When planning my Albania itinerary I was overwhelmed with HOW MUCH this beautiful country offers - from ancient greek ruins, to fairytale style old European towns that look like they are straight from Italy, to an entire coastline of crystal clear beaches, to the incredible scale of The Albanian Alps. In planning, I had to extend our trip here twice, there are just too many places we needed to experience. 

One tricky part in planning is that the Tirana airport is located right in the middle of the country - with can't-miss spots both far North and far South, making it impossible to plan a route without a little back tracking. I moved everything around over and over and this is THE most efficient route for a full, unforgettable Albania Tour - scroll to the bottom to download the mapped route!

How is the driving in Albania? We had read that Albanian drivers were "insane", but honestly we found this not to be true, and mostly only saw really aggressive driving around Tirana and especially around the Tirana airport. I love in Los Angeles, so if you are only used to small town driving, it could be a bit overwhelming. Overall, we found the roads to be well maintained and easy to follow with Google Maps. Albania is currently investing a ton into their infrastructure as their tourism market is expected to boom - this route takes you through a brand new 6 Kilometer tunnel that blasts right through a mountain, cutting off over 40 minutes of drive time. 

Night 1: Tirana

With so much to see in Albania, we only spent our arrival night in Tirana and started on our roadtrip the next morning - and definitely feel like that is the correct decision. I love cities, and it's not that Tirana is bad, at all - I would just say it doesn't hold up to how amazing the rest of Albania is. If you arriving from a long-haul or in the evening, an overnight stay here to refresh feels perfect. If you are arriving from somewhere else in Europe, I would consider heading straight out from the airport to your first destination. 

We picked up our car at the airport and stayed at The Tirana Marriott Hotel for our first night, as we flew straight in from LA . The hotel was a great city stop with super comfortable beds, free parking, and extremely walkable - I would highly recommend. If you're staying for dinner take a walk to Eja Restaurant.

Night 2: Berat (Or Make It Just A Day Stop)

Driving Time: 2 Hours

The first stop is the UNESCO heritage listed town Berat: "The city of windows". The city of Berat was founded almost 2500 years ago in 300 BC and has a long and storied history, much of it built all the way back in medieval times. The stone walls and walkways look like they are out of a storybook, old medieval towns are one of my absolute favorite places to visit and shoot. 

When deciding whether to stay in Berat or Gjirokaster (the next stop), we ultimately chose the latter and think if you are going to choose one of the two, Gjirokaster should be your pick. If you pack lighter than me and don't mind moving hotels more frequently, one night in Berat would be ideal to explore more - but a day trip gives you a great overview of this historic town, with enough time to have lunch, walk the streets, and explore Berat Castle - built in the 13th century. 

For lunch, the best place to stop is Klea Restaurant. Just look at that garden!

Night 3-4: Gjirokaster

Driving Time: 2.5 Hours

The stone city of Gjirokaster is so beautiful and photogenic, and a 2 night stay here is perfect to see the sights, explore the winding stone roads of the town, try some of the great restaurants, shop for local crafts, and even fit in a hike up the mountain to the Ali Pasha Bridge.

When you arrive in Gjirokaster, plan to park your car and leave it there until you leave the city - the ancient streets are rough for driving and google maps doesn't exactly know which ones are not drivable. However, the city is very compact and walkable and it's easy to get to everything.  

Make sure to have dinner at Vojsava Restaurant, this was one of our favorite, most affordable meals in Albania - and just look at how perfectly Europe summer it is. This was the first place we tried Tave Kosi, the Albanian national dish of lamb baked in a flavorful yogurt sauce, and it was good. If you eat meat, definitely don't miss on trying this at least once. 

Stay At Hotel Kalemi 2 - for less than $100 a night in prime season, it is right in the middle of the city, comes with free parking and a fantastic breakfast, and the hallways and rooms look like the interior of a castle. We could not have been happier with this hotel. 

Night 5-7: Sarande And Ksamil

Driving Time: 1.5 Hours

After the first few days of medieval cities and stone castles - we were READY to finally start our tour of the beaches the beaches, one of Albania's true highlights. With Albania being directly up the Mediterranean coastline from Greece (Ksamil is so close to the Greek island of Corfu you could practically Kayak there), the beaches are absolutely stunning with crystal clear water and white rocks or sand. One thing I love about Albania over Greece is that instead of needed to take ferries or fly from island to island, a road trip gives you so much more freedom to explore. 

Should you stay is Ksamil or Sarande? While both cities are some of Albania's most known destinations, they weren't our favorite part of the coastline. Both cities are busy in the summer and big on parties, beach clubs, backpackers, and nightlife - which is super fun when that is what you are looking for! However, there is currently only one main road along the busiest stretch through a good portion of both cities - making driving around a slow process. We stayed at the edge of Sarande, but the center of Ksamil is the most walkable area and where I would choose if I was here to party. 

While most places in Albania take credit cards, most places in Ksamil and Sarande strangely do not, even high-end restaurants - so make sure to take out some extra cash for this portion of your trip. 

Spend a day at Butrint National Archaeological Park

A short drive South of Ksamil, this historic site is incredible and dates back to prehistoric times and each conquerer and age pretty. much built on top of the others, so there are ruins from Ancient Greece, The Roman Empire, and the middle ages interwoven with each other. In the summer it does get hot here and the park is an entire city, so plan to arrive as early as possible. Somewhat similar to Pompeii, the ruins here cover an entire ancient city, so be prepared to walk quite a bit. 

Spend A Day at a Ksamil Beach Club

Rent a chair and umbrella and settle in for a beach day. There are tons and tons of option - from the expensive and design-y Principoses, which expanded their empire from their Mykonos club, to the more casual Summer Gate Beach Bar

Choosing where to stay here was a hard choice because there were just so many options all throughout both cities. We ended up choosing Siro Kerma Private Beach Villa, as it was one of the most unique options we found. This hotel is at the very North end of Sarande and has sunbeds and umbrellas on a private white-sand bay right at the hotel - something most hotels do not have outside of the huge resorts. It was incredibly quiet here and an amazing place to just relax and enjoy the beach. However, our room was one of the tiniest we have ever been in and located right on top of the restaurant so we had to keep the curtains closed. The other hotel we were considering is Limni Resort in Ksamil.

Night 8-10: Dhermi And Himare

Driving Time: 3 Hours

These beach towns farther north are much quieter and more peaceful than the chaos and party of Ksamil - when we were speaking with locals throughout the first few days of our trip, we overwhelmingly heard how much they loved this area over the South. We chose Dhermi to stay in over Himare and were very glad we did, as the main beach of Himare also felt very touristy. 

There are incredible beaches here - we didn't have enough time to see as many of these as I wish we could have, as some are a mission to access. If you have more time, you could easily spend a week here hopping from beach to beach. One you should check out that I didn't have time to is Filikuri Beach!

Spend a Day at Gjipe Beach

Gjipe Beach is located right in between the two cities of Himare and Dhermi - and is only accessible by a hike (around 20-30 minutes and overall easy) which keeps the beach pristine. A rental chair and umbrella here is €20 and there are a few small restaurants and beach bars for cold drinks and food. Don't miss the cliffs on the far left side of the beach!

Stop for lunch in Vuno

Between Himare and Dhermi is the little picturesque village of Vuno. We stopped here at a restaurant simply called "Mom's Food" - where we walked into a kitchen to see the home-cooked offerings of the day by Mom. We ate the best Moussaka of our lives on the terrace here. 

Driving Stop - Uka Farm Restaurant, Tirana

From Dhermi, either way you travel to next (Up to Montenegro or straight over to Theth), this is the longest driving day of the journey. Part way through, stop at the incredible Uka Farm Restaurant. A restaurant professional friend recommended this place to us and we were so happy we stopped here - the property is beautiful, expansive and lush, and the food was incredible, with a menu of traditional farm-to-table Albanian dishes. Our waiter specially ordered smaller sample portions of the dishes so we could try more of them, and this might have been our favorite meal in the entire country. They also had the best Albanian wine we had throughout our entire trip. I don't have any photos of our meat courses, we were too excited and ate them too quickly!

They make their own wine with some local grape varietals we had never heard of. The wine was all chosen by the waiter and paired perfectly with each course; one of our favorites was their "Udha Shgipëria Në Shishe" (don't ask me to pronounce that) - a red blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Shesh i Zi, and Kallmet. The local winemakers there also told us how Albania has the longest continuous history of viticulture in Europe, traced back to 6000 years ago.

If you don't have time to stop on the way, Uka is also located very close to Tirana Airport, and is a great place to stop either as a first stop on your way in, or last stop before heading out of Albania.

ADD-ON: 4 nights in Perast, Montenegro

Driving Time:  5 Hours, Includes a border crossing

If you are able to spend more time, I would highly recommend continuing the journey North and crossing the border into Montenegro to add a second country to this trip and spend a few days on the Bay of Kotor. The border crossing is easy to do driving, at the border you need to purchase a €15 pass, and just show your passport. 

Skip staying in the town of Budva (The old city is a great day stop), and the iconic Sveti Stefan (but at least pull over to get a view from the road) and book your hotel in the town of Perast - the most beautiful gem on the bay. 

Perast is reminiscent of Lake Como with the bay and mountains always behind, and is truly one of the most beautiful little cities on the Mediterranean - with impeccably preserved stone buildings, red tile roofs, a winding maze of cobble stone streets and restaurants perched on the water. If you want to splurge a bit (or use travel points like we did), book the unbeatable Heritage Grand Perast By Rixos Hotel.

While in Montenegro, visit the old city of Kotor and climb the serpentine stairs up the Kotor Fortress, take a boat tour to the blue cave, and see the Our Lady Of The Rock 17th century island church.

We booked an extremely well-priced private boat tour with Black Pearl of Perast and had a truly incredible day exploring the bay. 

Night 11-13: Theth And The Albanian Alps

Driving Time From Perast: 6-7 Hours, with a challenging final stretch over the mountains into Theth

Driving Time From Dhermi: 5.5 Hours, same mountain passes

The "Albanian Alps" of Theth and the surrounding towns is by far the most underrated part of Albania. I knew about the beaches - but I didn't know how incredible these mountains were until I got into trip planning. The extra driving time is unequivocally worth it - and make sure to allow a good amount of time, as the final stretch of highway winds up over the peaks of the mountains before descending into the valley. It is one of the most stunning stretches of road I have seen anywhere in the world - it is really hard to capture the sheer magnitude of these mountains in photos - and the road is well maintained, but the kind of twisting mountain pass you want to take slowly. 

Also - do not be fooled by Google Maps, if you are looking to go to Lumi Shales, you can NOT get there from Theth. The river boats depart from much closer to Shkoder. While we were unable to make it to this spot, Theth on it's own is incredible 

We stayed at the beautiful, newly opened Hotel Thethi and loved our time here. The views are spectacular, and the family running the hotel were incredibly kind and great hosts. Their dinner service is a flat fee for what feels like an endless array of local dishes, served family style. I cannot recommend this hotel enough!

The Blue Eye Hike

The hike to Syri i Kalter (The Blue Eye) is around an hour each way and overall easy to do - but the reward at the end is worth it. As the final pool was in sight all I could say was "damn it really is THAT blue". The water here is very cold, but an incredibly pure mountain spring worth jumping in. climb the ladder for a tree-house restaurant and bar perched on top of the pool that feels like it's straight out of Bali or The Philippines. 

Grunsasi / Theth Waterfall 

The hike up to the Theth Waterfall is shorter than the blue eye, and we easily did both in the same day. The waterfall at the end here is incredible!

Theth Back to Tirana

Driving Time:  3 Hours

From Theth, you can head back to Tirana, return your rental car, and begin your journey home.

Save The Route Map On Google Maps Here