Hot Springs in Albania: Benja, Llixha & Peshkopi Compared

Benja, Llixha and Peshkopi are three hot-spring trips with little in common, and the water temperature gives most of it away. The national tourism agency (AKT) puts Benja, near Përmet, at 23-28 °C, which is swimming-pool warm, not bath warm. Some of the springs at Llixha, near Elbasan, rise above 56 °C and are cooled before anyone gets in. The springs at Peshkopi, in the northeast, run at 35-43.5 °C, a proper hot soak. By OpenStreetMap routing on 31 October 2026, Llixha is 48 km and 54 minutes from central Tirana, Peshkopi 91 km and just under two hours, and Benja more than four hours.

That order decides most trips, because only Llixha fits into half a day. Prices are the gap in the picture. Benja is free, but we couldn’t confirm a current day price at either of the other two, and the sections below say so and tell you what to ask.

Three springs, side by side

AKT’s Elbasan page describes curative centres that offer treatments, and that’s the agency’s description, not medical advice. If you’re planning a course of treatment instead of a soak, ask the centre’s doctor, because the water at Peshkopi in particular carries a lot of sulphide.

Benja was free to enter and still being rebuilt in October 2026

Benja (Bënjë) is the one with no gate. The pools sit on the Lengarica river beside an Ottoman bridge, 14 km from Përmet, and our Benja thermal baths guide has the site in detail. It’s cool for a hot spring. In the colder months expect a short dip, not a long soak, and a cold walk back to the car.

The site is also in the middle of a rebuild. The state-funded works were due to close in September 2026, and the water levels were a public argument through summer 2026. We couldn’t find any announcement that the works had finished by 31 October 2026, and a visitor report published on 10 October 2026 still described the site as in development, with water in the pools, so read the dated detail in the Benja guide and look at photos from the past week before you go.

Distance is the other issue. Benja is a drive of roughly four to four and a half hours from Tirana, which makes it a day trip from Gjirokastër or a night in Përmet more than an outing from Tirana. Our Përmet guide covers the overnight, and the southern Albania road trip strings it together with Gjirokastër and the inland towns.

Llixha: hotel baths near Elbasan

The Elbasan spas are in the village of Tregan, 10 to 12 km from the centre of Elbasan, according to AKT. The agency says some of the springs come out above 56 °C and can be used for bathing only after controlled cooling, that people have used them since Roman times, and that the area now has curative centres and hotels offering thermal baths, mineral mud and physiotherapy. The word to notice is “centres”: the baths belong to a number of separate businesses, and each sets its own terms.

One of them, Termal Iliria, describes itself on its own site as a curative centre in Llixha that combines a hotel, bar and restaurant with thermal cures (natural thermal water, mineral mud, physiotherapy and massage) under a doctor’s supervision. That site carries a 2014 copyright and lists no prices. So we have no verified day-visitor price for Llixha, and a figure from a blog or a forum is worth using only if it names the hotel and the year. Ring before you drive, and ask three things: whether day visitors are accepted, whether the pool is indoors, and how long a session lasts.

Getting there is the easy part. Elbasan is 39 km from central Tirana, 42 minutes by OpenStreetMap routing, and Tregan is a short drive south of the town, so the whole run from Tirana is the 48 km in the table. GjirafaTravel’s Tirana-Elbasan route page lists coaches from 06:00 to 20:00; we couldn’t check how you cover the last stretch to the village by public transport, so plan on a taxi from Elbasan or a car.

Peshkopi: sulphur in the Shërim valley

AKT’s entry on Peshkopi is short and technical: the water comes out of the Korab gypsum formation and carries the hydrogen sulphide listed in the table. For the baths themselves, meaning entry, hours and season, you’ll need the municipality or the management, as below. Benja’s water is too cool for a hot soak and Llixha’s hottest springs have to be cooled first; Peshkopi’s water is at bath temperature as it rises.

The drive from central Tirana is 91 km and 1h 54m on OpenStreetMap routing, by the Arbër road. By coach, GjirafaTravel’s route page lists 19 departures a day from Tirana between 05:00 and 16:40 (read 31 October 2026); take the fare from the board for your travel date, because the page’s “average ticket” is a statistic, not a seat you can buy. Don’t plan a tight same-day return around its timings either: the platform gives an average journey of 4h 10m from Tirana and 2h 35m back, over a route it puts at 106 km, longer than the 91 km car road, so ask which road your coach takes. As for entry, the prices we found for the baths came from old press coverage, so we’re not quoting one. Ask Dibër municipality or the baths’ management for the current tariff and the season.

Peshkopi’s road to North Macedonia runs through the Bllatë crossing, which Albanian Customs lists as open around the clock. On the other side, Debar has two spas of its own, described in our sister guide to North Macedonia’s thermal springs. If you’re thinking of crossing with a rental car, read the permission rules in our Albania border crossings guide first.

Kolonjë: mentioned, not recommended

AKT’s page on Kolonjë, the south-eastern district of Ersekë and Leskovik, says the area’s thermal springs have high temperatures, long local use in bathing cures and a medicinal reputation, then adds that documentation and promotion of them remain limited. Blog posts describe stone pools reached on foot from a road near Leskovik, but AKT’s page stops at saying the springs exist, so we’re not giving directions. If you’re in the south-east anyway, ask in Leskovik how to reach the pools; a pin on a map isn’t directions.

Choosing by the clock

Llixha is the half-day trip: a morning drive from Tirana, a soak, lunch in Elbasan and back by afternoon. Peshkopi is a full day by car and a long one by coach, so leave early if you’re returning the same night. Benja belongs to a southern trip, not a Tirana day.

The time budget also settles the question of wheels. A rental from the airport makes Llixha and Peshkopi both easy, and the pickup routine is in how to rent a car in Albania. For the airport desk itself, see the Tirana airport car rental guide.

Each spring also pairs with a stop on the same road: Llixha with Elbasan’s castle and old town, Peshkopi with a day in the Korab-Koritnik National Park, and Benja with Gjirokastër, an hour and a half to two hours each way by road, which is why our Benja guide argues for a night in Përmet.