21-day itinerary for albania
21-day Itinerary for Albania
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Published on 19/11/2025
Albania is a hidden pearl in Europe that is suited for everyone. There are tropical beaches, mountains, cities, cute villages, good food and mostly a very good vibe. It is quickly rising to become a popular vacation spot for people all over the world and we can understand why. This country has amazed us with its culture and landscapes and we will tell you all about it in this 21-day itinerary.
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(Note: We arrived in Corfu first where we spent 2 days. We will describe them in the blog, but they are not part of the 21 days.)
Hello and welcome Albania!!! We were definitely influenced by social media for this trip and the fact that we do want to be extremely unique of course. Before you start reading, I want to warn you that the trip I took is a very interesting one. Not necessarily the route, but I went with three different groups of people that I met throughout the whole trip, so planning-wise, this was a challenge. Nonetheless, it was an amazing trip and the country truly amazed me.
Flights
I have to be honest, booking flights was a bit of a hassle for this trip, so be ready for lots of information that is not interesting for anyone. If you do not want to read this, skip to here.
Initially, I decided to go with my sorority to Albania, but they would only go for 7 days, and I wanted to go longer to explore more of the country. They booked their tickets in November already, so they were quite cheap, I believe around €200. They flew directly from Amsterdam to Tirana and back with Transavia, and luggage was included. I did not book my tickets yet, because I first had to plan my trip around their 7 days. I recruited some other friends to join me on the rest of my trip, and slowly it took form. And here it becomes interesting. One of my other friends was only able to go for 7 days too, and wanted to see the south of Albania. The other friend that joined would be able to join for 2,5 weeks, but she would arrive three days later. I already hear your brain spiralling, because ours did too. We read online that there are two ways to get into Albania by Plane. The first option is to fly to the capital: Tirana. This option is very nice, however, it does take you a few hours to go to the south, and you would have to do one half on the way to the south and the other half on your way to Tirana again. The second option is to fly to Corfu and take the ferry to Sarande, a city that is located in… the south! While it seemed like this idea would take a lot of time and energy, we actually really leaned toward following this route. Besides, flights to Corfu were twice as cheap, and the ferry to Sarande was not expensive either. So it was decided, we would start in Corfu. As we had no clue what our route would be exactly, but flights from Tirana to the Netherlands were not expensive, we just decided we would go back from Tirana. So to conclude, these were the flights we took in the end:
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Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS) - Corfu Airport (CFU) with Transavia
Tirana Airport Nënë Tereza (TIA) - Eindhoven Airport (EIN) with WizzAir
Again, this fitted my itinerary; most people just fly in and out from Tirana.
noëlle
Hi! I am Noëlle and I wrote this article for you!!! Hopefully, you like reading this article and find my tips and struggles helpful. Also, ignore the grammar and spelling mistakes; I did not proofread it. I absolutely loved Albania and hope you will have the most amazing trip too! :)
Accommodation + transport
We booked our accommodation for this trip mostly on the go. Albania is extremely cheap and we paid €468,86 per person for 21 nights. There are some things you need to book in advance, like Komani Lake House, for example. You will read more about that in the rest of the article!
For transport we doubted between renting a car and doing everything by bus. We heard the buses were fine, so we decided to do everything with the bus. Car rentals were quite expensive and we also heard that driving in Albania is not for the weak minded, so the bus was in a lot of ways the better option for us. The only thing is, we had no clue how the bus system worked and you cannot find much about it online…
The way the bus system works in Albania is very practical. You look up the office for the bus companies, you walk to them, you ask: 'At what time does your bus to this and this leave?’, they will tell you the times, you show up, and you are on the way to your new destination. You have to trust the bus will show up, but they always did for us at the agreed time (they will not always leave at the agreed time though, so patience is valuable).
Actually, I think the government made a website with some bus schedules, so you already have it easier than we did: https://www.etransport.al/
I can highly recommend taking the bus! It is extremely cheap, we paid €179,41 per person, which included 1 boat, 21 buses, and 14 taxi rides.
Now let’s go on to what we actually did during our time in Albania :)
Itinerary
Day 1 is actually not a real day, because by the time I arrived, it was 00:45, so we’re already at day 2. I arrived at Corfu airport and because it was so late, there were no buses going anymore to the city center. As I did not want to pay for a taxi, I decided to walk. It was only half an hour, so perfectly fine in my opinion.
I genuinely think Corfu is the most boring island there is if you do not have a car/scooter. The city center is nice to walk around, but you’ve seen it in an hour. I had so not much to do, that the owner of my hostel took me on his boat to see the islands surrounding Corfu. It was nice, but it was just me and him, so that was a little bit weird, but it was an adventure. Then I took the bus to Pelekas, a village on the other side of the island. Besides the beach, there is nothing to do here, and it is very hard to get there as the bus drops you off at the top of the hill and you have to walk a looong way down. Luckily, a kind woman offered a ride and dropped us off at the bottom of the hill. Here, I laid on the beach, walked a bit, and that was literally it. If you decide to start your Albania journey in Corfu, just stay here one night and leave.
On day 3, my friend and I (she arrived on day 2) went back to the city center, took the bus to the ferry station (shoutout to the kind bus driver who dropped us off at the right place), and took the ferry to Sarande. We had a cheaper ferry, so it took us three hours, and the boat was an absolute joke, but it worked and brought us safely to Albania.
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Accommodation
I stayed at Ami’s House only for WOMEN for the first night. Can I recommend it? Hmm, no, but it was close to the airport, in the middle of the city center and kind of affordable. The owner was very flexible, so my checkout time was not a hard deadline, which was nice, because I was extremely tired.
For the other two nights, I stayed in Sunrock Backpackers Hostel. While the vibe here is extremely nice, there is absolutely nothing closeby except for the beach and getting to the hostel is a pain in the ass. If you have your own car, I can definitely recommend it; if you do not, I can not definitely recommend it :). The first night I stayed in one of their dorms, which was meh, but fine, and the second night I stayed in one of their B&B rooms. The room was very pretty, but not of the best quality. There is breakfast included and the hostel has a restaurant, which serves very medium food, but the view is absolutely amazing, so that makes up for it.
When we arrived in Sarande we were a bit shocked by everything that was happening on the beach. Here I learned what it meant to be overwhelmed. There was so much going on, and I think you will only understand it when you have stood on that exact boulevard. If you are ready for a party, this is the place to be. We were not in the mood for partying, but Sarande is a very good place to stay if you want to explore the surrounding areas.
On day 5 we decided to go to Gjirokaster. We were a bit nervous because this was the first time taking the bus, but we figured it out quickly and everyone at the bus station is very helpful! HOWEVER, please make sure you are really in the bus to Gjirokaster and that is drops you off IN Gjirokaster, because our bus stopped 15 km from Gjirokaster and we had to take a taxi to the city. This was so extremely weird, because we were just standing there, no one knew what to do except for the locals and they seemed chill, so we also tried to be chill. Then suddenly out of nowhere three taxis show up and took us all to Gjirokaster. We had to pay extra for it, but like I said, the buses are reliable and will get you to your destination, even if it is not how you expected.
Gjirokaster itself is very cute and perfect for a day trip. This town has a UNESCO world heritage status and holds a lot of history. We first visited the castle. You have to pay an entrance fee, but you can walk yourself through the castle. There are signs with information and the castle has some nice views. Inside the castle it is cold, which is perfect to cool down. A big part is outside though, with not much shadow, so bring lots of water and a hat.
Then we walked through the bazaar. These streets are what you see in every picture of Albania. Here you can have a drink, get something to eat, or visit one of the many shops. Then we walked through the rest of the town to the bus stop at the bottom of the hill. This bus went directly from Gjirokaster to Sarande.
If you have time and want to stay in Gjirokaster, definitely do. I heard the sunset is amazing here, and there are so many cute places to stay.
Back in Sarande our third friend arrived and we are complete! Now our trip cannot go wrong anymore :)
Today we wanted to visit the Blue Eye. This is a crystal clear lake, with the bluest water you will ever see. Do not mistake this for the Blue Eye in the north (yes, there are two). This one is the more popular one and therefore also busier. We were told to go early because it would get busy in the afternoon. There are multiple options to get to Blue Eye. You can either go with the local bus that drops you off a bit further from the entrance or you can go by taxi. With both options, you still have to walk around 20 minutes from the entrance to the Blue Eye. We went with a taxi, so we could be there early, around 09:00. We were one of the first to enter, so it paid off to go early. However, because we were the first, there was no one in the water yet and as it is actually forbidden to swim, we did not dare to go into the water. As it is was starting to get hot already, and the water looked extremely tempting we went in anyway. I do not want to call us trendsetters, but a lot of people followed and soon there were many people in the water. Around 11:00 we went back and the taxi was waiting for us.
Back in Sarande we chilled, walked around and had dinner.
Today is again an early wake-up call, because we are going to Butrint National Park. Please go as early as possible, because there is no shade in the park and it gets hot (I cannot stress this enough). The park opens at 09:00, and you pay an entrance fee. We took the bus from Sarande around 08:30. Yesterday, we already tried to find the bus stop and saw a small paper on it, saying the bus would leave at 08:30, so we showed up with good hope. The bus arrived a bit later, but it was there at least and it dropped us off in front of the park. Butrint National Park is also on the UNESCO World Heritage list. The park is beautiful with lots of history. You can easily spend a few hours here, so perfect for half day trip.
Butrint is very close to Ksamil, another coastal town in Albania. We decided not to stay here and use Sarande as our base, but I've heard good things about Ksamil, so I would definitely consider it.
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Read more about Butrint National Park in this article!
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Accommodation
We stayed in Mikel’s House in a three-person apartment. The owners were very kind and their son communicates for them on WhatsApp. The apartment can be better in some aspects, but it had everything we needed and was affordable. The location was perfect, there was no noise from the beach, but still closeby with a supermarket 5 minutes away. There were some restaurants closeby with delicious food. We paid €105 for three nights, for three people!
From Sarande you can take a 2-hour bus to Himare. This bus was €6 per person and goes straight to Himare.
Right now, my schedule gets tricky. I stayed for five days in Himare, but two days is enough here if you are short on time. The first night I stayed with my friends, and the last three nights I stayed with my sorority. Himare is the perfect beach town and is perfect for relaxing and unwinding. We rented a beach chair every time we went to the beach, because the sand is so extremely hot, there is an umbrella attached, and it is more convenient. A beach chair was €10 per chair.
With my sorority, we did a boat tour, which was so much fun! We went with Himara Seas The Day, which was €75 per person. There were around 25 people on the boat and the tour took 5 hours. We brought our own snacks and drinks, but they had drinks to buy too.
A few visited the castle of Himare, but I did not do that. They said it was a nice walk with a very cute cafe, but you have to go in the morning, because there is no shade on the way to the castle.
Himare is also known for its nightlife. On the strip, they have lively bars and restaurants. When we visited, the European Championship for football was happening, so on the pier they had a huge screen where you could watch the games. It was packed every night and very fun to watch this way.
Himare is also perfect for eating seafood. My favourite restaurant was Acta Restaurant. The views are beautiful here and their seafood pasta is so so delicious. They also had nice breakfast options, so we were here at least twice a day.
Himare was one of my favourite places and definitely worth a visit. Read more about my time in Himare here!
Accommodation
For the first night I stayed in Agilia Seaview Apartment. This was a very new apartment, but had no kitchen. It was perfect for three people, the location was very central, just across Acta restaurant and a 5-minute walk to the beach. We paid €110 for three people, 1 night.
With my sorority, we stayed at Apart-Hotel Lazari. This hotel was located on a hill and this is very important to know. There is no decent road to the hotel and your car will likely get damaged when driving up the steep hill to the hotel. It was honestly horrible. As we had no car ourselves, we relied on taxis. It was walkable, but not fun. Every time we wanted to go up or down the hill, we called a taxi, which made this stay a bit more expensive. The hotel itself is beautiful though. It has a big pool and a kiddie pool, beach chairs and the view from the hotel rooms is amazing. They have a bar where they serve cocktails and snacks (for a cheap price), so we devoured their Aperol stock. The guys from the bar also worked at a bar in the city center, so they invited us there and gave us free drinks too! The hotel was not really meant for students, I think, as there were a lot of families with small children and babies, but luckily, we love children, so they all had a blast with us playing in the pool.
Yesterday we took the bus from Himare to Tirana, which took five hours and cost €12. After checking into the hotel, I went to dinner with my sorority to say goodbye. We had dinner at Oda Garden, which is by far the most recommended restaurant in Tirana. We were placed in the garden and I have to say, I was a bit overwhelmed. It was very busy, there was a live band playing loudly and waiters were running around. The food was delicious though, but it was an experience. Then I took the bus back to our hotel. I kid you not, the local buses in Tirana are the most questionable ever when you do not speak Albanian. The buses do not have a sign where they are going; people just know which bus goes where. Luckily, there was a kind man who showed me which bus I had to get.
The next day, we went to Berat, the city of a thousand windows. As it is a 2-hour bus ride from Tirana to Berat, we chose to make a day trip out of Berat. For us, this was perfect as Berat is quite small, so you see everything in a day. If you want to travel further to Himare, Gjirokaster or Sarande, for example, you can stay here. My sorority stayed in Guesthouse Alvaro Kadiu, which is one of the thousand windows. They loved it as it was located in the cute old town of Berat, so this is definitely a recommendation.
Read more about what we did in Berat in this article!
On our second day we explored Tirana. There is so much to do in Tirana and I was pleasantly surprised by this city. It is trendy and lively, with good restaurants and lots of history. You can read everything we did in Tirana in this article. There is much more to do than just this article we wrote, but if you only have a day in Tirana, this covers the most interesting things. We ended our day in Oda Garden again, but now specifically asked for a seat inside. This was perfect, they had a cute living room setting inside (it probably really was their living room, because there were phones charging and bags on the ground), so it felt cozy and quiet. The food tasted even better now and this was the perfect end to our day.
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Read more about Tirana in this article!
On day 3 in Tirana, we decided on another day trip, this time to Kruje. The bus to Kruje is only an hour, so perfect for a morning trip. We did all of our trips as early as possible, as it got so hot in the afternoon. You only need a few hours in Kruje to visit the castle and the famous Pazara i Vjetër, the bazaar of Kruje. Definitely plan some time to shop and leave space in your suitcase because you can buy the best souvenirs here. Read more about our time in Kruje in this article. Around 14:00, we were back in Tirana, chilled in our hotel roo,m and ordered KFC through WhatsApp (which is possible here). We have to get up early tomorrow, so an early night it is.
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See this article about Kruje for more!
Accommodation
We stayed in Tirana for three nights at Urban Hotel. While this is not located in the city center it is located next to the bus station, which was very convenient for us as we did some day trips from here. There is a shopping mall closeby and the bus to the city center stops in front of the hotel. The staff is very kind and you can ask them all your questions via WhatsApp.
Wooo, early wake-up call. At 05:00, our bus to Komani Lake left, so we had to call our taxi driver Elio to bring us to the right place in the middle of the night. We were actually not sure about where the bus would leave, but Elio knew the exact gas station we had to go to. From there, it was a three-hour drive to Komani Lake. If you think you have driven on the worst road in the world, think again, because the road to the harbour was insanely bad. When arriving at the parking place, we still had to walk about a kilometre through a dark tunnel to the harbour itself (I’m saying harbour, but it is more the end of the road with a few boats and a restaurant). From there, the view was already amazing and the vibe was good. At 10:00, our boat showed up and took us to our accommodation. Holy shit, this boat ride was by far the most beautiful boat ride I have ever had. I’ve never been to Thailand, but it looked exactly like the videos you see of Thailand. I was incredibly amazed; it was so extremely beautiful. The boat took about an hour and every corner we took had an even more amazing view coming into sight. Around halfway, we stopped at a random restaurant by the water (mind you, there is seriously nothing at the lake and the only way you can get there is by boat, so this restaurant was very random) and we were able to go to the toilet here and buy some snacks.
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When arriving at our accommodation, we took a short boat trip to the Lumi I Shales River. This is a beautiful part of the river with hotels, restaurants, beach chairs and the clearest water I’ve ever seen. It was very cold, but so gorgeous. We laid there for a few hours until our boat came to pick us up again.
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As there are obviously no shops on the lake, we had dinner at our accommodation. The bread was actually so good and they catch the fish daily next to the house. Then we watched the stars and went to bed. What a stunning place this is, definitely the highlight of the trip.
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You can read more about Lake Koman in this article!
Accommodation
We stayed at Komani Lake House. From the water, this house is already beautiful, but when you are standing on the veranda, the views are absolutely incredible. The hosts are very nice and have good vibes. There is a small raft with some chairs, which you can only get to via a very small bridge. You are able to swim there or tan. Anyway, you will relax. There are two boats going per day to the Lumi I Shales River and to the harbour. Depending on your bus, you have to get one of the boats. Do not worry about missing your bus, it will wait until all the boats have arrived. I can recommend this stay so much and it is worth the detour in your schedule.
After the most relaxing day ever, our boat to the harbour left again. Beforehand, we were a bit panicking because we weren’t able to buy a bus ticket online from Koman to Shkoder, so we just hoped our accommodation could fix it for us. And they did, we love them. Our boat arrived too late at the harbour for the scheduled bus time, but hey, it is Albania, so schedules don’t mean anything. The bus waited for us to leave and then waited an hour more for other people to arrive. Around 17:00, we arrived in Shkoder. This is a cute town with lots of cafes and restaurants. Our hostel recommended going to PURI, and oh my god, this was the best food we had during the whole stay. I still think about it.
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I don’t think we would have visited Shkoder if it weren’t for the fact that the bus to Theth would not align with the arrival of our bus from Koman. It was cute for a night, but that was it.
The next day, our bus to Theth left around 07:00. The drive to Theth was the most horrible drive I have ever had in my life. I was so extremely nauseous. You do not only go up the mountain, but you also go down the mountain, so you have a session of hairpin curves TWICE. When we arrived in Theth, we had no clue where we were and there is no public transport in Theth, so we had to walk to our accommodation. Generally, this is fine, but Theth also does not have a paved road, so you’re walking on a lot of loose stones. Our accommodation was on top of a hill and it was very much a hassle when we got there. However, the room itself was beautiful AND there was clean drinking water from the sink!!!
In Theth, we visited the Grunasi waterfall and the Blue Eye. Both were absolutely stunning, but it does require a bit of a walk. Read more in our article about what to do in Theth about these beautiful places! (Yes, the Blue Eye in Theth is 10x as beautiful as the one in Sarande).
Theth is isolated, so there is no supermarket, ATM, etc. there. We knew this and still we did not bring enough money with us, so please, take enough cash with you when you go to Theth!!!!! We did know we could not buy any food there, so we brought breakfast, lunch and snacks with us. However, dinner was not covered, but we just accepted that we would starve. Luckily for us, Theth is becoming more trendy, so there were a few restaurants that accepted cards! Albeit with a fee, we did not care. Theth has lots of cute restaurants, so if you have enough cash, you will be able to eat the whole day long. In the evenings, Theth is the most idyllic town there is. There are lots of farms with animals that walk around and it is so quiet and peaceful. We could walk around for hours.
We absolutely loved Theth even though we prepared miserably for it. So, takeaway message: prepare well, bring enough cash and food with you and you’ll be totally fine.
Accommodation
In Shkoder we stayed in the Shkoder Corner Hostel. Very nice hostel, really quiet, clean, newly renovated, bit expensive, but overall good experience. They booked the bus to Theth for us and the owner was so kind, he even texted if we arrived safely in Theth.
In Theth we stayed at Bujtina Zici. The location is a bit further, but it was a very nice stay. They have some meal options and you can pay with card! The owner was very helpful and we were allowed to leave our food in the fridge. They arranged the bus for us back to Shkoder and made sure we did not have to walk with our suitcases :)
On the way back to Tirana our bus luckily picked us up at the accommodation (our host made a call hehe) and we even got a free drink on the way back! (probably because we looked miserable from the mountains). In Shkoder we had a couple of hours to kill so we had lunch at a very cute cafe and then we took the bus back to Tirana. It was quite late when we arrived in Tirana so we had dinner at OPA (bless). The next day we did nothing (laid in bed until 16:00) and had dinner at a gyros place. We had to leave around 03:00 for the airport, so it was an early night. The bus to the airport leaves every hour in the night and is very doable. It was a 15-minute walk to the bus station and there were around four people going to the airport. We did not want to risk the Albanian leaving times, so we took a bus earlier, but we were wayyy too early as we also did not take into consideration the Albanian driving style (very fast). So we had to chill at the airport for three hours. Oh wow, the only thing we did the day before was print out our boarding passes! You need to have them printed as the gates cannot handle an electronic boarding pass. If you forget to print, you can print them at the airport, but that will cost you €40 per boarding pass…..
Accommodation
We stayed at D1 Hostel. This…. was not a good hostel, but it was one of the few you could pay with card and located in the city center. It was also quite cheap, but I would not recommend it, just go to a better hostel and pay cash. As it were our last days, we did not want to pin any cash, so we just went with this.
And that was it for our trip to Albania!!! An absolutely unforgettable experience, we still talk about the things that happened during the trip and how incredible this country is. In my opinion, Albania is the PERFECT country to experience backpacking as the people are very friendly, they don’t speak a lot of English, they have a different currency, the nature is beautiful and diverse, their public transport is unreliable and it is very close to home (if you live somewhere in Europe)!