →
Private Tour from Tirana, Gjirokastër , Saranda and South Riviera
Read our review →
Full-Day Tour of Albania’s Bunkers and Beaches, from Tirana
Read our review →
The Albanian Riviera, Porto Palermo, Qeparo Village, And A Big Ol’ Kalaja.
Read our review →
Semi-Private Hiking Tour; Theth, Valbona & Koman Lake in 3 Days
Read our review →
