Tirana
Skanderbeg Square, Enver Hoxha’s bunkers and a cable car up Dajti in one city, in two to three days
- When to go
- October 17° · 8 rainy days
- Per day
- €€price 2 of 5
- How many days
- 2–3days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 13 km Rinas
- Right now
Tirana takes two to three days, or four once Krujë, Durrës or Berat are added. Founded in 1614 and the capital since 1920, it is often treated as a stopover on the way to the coast, which sells it short: the city holds two bunker museums, a former secret-police headquarters and a cable car that climbs to 1,613 metres. Skanderbeg Square is where every route begins.
The airport bus makes a taxi hard to justify. Rinas Express leaves the airport car park every hour on the hour: €4.40, 30–45 min. It stops behind the National Opera, two minutes on foot from the square, so you arrive in the middle of the old centre with luggage still manageable.
Do the centre on foot and in one loop. Start at the square and the mosque beside it, then go on to Bunk'Art 2, a Cold War shelter that has become a museum and takes up a good part of the late morning. Lunch belongs in Pazari i Ri, the renovated market quarter, and in the evening Blloku is a walk of 10 to 15 minutes. The National History Museum on the square is closed for renovation, so do not build a day around it.
Dajti is the one day with a rule: never Tuesday. The Porcelan bus line runs from the Clock Tower to the foot of the mountain, fare: €0.44 (40 lek). After the cable car, Bunk'Art 1 sits just behind it, which makes the pair a single outing. Another day suits the House of Leaves, the former headquarters of the Sigurimi: €7.70.
Krujë, Durrës and Berat each fit into a day, though Berat is the one with a deadline. Krujë is about 45 to 55 minutes by bus, Durrës about 35, and Berat about two hours, with the last bus back around 4 pm. Berat has been on the UNESCO list since 2008. All the buses take cash.
3-star hotel, double room, per person per night
Timed-entry tickets and guided tours in one place.
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Guides for Tirana
Shorter, practical pages for one concrete question each — how many days, how much money, where to sleep, where to escape the city.
Tirana in 3 days
→The centre and Bunk'Art 2 on day one, Dajti and Bunk'Art 1 on day two, the House of Leaves and the Grand Park on day three, and Tuesday changes the order.
Day trips from Tirana
→Dajti and Krujë for half a day, Durrës for half a day by the sea, Berat for a whole day, with the last bus back around 4 pm.
Where to stay in Tirana
→The centre for walking, Blloku for evenings, Pazari i Ri for the market and a meal; all within fifteen minutes on foot.
What Tirana costs
→A taxi from the airport and the day trips push the bill up; the bus, a byrek and the free squares bring it down.
Tirana beyond the main sights: the Pyramid, Postbllok and Pazari i Ri
→A dictator’s museum turned into a youth centre, a memorial to political prisoners, a market after its renovation and a park with a lake from 1955.
What to eat in Tirana
→Byrek from a bakery in the morning, fërgesë and tavë kosi for lunch, qofte with a beer in the evening.
The best time to visit Tirana
→June and September for walking, July and August for shade and museums, November and December for rain.
Getting around Tirana
→From the airport by bus to the Opera, on foot in the centre, to Dajti on the Porcelan line, and out of town from the terminals northwest of the centre.
Mistakes everyone makes in Tirana
→The mistakes are the cable car on a Tuesday, the closed National History Museum, one Bunk’Art instead of two, a taxi without a price and a bus without small change.
What to see in Tirana
- S
Skanderbeg Square
The square covers about 40,000 square metres and opened to the public in June 2017 after a redesign by 51N4E and the artist Anri Sala. Around it stand the Et'hem Bey Mosque, the Clock Tower, the Opera and the National History Museum, which is closed for renovation. The airport bus stops two minutes away.
free
- E
Et'hem Bey Mosque
The mosque was finished in 1819 or 1821, depending on the source, and entry is free with donations welcome. Cover your knees and shoulders, women should cover their hair too, and shoes come off at the door. Its frescoes show trees, waterfalls and bridges, and on 18 January 1991 about 10,000 people walked in with flags after years of closure.
free · closed briefly during prayer
- B
Bunk'Art 2
This former anti-atomic shelter of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has 24 rooms on about 1,000 square metres, on Rruga Abdi Toptani in the centre, and it is open every day. The exhibition runs from the gendarmerie of 1912 to the police and Sigurimi of 1944 to 1991, with an audio guide in English and Italian.
1 h
- D
Dajti Ekspres
The cable car climbs Dajti to 1,613 metres and has run since 2005, built by Doppelmayr. It is closed on Tuesdays unless the day is a public holiday, and a ticket is valid only on the day it is bought. At the top you find the Ballkoni i Dajtit restaurant, an adventure park and a mini golf course.
15 min ride · closed Tuesday
- B
Blloku
Until 1991 this was a fenced quarter for members of the Politburo, and ordinary Albanians were kept out. Today it holds boutiques, restaurants, bars and cafés, 10 to 15 minutes on foot from the centre, and the house of Enver Hoxha still stands there, a reminder of who once lived behind the fence.
free
- H
House of Leaves
A maternity clinic of 1931 served as a Gestapo base in the war and then as the seat of the Sigurimi, which watched citizens, intercepted post and followed foreigners until 1991. It has been a museum since May 2017, takes its name from the ivy on the facade, and opens every day.
€7.70
Nomadinho scores out of 100, the same ones behind “Where to go”.
If you like Tirana
Three places with the closest scores, from any country.
Ready for Tirana?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Tirana — day trips or weekends.
Albania
→Three cities for one trip: a capital with bunkers and a cable car, and two UNESCO-listed towns
Montenegro
→The Bay, the riviera or Ulcinj for the sea, Durmitor for July — choose the coast by its beaches and the north by the month
Greece
→The north by road, the Cyclades by ferry, Rhodes by air — pick the region first and the island second
North Macedonia
→Skopje on the Vardar, Ohrid on a UNESCO lake and about three hours of road between them
Bosnia and Herzegovina
→Two cities, a mark pegged to the euro and mountains that were Olympic in 1984
All 292 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
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