Korçë — Eastern highland city, serenades, Old Bazaar, Albania's beer capital

Korçë (Korça) sits on a high plateau in Albania's southeast, closer in spirit to the continental Balkans than to the Mediterranean coast. It is a city of firsts and of atmosphere — Albania's first Albanian-language school opened here in 1887, along with early cinema and a serenade tradition that still drifts through the streets on warm evenings. Cold winters, a genuine autumn, cobbled lanes and a café-and-brewery culture make it one of the most distinctive towns in the country.

The Old Bazaar and the boulevards

The restored Old Bazaar (Pazari i Vjetër), a grid of Ottoman-era stone buildings, is the heart of any visit — now full of guesthouses, craft shops and restaurants. Nearby, the enormous Orthodox Cathedral of the Resurrection dominates the skyline, and the leafy boulevards recall the French-influenced culture the city cultivated in the early twentieth century.

Korçë takes its museums seriously: the National Museum of Medieval Art holds a superb collection of Byzantine icons, and the education museum marks that first school. The serenade — a soft, multi-voice urban song — is Korçë's own, and you may still catch it live.

Beer, food and the highland setting

Korçë is Albania's beer capital, home to the country's best-known brewery and a lively beer festival at the end of summer. The local kitchen leans hearty and eastern: lakror (the regional layered pie), slow-cooked stews and grilled offal are the things to try.

Ringed by mountains, the plateau is a base for the villages of Dardhë and Voskopojë — the latter once a major Balkan cultural centre, still home to frescoed churches.

When to go

Korçë is a four-season city. Summer is warm and dry; autumn is the local favourite, all golden light and chestnuts. Winter brings real cold and occasional snow, and December's Christmas-market atmosphere is unusual for Albania. Reach it by bus from Tirana across the highlands, or as a scenic stop between the coast and North Macedonia.