10 Day Albania Expedition

Arrivals into Tirana throughout the day today. You will be transferred to the hotel upon arrival at the airport. If you arrive earlier in the day, you can use this time to begin exploring this vibrant and quirky capital city. 

At 18:00 we plan to have a quick welcome meeting to go over the expedition and to meet your fellow travelers. Following the meeting, there will be an optional dinner with the group over traditional Albanian food.

After breakfast, we'll begin our walking tour of Tirana. The tour will start with visits to the Bunk'art 2 Museum and the House of Leaves, both of which give a fascinating overview of what life was like in Albania under Enver Hoxha's dictatorship, which spanned 5 decades. 

For lunch, we will drive to nearby Kruje, where we will have an opportunity to visit the Castle of Skanderbeg, Albania's national hero.

In the late afternoon, we'll explore Tirana's Old Bazaar.

In the morning, depart for a day trip to Shkodër, a smaller city sat on the shores of Lake Shkodër which straddles the Albania-Montenegro border. We will take time to explore what Shkodër has to offer as well as visit the famous Rozafa Castle.

Today we leave Tirana behind, bound toward the south to visit the ancient city of stone in Gjirokaster, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Here we will have the chance to visit both the Argjiro Castle and Skenduli House, which date back to the 13th and 18th centuries, respectively.

Finally, we will continue onto Sarandë, our home for the next 4 nights as we explore southern Albania. 

Today, we head toward the Albanian hinterland to trek in nature and visit the villages of Zhulat and Fushëbardhë. In the evening we'll return to Sarandë.

Heading further south, we'll explore the UNESCO World Heritage site and the ancient city of Butrint today. Among the most important archaeological sites in Albania, Butrint was first a Greek polis and later a Roman city. 

Following the visit to the ancient city, we will next visit the mussel farms at Lake Butrint. We'll even get the chance to try the locally sourced mussels for lunch today.

On the way back to Sarandë, we'll make a stop to visit Lekursi Castle before having a free afternoon to explore Sarandë.

Today will take us to explore the beautiful Hidden Waterfall and the partially ruined ancient village of Tatzat. In the afternoon we'll dine on a local lunch with a wine tasting. 

Albania has become known for its stunning coastline, and today is the day we'll get to explore it. We will work our way up the coast toward Vlorë, making stops in Borsh, Porto Palermo, Palase, Qeparo, Himare, and Llogara Pass. 

On our final full day on the Albania Expedition, we'll board a boat in the Bay of Vlorë to explore the mysterious island of Sazan.

Sazan was closed off to the world for decades, as it housed a military base that featured over 3000 bunkers built to withstand nuclear attack. During the 1990s, the base began to fall into disrepair and now sits mostly abandoned. 

Today we make our way back to Tirana from Vlorë. We'll make some stops along the route back. 

We plan to make it back to Tirana by the late afternoon. As such, we suggest only selecting return flights that depart after 18:00.