Albania in 7 Days: The Perfect One-Week Itinerary

One week is the sweet spot for a first trip to Albania. Seven days is enough to see the capital, one great UNESCO old town, the best of the Riviera and the whole deep south - Ksamil, Butrint, the Blue Eye and the stone city of Gjirokaster - without spending the holiday behind the wheel. This is a self-drive loop out of Tirana, roughly 630 km over six nights, built so you sightsee more days than you drive. Below is the day-by-day, the driving legs, where to sleep each night, and an honest section on doing it without a car. If you are not sure a week is right for you, see how many days you need in Albania for how seven days compares with shorter and longer trips.

Why a week is the right length

Albania packs its headline sights into a rough triangle - the capital in the centre, the coast to the west, the archaeological south near the Greek border - and a week is just long enough to close that triangle at a human pace. Four days gets you the capital and a taste of the coast but stops short of the far south; ten days lets you linger on the beaches. Seven is the version most people actually book, and it works because you can give Saranda two nights and still keep every other stop to a single overnight.

The loop runs anticlockwise: Tirana, inland to Berat, over the mountains to the Riviera, down the coast to Saranda as your southern base, then back up through Gjirokaster to close the circle. If your dates are tighter or looser, two variants bracket this one: the long-weekend Albania 4-day itinerary keeps Tirana, Berat and a Riviera taste, and the fuller Albania road-trip itinerary does the same loop with more beach time and slower days. A car is close to essential for all three - the sights this trip is built around sit exactly where the buses are thinnest. Before you book one, read how to rent a car in Albania for the insurance and deposit traps that catch people out.

Day 1: Tirana

Land, drop your bags and give the capital an afternoon and evening on foot. Tirana is young and walkable: Skanderbeg Square at the centre, the recently reopened Pyramid of Tirana, the painted apartment blocks of Blloku, and the cable car up Mount Dajti for a view over the whole valley if you have the daylight. It is also your last easy chance to stock up before the smaller towns south.

Do not collect the car today - the centre walks in an afternoon, city parking is a hassle, and a rental sitting in a garage overnight is money for nothing. For the full rundown of sights, neighbourhoods and where to eat, see our guide to the best things to do in Tirana.

Day 2: Drive to Berat

Collect the car in the morning and drive south to Berat, about 120 km / 2-2.5 hours on the SH4. Much of this road is recently repaved, so it is an easy morning that leaves the whole afternoon for the town.

Berat is the “city of a thousand windows”: tiers of white Ottoman houses, each with rows of wide windows, climbing two facing hillsides above the Osum river. Walk the cobbled Mangalem and Gorica quarters, cross the old bridge, and climb to the Kala - a castle that is still a lived-in neighbourhood, with churches, homes and the Onufri icon museum behind its walls. Bring cash: cards are no use up on the Kala, and small entry fees at the museums change, so check on the day. Our Berat travel guide has the sights and where to stay in detail.

Day 3: Over the Llogara Pass to Himara

This is the day you swap stone for sea. From Berat, head west to the coast near Vlora, then climb the Llogara Pass - a switchbacking road to around 1,000 m where the whole Albanian Riviera suddenly drops away below you into the Ionian. Berat to a Himara base is roughly 140 km / 2.5-3 hours of driving.

At the top you have a choice. The Llogara Tunnel (about 6 km, opened July 2024) now bores straight under the mountains and saves the slow climb; it ran free through 2025, and from April 2026 a car toll of about 250 lek (roughly EUR 2.50) each way applies, so carry a little cash (check the current rate). The old pass road beside it is still open and still free, and for the view it is worth taking at least one way. Over the top, stop for a swim at Dhermi or Drymades, then settle for the night in Himara - a proper little town with a harbour, real restaurants and beaches you can walk to, and the most balanced base on the coast. For the wider picture, see our Albanian Riviera guide.

Day 4: Down the coast to Saranda

A short, gorgeous driving day: Himara to Saranda is only about 70 km / 1.5-2 hours along the coastal SH8, but leave time to stop. This stretch has some of the Riviera’s best pull-ins - Porto Palermo with its castle on a spit, the cove at Borsh, and viewpoints where the whole coast opens up. Drive it slowly and treat the road itself as the sightseeing.

Saranda is the biggest town on the southern coast and your base for the next two nights: a long seafront promenade, plenty of rooms and restaurants, and the launchpad for everything in the far south. It climbs a steep hillside, so where you stay matters - we break the areas down in where to stay in Saranda, and the Saranda travel guide covers what to do once you have dropped the bags.

Day 5: Ksamil and Butrint

With Saranda as a base, today needs no long drive. Head 17 km / 20-30 minutes south to Ksamil, the postcard end of the Riviera - shallow turquoise bays and a cluster of tiny offshore islets close enough to swim or paddle out to. Come early, because it is the busiest beach scene in Albania in July and August; most of the sand is run by beach bars renting loungers, and prices climb with the season, so check on the day. Our Ksamil guide has the beaches and the islets, and if you would rather sleep down here than in Saranda, where to stay in Ksamil breaks down the areas.

In the afternoon, drive 4 km further down the same road to Butrint, the UNESCO-listed ancient city on a wooded peninsula - a Greek theatre, Roman baths, a baptistery and a Venetian tower, all on one walkable loop. Go after the beach when the light softens and the tour buses have gone. Butrint is a national park with a staffed gate; the entry fee and hours are set by the park and shift with the season, so we do not quote a fixed price - check on arrival. Full detail is in our Butrint National Park guide.

Day 6: The Blue Eye and Gjirokaster

Leave the coast and turn inland. About 20 km out of Saranda, a short track leads to the Blue Eye (Syri i Kalter), a karst spring that wells up an impossible cobalt-and-turquoise blue from a depth no one has fully measured. There is a small entry or parking charge (check on the day), a short walk to the pool, and it is worth the stop even with the summer crowds - go early.

From there it is on to Gjirokaster, roughly 2 hours from Saranda all in. The “stone city” is a UNESCO town of grey slate-roofed Ottoman houses climbing a steep hillside under an enormous castle that holds a weapons museum and wide views over the Drino valley. Wander the old bazaar, visit a restored tower-house, and try the local qifqi - rice-and-egg balls you will not find much elsewhere. It is an easy, atmospheric overnight and a fitting last night on the road.

Day 7: Drive back to Tirana

From Gjirokaster it is roughly 230 km / 3.5-4 hours back to Tirana via the inland SH4 through Fier and Lushnje, closing the loop and returning the car before your flight. If you have a spare half-day, break the drive near Fier at the ancient ruins of Apollonia, or just build in buffer for the airport - weekend afternoon traffic near Tirana can add half an hour in high summer, so do not cut it fine.

Distances at a glance

Day	Leg	Roughly	Drive time
1	Tirana (on foot)	-	-
2	Tirana → Berat	~120 km	2-2.5 h
3	Berat → Himara (via Llogara)	~140 km	2.5-3 h
4	Himara → Saranda	~70 km	1.5-2 h
5	Saranda ↔ Ksamil & Butrint	~45 km round	day trip
6	Saranda → Gjirokaster (via Blue Eye)	~70 km	~2 h with stops
7	Gjirokaster → Tirana	~230 km	3.5-4 h

That is about 630 km across the week - short distances on paper, but slow, scenic roads, so the timings matter more than the kilometres.

Doing it without a car

You can do a version of this week without driving, but be honest about the trade-offs. Buses and furgon minibuses connect the main points - Tirana to Berat, Tirana or the coast to Saranda, and along the Riviera on the SH8 - for a few euros a leg, and the Corfu ferry links Saranda to Greece if you want to bookend the trip. What you lose is the coves with no bus stop, the Porto Palermo pull-ins, and easy access to the Blue Eye, which sits off the main road.

The realistic no-car plan is to base longer in fewer places: a couple of nights in Saranda using organised day trips for Butrint, Ksamil and the Blue Eye (they bundle the driving), and to accept that the Riviera villages are the awkward link - frequency is patchy and stops are informal, so pad every connection. For the full picture of routes and timings, see how to get around Albania. If beaches are your priority over the inland towns, the coast-only Albanian Riviera road trip is the better shape.

Practical tips for the week

• Car first, booked ahead. Summer rentals go fast; a small car is fine, but check the insurance excess and deposit - the daily rate is cheap, the cover is where the money hides. See how to rent a car.
• Carry cash in lek. You will need it for the Llogara tunnel toll, museum entries, beach loungers, parking and small guesthouses; cards work in bigger hotels and restaurants.
• Drive the passes by day. The Llogara switchbacks are steep and slow - take them in daylight for the view and keep the tunnel in reserve.
• Time it for the shoulders. Late May-June and September-October give warm sea, open roads and thinner crowds; July and August are hottest, busiest and priciest. Our note on the best time to visit Albania has more.
• Book beds ahead in peak. Berat’s old-town guesthouses, Himara’s rooms and Ksamil’s apartments all fill fast in July and August.

Read also

• Shorter trip: the Albania 4-day itinerary for a long weekend.
• Longer trip: the full Albania road trip with more beach time.
• Coast only: the Albanian Riviera road trip from Vlora to Saranda.
• Where to sleep: where to stay in Albania and on the Riviera.
• All our Albania routes.