Albania
Tirana is the most surprising capital in Europe: a city that spent four decades sealed off under one of the harshest communist regimes on earth and has since painted itself in bright colours, filled its old party quarter with cafés and turned its Cold War bunkers into museums.
Its heart is Skanderbeg Square, a vast pedestrian plaza paved with stone from every region of Albania, watched over by the mounted statue of the national hero, the frescoed Et’hem Bey Mosque and the Clock Tower. A few minutes away, Bunk’Art 2 and the House of Leaves tell the story of the secret police in the very places they worked, and the restored Pyramid, once a monument to the dictator Enver Hoxha, now has steps up its sloping sides for everyone to climb. Above the city, the Dajti Ekspres cable car rises to the forests of Mount Dajti, and at its foot lies Bunk’Art 1, Hoxha’s own nuclear bunker. Tirana is also the ideal base for Albania’s great day trips: the white Ottoman houses of Berat, Skanderbeg’s mountain stronghold at Kruja and the Roman amphitheatre and beaches of Durrës. This guide shows you what to book, how to get around, how many days to give it and where to stay, from a 23-floor tower on the main square to a garden hotel on the boulevard.
Skanderbeg Square and the Et’hem Bey Mosque
Tirana’s vast pedestrian main square, paved with stone from every region of Albania, with the mounted Skanderbeg Monument, the frescoed Et’hem Bey Mosque and the Clock Tower. Free and open at all hours.
Bunk’Art 2
A Cold War bunker under the old Ministry of Internal Affairs, steps from Skanderbeg Square, turned into a museum of the police and the Sigurimi secret police across 24 underground rooms.
House of Leaves, Museum of Secret Surveillance
A 1931 villa that became the secret police’s surveillance centre, now a compelling museum of bugs, cameras and files showing how the regime watched its own people.
Pyramid of Tirana
The concrete pyramid built in 1988 for the dictator Enver Hoxha, reborn as a colourful youth tech centre with steps up its sloping sides so anyone can climb to the top for the view.
FreeTirana’s vast pedestrian main square, paved with stone from every region of Albania, with the mounted Skanderbeg Monument, the frescoed Et’hem Bey Mosque and the Clock Tower. Free and open at all hours.
A Cold War bunker under the old Ministry of Internal Affairs, steps from Skanderbeg Square, turned into a museum of the police and the Sigurimi secret police across 24 underground rooms.
A 1931 villa that became the secret police’s surveillance centre, now a compelling museum of bugs, cameras and files showing how the regime watched its own people.
FreeThe concrete pyramid built in 1988 for the dictator Enver Hoxha, reborn as a colourful youth tech centre with steps up its sloping sides so anyone can climb to the top for the view.
A guided half day combining Enver Hoxha’s vast nuclear bunker on the edge of Tirana with a ride on the Dajti Ekspres cable car up to the forests and city views of Mount Dajti.
A small-group walk through central Tirana with a local guide who grew up with the stories of the dictatorship, linking the square, the bunkers, the Pyramid and the once-forbidden Blloku.
A three-to-four-hour walk with a local guide through Tirana’s bazaars and street-food stops, tasting byrek, grilled meats, cheeses, sweets and raki along the way.
A full-day trip to Berat, the town of a thousand windows, where white Ottoman houses climb the hillside below a castle that people still live in. Albania’s most beautiful day out from Tirana.
A day trip to Kruja, Skanderbeg’s mountain stronghold north of Tirana, with its castle museums, a cobbled Ottoman bazaar full of crafts and the Bektashi shrine of Sari Salltik high above.
A day on the Adriatic: the Roman amphitheatre, Venetian tower and seafront of Durrës, Albania’s oldest city, followed by free time on the long sandy beach at Golem.
Hotels we would book ourselves, from splurges to good-value bases.
$$$$Skanderbeg Square
A 23-floor five-star tower on the corner of Skanderbeg Square, with 190 spacious rooms, a 600-square-metre spa, a bar high above the city and free underground parking.
Rates on Expedia →
$$$Dëshmorët e Kombit Boulevard
Tirana’s classic garden hotel on the main boulevard, with a Mediterranean garden, an outdoor pool, a year-round tennis court and a beer garden, a short walk from Blloku and the Pyramid.
Rates on Expedia →
$$$Sheshi Italia and Blloku
A modern five-star hotel on Sheshi Italia beside the national stadium, a short walk from the Pyramid and Blloku, with the Terra restaurant, a city-view gym and polished, contemporary rooms.
Rates on Expedia →
$$Rruga e Dibrës
A stylish four-star hotel on Rruga e Dibrës, a short walk from Skanderbeg Square and the New Bazaar, with the UME Spa, suites with whirlpool tubs and a generous breakfast buffet.
Rates on Expedia →
$$Gjergj Fishta Boulevard
Hilton’s first hotel in Albania, a dependable, well-priced base on Bulevardi Gjergj Fishta with family rooms and suites with balconies, free on-site parking and a breakfast buffet.
Rates on Expedia →The practical primer for a first visit to Tirana: which museums and day trips to book, how to get around, how many days you need and where Berat, Kruja and Durrës fit.
Where to stay in Tirana for every kind of trip: the main square, the grand boulevard, the Blloku and stadium area, the streets near the New Bazaar and the outer boulevards, with the best hotel for each.
