7-day Albania itinerary — coast, mountains and old towns

Seven days is tight for a country with four climates, but it's enough to see the essential Albania — a buzzing capital, two UNESCO stone cities and the Ionian coast — if you keep the driving sensible and don't try to fold the far-northern Alps into the same loop. This is our tried southern circuit, best done with a rental car.

Days 1–2: Tirana and Berat

Start in Tirana. Give it a full day: Skanderbeg Square, the pyramid, the Blloku cafés, and one of the Bunk'Art museums for the communist backstory.

On day two, drive south to Berat, the "city of a thousand windows," where Ottoman houses climb both banks of the Osum. Walk up to the still-inhabited castle quarter for sunset.

Days 3–4: Gjirokastër and the deep south

Continue to Gjirokastër, the grey-stone hillside city of tower-houses, a bazaar and a brooding castle. Break the drive at the Blue Eye spring near Muzinë.

Day four is the ancient coast: the ruins of Butrint, a Greek-Roman-Venetian layer cake in a lagoon, then the turquoise islets of Ksamil for a swim.

Days 5–6: the Riviera and the mountains

Drive the Riviera north from Sarandë — Borsh, Himarë, Dhërmi — stopping wherever the water pulls you in. Then climb the Llogara Pass, where the Ceraunian mountains drop straight into the sea: your taste of mountain Albania on a coastal week.

Spend the night near Vlorë or Dhërmi.

Day 7: Krujë and out

Loop back toward Tirana via Krujë — Skanderbeg's castle and the best old bazaar in the country, an easy half-day before your flight out of the capital.

This is a relaxed pace with roughly three to four hours of driving on the longest days, leaving real time to swim, linger over lunch and photograph. Roads are good on the main axes but slow and winding along the Riviera, so allow more time than the map suggests.

Swap the last two days for Shkodër and Theth if the Alps are your priority; just don't try to fit both north and south into one week. Book your coast accommodation well ahead in July and August, when Ksamil, Dhërmi and Himarë fill up fast.