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Painted apartment blocks along a Tirana boulevard with the grey ridge of Dajti behind themAI image

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Tirana and Durrës

Where nearly every trip starts and ends: the country's only real international airport, its road hub, and a port an hour away. A first and last night rather than a week.

2 to 4 days · best Apr to Jun, Sep to Nov · 6 places

Base townsTirana, Durrës
Typical stay2 to 4 days
Best monthsApr to Jun, Sep to Nov
Getting inTirana has the country's only airport with scheduled international flights, and Durrës is its main passenger port. Everywhere else in Albania is reached from here by road.

The year · October is underlined

Tirana and Durrës: viability by month
RegionJFMAMJJASOND
Tirana and Durrës

Right now, in October: best. Autumn food season. Read the whole of October.

  1. JanMuseums, café season.
  2. FebQuiet city breaks.
  3. MarDita e Verës, 14 Mar.
  4. Apr18-20°C, green parks.
  5. MayTerrace weather.
  6. JunBefore the heat.
  7. Jul31°C, mornings only.
  8. Aug31°C, city empties.
  9. SepWarm, everything open.
  10. OctAutumn food season.
  11. NovMild, crowd-free.
  12. DecFestive, short days.

Nearly every Albanian trip starts and ends in the same two places. Tirana is the airport, the bus network and the rental desks; Durrës is the port, the Roman amphitheatre and a long beach that fills up in July.

Treat the pair as a first and last night rather than a week. What earns a longer stay is the ring of day trips around them: the castle and the bazaar at Krujë, the cable car up Dajti, and the reservoir at Bovilla behind a ridge most visitors never notice from the city.

Places · 6 in Tirana and Durrës

Painted apartment blocks along a Tirana boulevard with the grey ridge of Dajti behind themAI imageTiranaAutumn food season.Kruje's bazaar lane of wooden shopfronts with the castle ridge at the end of itAI imageKrujëAutumn light down the plain to the sea.The Roman amphitheatre of Durres in its pit, houses and apartment blocks pressed to the rim on every sideAI imageDurrësSwimmable in the first half, and the ruins are at their best.The Bovilla reservoir as a narrow turquoise thread between limestone wallsAI imageBovilla LakeAutumn colour, and the last dependable month.The ruined wall of Rodon castle running off the headland into clear shallow waterAI imageKepi i RodonitCooling and closing.The full ellipse of the Durres amphitheatre with apartment blocks standing on its rimAI imageThe Durrës amphitheatreClear and cool, and the mosaics are worth the light.

Walks

RouteDistanceAscentTime
Mount Dajti10 km650 m5 h
Gamti Mountain5 km300 m2.5 h
The Pëllumbas cave4 km260 m2 h
Sari Salltik6 km800 m4 h

Routes through here

Decisions this region is part of

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