City · Berat
Berat
The 'city of a thousand windows': an Ottoman hill town under a still-inhabited castle, UNESCO-listed since 2008.
Cities
From the capital, Tirana, to the Ottoman stone cities of Berat and Gjirokastër and the old ports of Durrës and Vlorë.
City · Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër
The 'stone city': slate-roofed tower houses on a steep slope beneath one of the Balkans' largest castles.
City · Tiranë
Tirana
The capital: a fast-changing city of painted blocks, Ottoman survivals and new towers, under Mount Dajti.
City · Shkodër
Shkodër
The cultural capital of the north: a lake, a fortress, a bicycle city and a Catholic heartland.
City · Vlorë
Sarandë
The Ionian resort town facing Corfu, and the arrival point for most visitors to southern Albania.
City · Vlorë
Vlorë
Where the Adriatic meets the Ionian, and where Albanian independence was declared in 1912.
City · Durrës
Durrës
Albania's principal port and its oldest continuously inhabited city, founded as Epidamnos in 627 BC.
City · Korçë
Korçë
The highland city of serenades, the first Albanian-language school, and the country's oldest brewery.
Beaches
The pebble coves and islets of the Ionian Riviera and the long sandy beaches of the Adriatic.
Beach · Vlorë
Gjipe Beach
A pebble beach at the mouth of a limestone canyon, reachable only on foot or by boat.
Beach · Vlorë
Dhërmi Beach
A long white pebble shore under the Ceraunian ridge, and the Riviera's main nightlife strip.
Beach · Vlorë
Grama Bay
A remote bay on the Karaburun peninsula whose cliffs carry Greek and Latin inscriptions cut by ancient sailors.
Beach · Vlorë
Drymades Beach
The pine-backed northern half of the Dhërmi bay, slightly quieter than the main strip.
Beach · Vlorë
Borsh Beach
At roughly 7 km, the longest single beach on the Riviera, backed by one of Albania's largest olive groves.
Beach · Vlorë
Palasë Beach
The first Riviera beach south of the Llogara pass, below the road's most dramatic descent.
Beach · Vlorë
Lukovë and Bunec
A run of small coves — Bunec, Krorëz and Shpella — below the village of Lukovë.
Mountains
The Albanian Alps in the north, Mount Korab on the eastern border, Tomorr above Berat and the Ceraunian ridge over the Riviera.
Mountain range · Shkodër
The Albanian Alps
The limestone wall of the far north — locally the Accursed Mountains — shared with Montenegro and Kosovo.
Mountain · Shkodër
Maja Jezercë
At 2,694 m the highest peak entirely inside the Dinaric Alps, deep in the Albanian Alps.
Mountain · Dibër
Mount Korab
At 2,764 m the highest point in both Albania and North Macedonia, on the border ridge.
Mountain range · Vlorë
Ceraunian Mountains
The coastal ridge that makes the Riviera: 2,000 m peaks rising directly out of the Ionian.
Mountain · Berat
Mount Tomorr
A 2,416 m massif above Berat, and the site of an annual Bektashi pilgrimage each August.
Mountain · Vlorë
Maja e Çikës
The 2,045 m high point of the Ceraunian ridge, directly above the Riviera coast.
Mountain · Tiranë
Mount Dajti
Tirana's own mountain: 1,613 m, a national park, and a 4.2 km cable car from the city edge.
Historic sites
Illyrian hill towns, Greek and Roman cities, Ottoman castles and the bunkers of the communist years.
Historic site · Vlorë
Butrint
A Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman city layered on one wooded peninsula — Albania's first UNESCO site.
Historic site · Berat
Berat Castle
A fortress people still live inside, holding some twenty churches and the Onufri icon museum.
Historic site · Gjirokastër
Gjirokastër Castle
One of the largest castles in the Balkans, holding an artillery gallery and a captured US aircraft.
Historic site · Fier
Apollonia
A Corinthian colony that became a Roman university town — Octavian was studying here when Caesar was killed.
Historic site · Shkodër
Rozafa Castle
The rock fortress above the meeting of three rivers, and the setting of Albania's best-known legend.
Historic site · Durrës
Krujë Castle
Skanderbeg's base, which held out against three Ottoman sieges and now houses the national museum of the resistance.
Historic site · Durrës
Durrës Amphitheatre
The largest Roman amphitheatre in the Balkans, found by accident in 1966 under the modern city.
Historic site · Fier
Byllis
The largest Illyrian city yet excavated, on a plateau above the Vjosa with five early Christian basilicas.
National parks
Alpine valleys, coastal lagoons, old beech forests and the country's only marine park.
Protected area · Kukës
Valbona Valley National Park
A broad U-shaped glacial valley of white gravel and beech forest under the Alps' highest peaks.
Protected area · Shkodër
Theth National Park
The glacial valley park at the heart of the Albanian Alps, merged into a wider protected complex in 2022.
Protected area · Vlorë
Llogara National Park
A pine-forested pass at 1,027 m where the road drops from mountain forest to the Ionian in a few kilometres.
Protected area · Vlorë
Butrint National Park
A wetland and forest park wrapped around the archaeological city, on the Vivari channel.
Protected area · Vlorë
Karaburun-Sazan Marine Park
Albania's only marine national park: sea caves, wrecks and the country's clearest water.
Protected area · Gjirokastër
Vjosa Wild River National Park
Declared in March 2023, Europe's first national park built around a whole free-flowing river system.
Protected area · Fier
Divjakë-Karavasta National Park
Coastal pine forest, dunes and lagoon protecting the region's Dalmatian pelican colony.
Protected area · Elbasan
Shebenik-Jabllanicë National Park
Old-growth beech forest on the North Macedonian border, part of a UNESCO-listed primeval forest network.
Lakes and lagoons
Ohrid, Prespa and Shkodër on the borders, the gorge lakes of the Drin and the lagoons of the coast.
Lake · Shkodër
Lake Koman
A 34 km reservoir in a gorge so narrow the ferry crossing is treated as a scenic journey in its own right.
Lake · Korçë
Lake Ohrid
One of Europe's oldest and deepest lakes, UNESCO-listed and home to species found nowhere else.
Lake · Shkodër
Lake Shkodër
The largest lake in southern Europe, shared with Montenegro and a major bird wintering ground.
Lake · Korçë
Lake Prespa
A high tectonic lake where Albania, Greece and North Macedonia meet, draining underground into Ohrid.
Lake · Fier
Karavasta Lagoon
The largest lagoon in Albania and the western Balkans' main breeding site for the Dalmatian pelican.
Lake · Vlorë
Narta Lagoon
Albania's second-largest lagoon, with working saltpans and the island monastery of Zvërnec.
Lake · Tiranë
Bovilla Reservoir
Tirana's drinking-water reservoir, ringed by limestone cliffs half an hour from the capital.
Rivers
The Vjosa, one of the last wild rivers in Europe, and the Shala, Osum, Drin, Shkumbin and Buna.
River · Gjirokastër
The Vjosa
One of the last large free-flowing rivers in Europe, declared a Wild River National Park in March 2023.
River · Shkodër
The Shala River
A tributary of the Drin above Koman, reached by boat and often called Albania's Thailand.
River · Shkodër
The Drin
Albania's longest river and the backbone of its electricity system, dammed three times in the north.
River · Elbasan
The Shkumbin
The river that splits Albania in two — the historic dividing line between Gheg and Tosk.
Villages
Stone villages in the Alps, above the Riviera and in the hills of the south-east.
Village · Shkodër
Theth
A glacial valley village in the Albanian Alps: a lock-in tower, a waterfall, and one end of the country's best-known trek.
Village · Kukës
Valbonë
A wide white riverbed under 2,500 m peaks; the eastern end of the Theth trek.
Village · Vlorë
Dhërmi
An old white village on the slope above one of the Riviera's longest pebble beaches.
Village · Korçë
Voskopojë
In the 18th century one of the largest towns in the Balkans; today a village of frescoed churches.
Village · Korçë
Dardhë
A stone village at 1,340 m in the Morava mountains, one of Albania's small ski destinations.
Village · Korçë
Lin
A peninsula village on Lake Ohrid with a 6th-century basilica floor mosaic and a prehistoric pile settlement.
Towns
Market towns, mountain seats and seaside resorts, from Krujë and Himarë to the small towns of the interior.
Town · Durrës
Krujë
Skanderbeg's mountain stronghold, an old bazaar street, and the national museum of the resistance.
Town · Vlorë
Himarë
The centre of the Riviera coast: a Greek-speaking historical community, an old hill village and a string of coves.
Town · Vlorë
Ksamil
Four small islands and very clear shallow water; the most photographed and most crowded stretch of the Albanian coast.
Town · Gjirokastër
Përmet
A small Vjosa-side town known for its fruit preserves, thermal baths and polyphonic singing.
Town · Korçë
Pogradec
A lakeside town on Ohrid, a UNESCO natural and cultural site shared with North Macedonia.
Town · Lezhë
Lezhë
Where the Albanian princes swore their 1444 league, and where Skanderbeg is buried.
Town · Gjirokastër
Libohovë
A hill town below a castle built by Ali Pasha for his sister, opposite Gjirokastër.
Canyons, waterfalls and springs
The Osum and Gjipe canyons, the waterfalls of the Alps and the Blue Eye spring.
Spring · Vlorë
The Blue Eye
A karst spring of extraordinary clarity whose bottom has never been definitively reached.
Canyon · Berat
Osum Canyon
A 26 km limestone gorge up to 80 m deep, run by raft in spring and walked in late summer.
Canyon · Vlorë
Gjipe Canyon
A narrow limestone slot that meets the sea at Gjipe beach — the Riviera's one true canyon.
Spring · Gjirokastër
Bënjë Thermal Springs
Sulphur pools beside the Ottoman Katiu bridge, at the mouth of the Lengarica canyon.
Waterfall · Shkodër
Grunas Waterfall
A 25–30 m fall in the Theth valley, and a declared natural monument.
Waterfall · Berat
Bogovë Waterfall
A cold spring-fed fall and pool in the Tomorr foothills near Berat.
Browse by county
Albania is divided into twelve counties, each named after its main town. Pick one on the map or from the list.
Boundaries: geoBoundaries gbOpen ALB ADM1 (public domain)
