Top Instagram spots in Albania

Albania photographs better than almost anywhere in the Mediterranean, largely because so much of it is still unpolished. You get turquoise water without the crowds, Ottoman-era stone towns, brutalist relics and raw mountains, often within a single day's drive. Here is where the light and the frame come together.

The Riviera and the south

The stretch of coast between Vlorë and Sarandë is the obvious headline. Ksamil's little islands and glassy shallows are the postcard shot, best captured early before the day-trippers arrive. Further north, Gjipe beach at the mouth of its canyon, and the white cliffs above Dhërmi and Himarë, reward anyone willing to walk a little.

Inland from the coast, the Blue Eye (Syri i Kaltër) near Sarandë is a hypnotic pool of impossibly blue spring water. Go around midday, when the sun reaches into it.

Stone cities and history

Berat, the "city of a thousand windows", is at its best at dusk when the tiered Ottoman houses of the Mangalem quarter glow. Gjirokastër, another UNESCO town, gives you slate roofs and a brooding hilltop castle. In both, climb above the town for the wide frame.

Don't overlook Tirana itself: the painted facades, the pyramid and the colour-blocked apartment towers are a photographer's playground of post-communist reinvention.

The mountains and the north

The Albanian Alps deliver the country's most dramatic images. Theth's stone church in its green bowl of peaks, the turquoise of the Blue Eye of Theth, and the ferry gliding through the fjord-like Koman Lake are all standouts. Valbona valley in autumn, when the beech forests turn, is quietly spectacular.

Shoot responsibly

The best light is the first and last hour of the day, and the shoulder months of May, June and September give you clear skies without August's haze and crowds. Remember that many of these places are still lived-in villages, not sets. Ask before photographing people, and take nothing but the picture.