ten day itinerary albania, greece and north macedonia
Albania should be on your top European destination list. It is affordable and stunning. This itinerary captures how my friends and I made the most of our time exploring. This itinerary focuses primarily on Albania which is where we wanted to go. When you realize the transportation and distances it made a lot of sense to start our trip in Corfu and cross from there into Albania and then head north to Tirana. Tirana could also serve as a base for exploration around Albania. Day trips to other surrounding countries like North Macedonia are available and great to do!
Getting to Albania
Albania only has one major airport. Tirana International Airport. Ksmail and Saranda are located in the southern part of Albania closer to Greece and about 4-5 hours by car from Tirana Airport. Another alternative is to fly to Corfu, Greece and cross over by ferry to Albania. If you are short on time or want to capitalize on less transportation time you can do as we did and fly into one airport and out of the other.
Getting around
Getting around Albania is more challenging than other European countries. It lacks railways so you are reliant on car/bus transportation. Several itineraries mention renting a car (we did not do that). You can hire taxis to drive you between cities which we did. Also there are day tours that can bring you between major tourist attractions. If using Tirana as base be mindful that the day tours are usually very long days due to transportation time.
Ten day itinerary
Day One- flight and arrival to Corfu, Greece
Officially if you are flying from USA you are likely taking a red eye starting the night before. If coming from Europe this would be the start. My friends and I arrived in Corfu, Greece around 3 PM and headed to our AirBNB in Corfu Old Town. We went out for a fancy dinner at the Venetian Well which was excellent.
DAY TWO-Corfu, Greece
Today my friends and I grabbed a taxi for 50 euros to Palielokastrisa Beach. It is a popular beach where you can lay out with own towel. There are several restaurants and bars around the area as well. If want can do boat tour around coves but we just relaxed on beach. After some beach time we returned to Corfu town. In the late afternoon, we walked in town and had appetizers and drinks before heading to wooden ship for sunset cruise. Was great sunset past the forts and Mouse Island and could watch planes coming into the airport. Tour included snacks and a drink.
DAY THREE-Corfu to Ksamil
In the morning, we went to Old Fortress which is 10 euros to enter. Definitely climb up to lighthouse and cross for view of Corfu. After the fortress, we checked out of our accommodation and went to Faliraki Corfu beach bar and had some drinks, ate and went swimming. From there we caught a taxi to ferry which cost 20 euros. On arrival you have to pass through customs to Albania. Went on Finakas but also Albanian luxury and Ionian seaways for options for ferry crossing. Online said 40 minutes but was more like an hour. Very beautiful ride. Be prepared to be bombarded by taxis. Tons of atms and exchanges right outside ferry terminal but can also pay for your taxis in euros. It cost us 35 euros to get to Ksamil. We stayed at Euro Hotel. We hung out at pool and went to beach across street for sunset and Nysa for dinner.
DAY FOUR-Ksamil, Albania
We ate breakfast at hotel and headed down to the beach for beach day. The Ksamil beach was about a 15 minute walk. We got chairs at Poga Beach. It was definitely more expensive than the surrounding chairs but is a cool beach with bar. There is a swing there to take pictures. Nearby Greg had a foam party later. One of my friends got a massage on the beach. They come by for drinks but the service was slow. On the walk back we had dinner at Ostro which was delicious and had great views. We then grabbed more drinks at Foga for sunset.
DAY Five-Day Tour
We had breakfast at hotel and got tour that included st Nicholas Monastery, Blue Eye, Gjirokaster and Lëkurësi castle. Pick up was at 8:30 am. Guide walked us around monastery. Next was the Blue Eye. This is pretty crowded. It costs 50 lek to enter and then have to walk on paved road to the site. There are bathrooms but no toilet paper or running water so bring paper and hand sanitizer. May have been other bathrooms near restaurants. The blue eye is beautiful but crowded. You can walk down a small rocky part but that was the only part you really need sneakers for so you can get by with sandals. If you don’t want to walk can take a small train for 300 lek. Our tour gave us 2 hours so time to have drinks and we walked both ways. Next we went to Gjirokaster which is a unesco city. Our guide recommended to go to castle first and then get lunch which I would also recommend. I wore sandals but stones are a little slippery and it is uphill. The castle was 400 lek per person. Great views, bathrooms inside. There are also tons of shops and my friends did some souvenir shopping. Our last stop was the Lëkurësi castle in Saranda. It did give some great views of ksamil and Corfu from above. The whole tour lasted 9 hours. We went to Nysa for drinks and sunset.
DAY SIX-Ksamil to Tirana
In the morning, we went for a walk around Ksamil. We walked into the town and saw hand of Ksamil, bora bora beach and Ksamil beach. We got great panoramic views from the top of Africana Beach Club. We got back to hotel to have breakfast, shower and check out. Through the hotel we arranged private taxi from Ksamil to Tirana for 200 euros that dropped us off at our next hotel/apartment. We left at 11 am and arrived at 3:50 pm. We did one stop for taxi to charge and for us to go to bathroom and got ice cream. After we checked in, we walked around Tirana. We stopped at Orthodox Church, Pyramid of Tirana, Tirana castle area and ate at Tarufo and then the cloud sculpture. We then got drinks at garden and walked back through Skanderbeg Square where there was a beer festival. We couldn’t resist so stopped in for a drink. We stopped at store to get snacks and water for tour the next day.
DAY Seven- Day trip to North Macedonia
We boarded an early bus at 6:40 am for a long day trip to North Macedonia. On the way we stopped at cafe. Then we stopped at the border. The tour guide takes all the passports and does the crossing. USA and other non EU get a stamp! We then headed to city of Ohrid. The lake is so big and beautiful! We had a walking guide of the city. We stopped in several shops including ruby making, pearl making and paper making. We walked to Sophia church and so many other churches. We saw the amphitheater and headed up to St. Nicholas church. We had one very slow man on our tour and unfortunately it really slowed down the whole group down so we abandoned the walking tour. We went up to Samuel’s Fortress which gives panoramic views over Ohrid. It is about 2.5 euro to enter per person. We then got back to town along the water and ate lunch with a view. After we got back on our bus we made a quick stop at the Bay of Bones and headed on to St. Naum Monastery. It has great views. On our tour we only had 30 minutes but you could spend all day here. There were beach chairs, people swimming, restaurants, boat rides on the St. Naum springs and souvenir shopping. Also look out for some peacocks! After we saw the monastery we got a drink and put our feet in the lake. Then we drove back to Tirana. Two of my friends had early morning flights so we just chilled in our apartment.
DAY eight- Lake Koman and Shala River Day Tour
This was our longest day tour with pick up time at 5:40 am. They said to be there 10 mins early too! We had to message driver with WhatsApp and even though had pin ended up having to walk around the block. We then transferred to a shuttle van. The drive there is very long so we made 2 stops for bathroom, coffee and snacks. The road to the lake is in horrible condition with lots of pot holes and a bunch of it isn’t paved. Once we got to the lake you have to walk about 7 minutes through a tunnel. When you get to other side small shop and bathrooms and lots of boats to get you where you want to go. The boat ride from there to Shala River is one hour and super beautiful. Once at Shala River there are lots of restaurants, beach chairs for rent and kayaks for rent. Our tour guide also mentioned a zip line but we didn’t see anyone do that. We had 3 hours there and it goes by fast! Then you take a return boat for 1 hour, walk back through tunnel and get back in shuttle van for the long journey home. This was absolutely worth it though- the waters were Crystal clear and it was so beautiful. We arrived back in Tirana at 7:30 pm. We planned to get take out pizza but then just ate there and stopped at a SPAR to grab water and snacks before heading back to apartment.
DAY nine- Day tour to Gamati Mountain and Bovilla Lakes
We had been tracking the weather and was looking like rain. I literally watched the weather for a month before going and was sunny every day so getting a full day of rain was not what we planned for. I tried to contact the tour to see if would cancel if bad weather and got no reply. We had to cancel by 9 am day before and since I didn’t have a phone plan and was already on a tour didn’t. We woke to thunderstorms but then the rain let up and forecast was just clouds until thunderstorms in the afternoon. We decided to try it. The guide says 2.4 km and challenging and mentioned fear of heights.
We really lucked out because it was a mix of sun and clouds and it didn’t rain at all. I couldn’t believe it. The hike wasn’t horrible- first it’s a little steep but no rocks, then you have some rocks. In the rocks area there are hand rails to help. Last, there are stairs. Once at the top we had 20 minutes. You can go around and get view of the canyon, go on the platform, climb where Albanian flag or just soak in the views. There is a small cave with shade. My friend got up the steep part but set up in restaurant and skipped rocks and stairs. The rocks with Albanian flag the guide said “it is prohibited but if you do climb it be very careful” some of our group did make the climb up. After getting back down we had 1 hour 15 mins to eat and relax. I got a Greek salad and a beer with an epic view. We then got back into the van for the ride back to Tirana. I was so nervous after waking to downpour and thunder and getting great weather was so fantastic. We spent the night eating and drinking in Tirana- last night!
DAY ten-Tirana to home
Depending on your flight times you may have some more time to explore Tirana. There are so many cool things to see and do in Tirana. Unfortunately, I had a very early flight with a lay over to get back to the USA. If your flight leaves later enjoy the last bit of Tirana you can soak in!
Plan your trip
If you haven’t made it to Albania yet, consider this your inspiration to go. This itinerary included Corfu, Greece and Ohrid, North Macedonia as well which I highly recommend. I hope this itinerary inspired you on how to plan your dream trip to Albania!
