Berat
Berat
Published on 06/05/2026
We decided to visit Berat as a day trip. My sorority already went a week before us and they said you can see most of the town within a day. We took the bus from Tirana around 08:00, so we would be in Berat by 10:30. Luckily, my sorority also told us that you still have to take another bus to really get to the center of Berat, so we knew we had to wait for the second bus to show up. I think after 10 minutes, it was there, so we got in and decided to get out somewhere close to the Gorica bridge.
Berat is divided into two parts: the part south of the river, called Gorica, and the part north of the river, where the old town is located. We decided to first visit Gorica, so we could have a good view of the thousand windows. As we were quite early, Gorica was very quiet and restaurants were still closed. We got one recommendation for a restaurant: Tradita e Beratit, but unfortunately, they were also closed. It was already getting hot, but Gorica has lots of shade in the morning, so it was very doable to walk around there. We got an ice cream at the bottom of the hill and made our way to the old town.
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! :)
On the other side of the river, there are multiple things to do. We decided to first visit the castle, located at the top of the hill. Big big big mistake. It was already 42 degrees and the walk to the castle is STEEP. I think I died multiple times during this trek. There is no shade and I also did not bring a cap, so my head was burning and bright red. While it is a 15-minute walk in comfortable circumstances, I think it took us 40 minutes to get to the top. Halfway to the top, there was a very kind lady who sold drinks in her backyard, so we sat down to have a cold drink. I think we looked miserable because she also brought out a fan for us to cool down. For every car that drove by, we tried to get a lift, but unfortunately, no one stopped (it was our own fault for choosing to walk and not getting a taxi). When we finally reached the top, we walked to the viewing platform and immediately turned around because there was no shade and we could not care less about the view anymore. I genuinely have no pictures of the view. Desperate for drinks and food, we sat down at the closest restaurant we could find (luckily, that was 20 meters away). The restaurant was called Te Zalua and the food was amazing. From the restaurant, you also had a good view, so we still got to enjoy it.
After we were fueled up again we started to explore the castle. We didn’t really understand where the old castle exactly was, so we just started walking. Apparently, the entire top of the hill is the castle and people also live there, but we had no clue. When we got to the other end of the hill, we still had no clue what the castle exactly entailed. It was cool to see though, and the restaurants and houses are very lively. As we had energy again, we decided we could walk down the hill. Also, the road had shade now, so the way back was way more doable.
When we arrived in the old town again, we wandered around the streets a bit and took some pictures. We decided to take a taxi back to the bus stop. There, we had to wait a bit for the bus and made our way back to Tirana. Berat is definitely worth a visit, BUT be aware of the heat and just take a taxi up the mountain. I would also maybe switch the old town and Gorica. I heard Gorica is very lively in the afternoon and evening, so it is probably nicer to visit that part a bit later in the day. There is a lot more to do in Berat, but the castle absolutely kicked our ass, so our trip stopped there. I hope you will not get tackled by the heat and protect yourself from the sun!!! Then you will have a wonderful time.
