Seven days in Albania: a route that actually works

The mistake most people make with Albania is flying into Tirana, driving straight to the beach, and doing the inland towns as tiring day trips from the coast. Do it the other way: culture first while you have energy, beach last so you go home rested.

The shape of the week

• Day 1 — Land Tirana, collect the car, one night in the city.
• Day 2 — Drive to Berat (2 hours). Afternoon in the old town, night there.
• Day 3 — Berat to Gjirokastër (2.5 hours). Castle, bazaar, a stone-house guesthouse for the night.
• Day 4 — Gjirokastër to Sarandë via the Blue Eye (1.5 hours). Check in for three nights.
• Days 5–6 — Ksamil beaches, Butrint ruins, a boat day.
• Day 7 — Drive back to Tirana (4 hours), evening flight home — or fly from Corfu via the ferry if the fares work.

Day 1: Tirana

Stay in Blloku, the old party-cadre district that's now the bar district. Skanderbeg Square, the Bunk'Art museum in a Cold War bunker, and dinner for two for what a round costs at home.

Hotels in Blloku, Tirana

Day 2: Berat

The "town of a thousand windows" — Ottoman houses stacked up the hillside, and a castle still lived in. Stay in the Mangalem quarter.

Day 3: Gjirokastër

Steeper, greyer, more dramatic than Berat. The castle has an actual captured US spy plane. Sleep in one of the restored stone tower houses.

Days 4–6: The Riviera

The Blue Eye spring is a 20-minute detour off the road south and worth it. Sarandë for the restaurants and ferry, Ksamil for the beaches — a ten-minute drive apart, so stay wherever the better deal is.

Stays in Ksamil and Sarandë Butrint and boat trips from Sarandë

The car

Book it before you fly. Automatic cars are scarce and go first. Full-to-full fuel policy, and take photos of every panel at collection.

Car hire at Tirana airport