10-Day Albania Grand Tour

Private airport pickup. Check into your boutique hotel. Afternoon exploring Tirana — Skanderbeg Square, BunkArt, and the Blloku neighborhood. Welcome dinner at a traditional Albanian restaurant.

Transfer to the UNESCO city of Berat (~2.5 hours). Check into your Ottoman boutique hotel. Afternoon walking the Mangalem quarter, white houses stacked on the hillside reflecting in the Osum River.

Castle citadel with Illyrian foundations from the 4th century BC, the Onufri Museum’s 16th-century icon collection, and a local vineyard wine tasting — Albania has one of the oldest winemaking traditions in Europe.

Drive through Albania’s mountainous interior to Përmet (~3 hours), the ‘City of Roses,’ through the dramatic Kelcyra Gorge along the Vjosa River. Soak in the Bënja thermal baths — natural hot springs at a centuries-old Ottoman bridge. Check into a family-run guesthouse.

Transfer to UNESCO-listed Gjirokastër (~1.5 hours), the ‘City of Stone.’ Check into a traditional stone tower-house hotel. Visit the massive castle — one of the largest in the Balkans — and the Ottoman bazaar.

Morning stop at the Blue Eye Spring (Syri i Kalter). Continue to Ksamil. Arrive at your beachfront villa. First evening watching the sunset over the Ionian Sea.

Morning guided visit to Butrint (UNESCO) — 2,500 years of Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Venetian layers. Afternoon on the beach or an optional speedboat island tour.

Scenic coastal drive north via Porto Palermo — Ali Pasha’s fortress on a peninsula — and Himara for a fish lunch. Arrive on the Riviera (Dhërmi/Himara area), where dramatic cliffs meet turquoise water.

Full day on the Riviera. Swim at Gjipe or Drymades beach, explore the stone village of Dhërmi, or simply relax on the crystal-clear coastline.

Transfer back to Tirana (~4 hours), driving the spectacular Llogara Pass at 1,000m — one of Europe’s great mountain road panoramas. Stop in Vlorë for a waterfront lunch. Drop-off at Tirana International Airport.