Albania: North to South, A 9-Day Tour

Overnight: Theth (2 nights) Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner Entrances included: Rozafa Fortress After breakfast, the tour heads north to Shkodër, with a stop at Rozafa Fortress a hilltop citadel above the confluence of three rivers whose foundations date to the Illyrian period. From the walls, the view stretches across Shkodër Lake, the largest lake in the Balkans, toward the mountains beyond. Lunch is in Shiroke, a lakeside village just outside Shkodër, at a local restaurant known for its freshwater fish. A guided afternoon tour of Shkodër’s Old Town includes St. Stephen’s Catholic Cathedral and the Ebu Bekr Mosque before the group continues up through the mountain village of Bogë and the Thore Pass toward Theth. The day ends with dinner, a glass of Raki, and a first look at one of the most remote and beautiful inhabited valleys in the Albanian Alps.

Overnight: Theth (2nd night) Meals included: Breakfast, Picnic Lunch, Dinner A full day on foot in Theth National Park, covering two of the park’s signature sights in a single well-paced hike. The morning begins at the Grunas Waterfall and its canyon, where the trail follows the sound of cascading water through a narrow gorge. From there, the route continues to the natural pools of Ndërlysa for a picnic lunch and a swim, before the final stretch to the Blue Eye of Theth a deep, vivid-blue freshwater spring that is the northern counterpart of the more famous Blue Eye in the south. The route covers 9.3 km with around 465 m of ascent and descent. The return to the guesthouse is by local transport.

Overnight: Durrës (1 night) Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch Entrances included: Skanderbeg Museum, Ethnographic Museum Departing Theth, the tour heads south to Kruja, the hilltop city synonymous with Albania’s national hero Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg. The guided visit covers the castle ramparts, the Skanderbeg Museum inside the castle complex, and the Ethnographic Museum housed in a traditional Ottoman-era tower house with an unusually complete collection of original objects from the late 18th century. Lunch is at a local Kruja restaurant with panoramic views over the valley, followed by free time in the Old Bazaar before the afternoon drive west to the coastal city of Durrës.

Overnight: Sarandë (2 nights) Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch Entrances included: Castle of Gjirokastrër, Skenduli House A long drive south, with the full day spent in Gjirokastrër one of only two UNESCO World Heritage cities in Albania and known as the City of a Thousand Steps for the steep, cobbled lanes that wind between its Ottoman stone tower houses. The guided visit opens at the Skenduli House, one of the finest preserved examples of the distinctive Gjirokastrër residential architecture, before continuing up to the castle, whose ramparts enclose a former prison, a military museum, and a Cold War-era captured American aircraft in the courtyard. Lunch is at a local restaurant serving the traditional cuisine of southern Albania. The group transfers to Sarandë in the late afternoon.

Overnight: Sarandë (2nd night) Meals included: Breakfast Entrances included: Blue Eye Spring, Butrint Archaeological Park The day begins at the Blue Eye (Syri i Kaltër), the famous freshwater spring south of Gjirokastrër whose extraordinary depth has never been confirmed the water simply rises from the dark, impossibly blue, into a pool that feeds the Bistrica River. From there, the tour continues to Butrint National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on a wooded peninsula where 2,500 years of layered history Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian have left a landscape of ruins brought to life by a local expert guide. After exploring the ancient amphitheatre, the castle, the Lion Gate, and the early Christian churches, the group heads to Ksamil Beach for free time by the sea. The return to Sarandë includes a sunset stop at Lekursi Castle for panoramic views over the bay.

Overnight: Vlorë (1 night) Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch Entrances included: Ali Pasha Castle (Porto Palermo) A day on the road along the Albanian Riviera the 120-kilometre stretch of Ionian coastline between Sarandë and Vlorë, one of the most scenic and least-developed coastal drives in the Mediterranean. The first stop is Porto Palermo, where Ali Pasha Castle a triangular Ottoman fortress built in the early 19th century on a rocky headland with water on three sides, later repurposed as a communist-era submarine base sits in one of the most dramatically positioned settings on the entire Adriatic and Ionian coast. Lunch follows at a local restaurant before the route climbs the Llogëra Pass, a mountain road reaching around 1,000 metres with sweeping panoramic views over the Riviera below. The day ends in Vlorë, the city where Albanian independence was declared on 28 November 1912. The afternoon takes in Flag Square, the Independence Monument, the Muradie Mosque, and the Vlorë Lungomare seafront promenade.

Overnight: Tirana (1 night) Meals included: Breakfast, Farewell Dinner Entrances included: Berat Castle The penultimate day is given to Berat, the second of Albania’s two UNESCO World Heritage cities, known as the City of a Thousand Windows for the Ottoman-era houses stacked up the hillside below its Byzantine castle, each façade a grid of large windows looking out over the Osum River. The guided walking tour of the UNESCO old town covers the White Mosque, the Holy Trinity Church with its Byzantine frescoes, the Gorica Bridge, and a traditional coffee and raki break inside the castle walls. After Berat, the tour returns to Tirana for a final afternoon exploring the capital at leisure before gathering for a farewell dinner at a local restaurant nine days of Albanian landscapes, history, and food rounded off in a single shared meal.

Meals included: Breakfast Breakfast at the hotel, then free time before departure. Please note that airport drop-off is not included in the standard package and must be booked separately as an add-on (€25 per person) at the time of reservation.