Historic sites

Historic site · Vlorë

Butrint

A Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman city layered on one wooded peninsula — Albania's first UNESCO site.

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Historic site · Berat

Berat Castle

A fortress people still live inside, holding some twenty churches and the Onufri icon museum.

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Historic site · Gjirokastër

Gjirokastër Castle

One of the largest castles in the Balkans, holding an artillery gallery and a captured US aircraft.

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Historic site · Fier

Apollonia

A Corinthian colony that became a Roman university town — Octavian was studying here when Caesar was killed.

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Historic site · Shkodër

Rozafa Castle

The rock fortress above the meeting of three rivers, and the setting of Albania's best-known legend.

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Historic site · Durrës

Krujë Castle

Skanderbeg's base, which held out against three Ottoman sieges and now houses the national museum of the resistance.

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Historic site · Durrës

Durrës Amphitheatre

The largest Roman amphitheatre in the Balkans, found by accident in 1966 under the modern city.

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Historic site · Fier

Byllis

The largest Illyrian city yet excavated, on a plateau above the Vjosa with five early Christian basilicas.

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Historic site · Vlorë

Porto Palermo Castle

A triangular fortress on a causeway peninsula, built for Ali Pasha of Tepelena.

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Historic site · Gjirokastër

Antigonea

A short-lived Epirote city founded by King Pyrrhus and burned by Rome in 167 BC.

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Historic site · Vlorë

Amantia

An Illyrian hill city whose stadium — cut into the slope — is among the best preserved in the region.

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Historic site · Tiranë

Et'hem Bey Mosque

The small mosque on Skanderbeg Square whose frescoes of trees and waterfalls are unusual in Islamic art.

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Historic site · Tiranë

Bunk'Art

A five-storey anti-nuclear bunker built for the communist leadership, opened to the public in 2014.

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Historic site · Durrës

Skanderbeg Museum

The museum of the 15th-century resistance, built inside Krujë Castle by Enver Hoxha's daughter and son-in-law.

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Historic site · Korçë

The Churches of Voskopojë

Six surviving basilicas of a town that once rivalled any city in the Balkans, covered inside with frescoes.

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Historic site · Shkodër

Mesi Bridge

A 108 m, thirteen-arch packhorse bridge over the Kir north-east of Shkodër.

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Historic site · Fier

Ardenica Monastery

A hilltop monastery on the Myzeqe plain where, by tradition, Skanderbeg was married in 1451.

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Historic site · Tiranë

Albania's Bunkers

Roughly 170,000 concrete pillboxes built under Enver Hoxha — the most visible physical legacy of the communist state.

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Historic site · Tiranë

The Pyramid of Tirana

Built as Enver Hoxha's mausoleum-museum, later a nightclub and NATO base, reopened in 2023 as a youth technology centre.

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Historic site · Tiranë

Fortress of Bashtovë

A rare rectangular lowland fortress built by Venice to guard a river port on the Shkumbin.

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Historic site · Tiranë

National History Museum

Albania's principal museum, under the Skanderbeg Square mosaic mural known as 'The Albanians'.

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Historic site · Elbasan

Elbasan Castle

An Ottoman fortress built on a Roman site, with a living town inside its walls.

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Historic site · Durrës

Durrës Castle

Byzantine sea walls raised under Anastasius I, later strengthened by Venice and the Ottomans.

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Historic site · Tiranë

Prezë Castle

A compact hill castle between Tirana and the airport, with a view over the whole plain.

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Historic site · Shkodër

Marubi National Museum of Photography

The archive of the Balkans' oldest photographic studio — about 500,000 negatives from 1858 onward.

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Historic site · Tiranë

Petrelë Castle

A small triangular castle on a wooded crag above the Erzen, half an hour from Tirana.

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Historic site · Tiranë

House of Leaves

The former headquarters of the Sigurimi's technical surveillance branch, kept as it was found.

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