Travel Guide: 10 Days in Albania (Honest Review)

Albania – a country that wasn’t originally on our travel list but we thought why not?! Seems cheap and beautiful let’s give it a go.

Here is a basic guide of how we spent 10 days in Albania, what we would recommend and what we wouldn’t.

Check out this post for a break down of our spendings in Albania.

Stop 1: Tirana (2 nights)

Tirana was stop 1 for us. After catching a very long overnight bus from Greece we made it to the Albanian capital. We decided whilst in the capital we would make the most of the museums and learn about the history of Albania. 

We headed to the Bunk’Art museums where you get to learn a lot about the countries dark past. There are two museums one conventionally located in the city centre (Bunk’Art2) and the other located near the base of the cable car (Bunk’Art 1). I would highly recommend checking out Bunk’Art 2 if you only have time to check out one of them as this was the most intriguing and informative of the two. 

Whilst in Tirana we also decided to head up the cable car (Dajti Ekspres). This is open 6 days a week (closed on tuesdays) and was a great way to see Tirana from a birds eye view. At the top of the mountain there is a restaurant, hotel, mini golf and adventure park. We spent a couple of hours up the top just enjoying the views. 

How to get to the cable car and Bunk’Art 1:

An easy and inexpensive way to get to Bunk’Art 1 and the cable car from the city centre is to catch the bus. The bus departs from the Palace of Culture by Skanderbeg square, destined for ‘Linzë’ or you can catch the bus near the clock tower heading for “Porcelan“. Both of these buses will take you to the entrances of both attractions. They are inexpensive and cost less than 1€ . 

Honest Opinion:

The city is up and coming with restaurants and cafes popping up in the city centre as well as large skyscrapers being built on every corner. However once you get out of the city centre it can feel a tad unsafe and rundown. 

I am glad we went and got to learn about the history of Albania, but it is a city that I would not feel inclined to go back to.

If you are heading to Albania I would say it is worth spending 2 nights there but you wouldn’t need any longer than that.

Stop 2: Ksamil (4 nights)

From Tirana we headed to Ksamil. We caught a bus which took approximately 4hrs and was relatively easy to organise. We brought our tickets online then when arriving at the bus terminal they changed them over to physical bus tickets. Don’t  worry if you can’t physically print off the ticket they didn’t seem to mind reading them off of our phones. 

Our first bus ride was to Sarandë which is the larger town located 30mins from Ksamil. From there you need to change over to a local bus which will take you to Ksamil. The bus did not run according to schedule and we were packed in like sardines, but we got there in the end. 

Honest Opinion:

Ksamil is nothing like it appears all over instagram. We were expecting a quiet undiscovered location but boy were we wrong. The beaches were all overcrowded with people and sunbeds, there was no patch of beach that didn’t have a sun bed on it. The prices on everything were significantly higher than we expected, definitely a tourist inflation.

To our surprise the white sand beaches were just limestone chip that had been placed there to look aesthetic, but has ruined that natural landscape. 

We found that there as a large party vibe there with a lot of great beach clubs and restaurants. There were definitely pros and cons to the location. We have heard from others though that there are better beach locations in Albania. 

Stop 3: Shkodër (1 night) 

Shkodër was just a pit stop for us to get to Theth. We bused from Ksamil to Tirana then again to Shkodër, which was a relatively easy trip. Once you are at the bus station in Tirana there are lots of people around that will direct you to the local bus that will take you to Shkodër. 

Honest Opinion:

I don’t have much to say about Shkodër as it was just a location to spend the night but from the little bit of exploring we did we were able to find a nice restaurant for dinner at really cheap prices, it felt safe and everyone was friendly. Would have been nice to have one more night there to do a bit more looking around. 

Stop 4: Theth (3 nights)

This location was one of the most interesting and breathtaking experiences of the trip. We stayed in a home stay which was great. Our hosts didn’t speak any English but with help from google translate we were able to communicate. Day one was spent enjoying the views. Day two we ventured up the Valbone trail to the summit then back to Theth. We choose to do it this way as we found it was was more convenient. I am glad we did. Day three we left early and eventually found our way back to Shkodër.

How to get there: 

Albanias public transport is a mystery to me somehow we always got to where we wanted to go but it was never easy. Our hotel organised a shuttle to Theth for us but it never showed up. Luckily there were lots of shuttle buses located at the bus station (located on the main road outside Hotel Rozafa) so we jumped on one of those. They all leave at 7am so be there early if you haven’t got a shuttle organised to ensure you get a seat. This is the only time they go during the day. 

Organising the ride back was an experience. We assumed that there would be lots of buses leaving with spare seats the same as how we got there. Boy were we wrong. There was only a couple shuttles and everyone had pre booked tickets from their hostels which we didn’t have. Luckily a kind man let us on. 25 of us in a 15 person shuttle bus. We made it eventually. My tip would be to try and purchase a return ticket either with your accomodation or call companies directly. They do over book and people with tickets did miss out so arrive with plenty of time to secure your seat. 

Honest Opinion: 

Despite the challenges getting there I would highly recommend Theth. 3 nights was great for if you only wanted to walk to the summit and back. I think we would have liked one more night as there was another walk to the Blue Eye that we would have loved to do but ran out of time. The views were breathtaking and the whole experience is one we will not forget. 

Stop 4: Shkodër (1 night) 

Our last stop was one more night in Shkodër so we could catch our bus to Kotor. 

Relevant as of October 2023