Sito storico
Albania's Bunkers
Roughly 170,000 concrete pillboxes built under Enver Hoxha — the most visible physical legacy of the communist state.
Esplora
Luoghi
Tutti i luoghi dell'Atlas. Filtra per tipo, per county o per tema.
naturecoastbeachheritagemountainsrivieraborderparkcastleindustrycountyriverunescoalpsmininglakeagriculturehikingporthistorybirdssandresortlagoon
Sito storico
Amantia
An Illyrian hill city whose stadium — cut into the slope — is among the best preserved in the region.
Sito storico
Antigonea
A short-lived Epirote city founded by King Pyrrhus and burned by Rome in 167 BC.
Sito storico
Apollonia
A Corinthian colony that became a Roman university town — Octavian was studying here when Caesar was killed.
Sito storico
Ardenica Monastery
A hilltop monastery on the Myzeqe plain where, by tradition, Skanderbeg was married in 1451.
Città di medie dimensioni
Bajram Curri
The road head for the Valbona valley, named after a guerrilla leader of the 1920s.
Città di medie dimensioni
Ballsh
The seat of Mallakastër and the site of Albania's main oil refinery, near the ruins of Byllis.
Città di medie dimensioni
Belsh
A hill town surrounded by more than eighty small lakes and extensive olive groves.
Città
Berat
The 'city of a thousand windows': an Ottoman hill town under a still-inhabited castle, UNESCO-listed since 2008.
Sito storico
Berat Castle
A fortress people still live inside, holding some twenty churches and the Onufri icon museum.
Contea
Berat County
An inland county of vineyards, the Osum canyon and a UNESCO-listed hill town.
Città di medie dimensioni
Bilisht
The seat of Devoll municipality, on the Greek border in an apple-growing plain.
Cascata
Bogovë Waterfall
A cold spring-fed fall and pool in the Tomorr foothills near Berat.
Spiaggia
Borsh Beach
At roughly 7 km, the longest single beach on the Riviera, backed by one of Albania's largest olive groves.
Lago
Bovilla Reservoir
Tirana's drinking-water reservoir, ringed by limestone cliffs half an hour from the capital.
Città di medie dimensioni
Bulqizë
A chromium mining town — Albania is among the world's larger chrome producers.
Sito storico
Bunk'Art
A five-storey anti-nuclear bunker built for the communist leadership, opened to the public in 2014.
Città di medie dimensioni
Burrel
The seat of Mat municipality in the central highlands, near the Mat river dams.
Sito storico
Butrint
A Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman city layered on one wooded peninsula — Albania's first UNESCO site.
Area protetta
Butrint National Park
A wetland and forest park wrapped around the archaeological city, on the Vivari channel.
Sito storico
Byllis
The largest Illyrian city yet excavated, on a plateau above the Vjosa with five early Christian basilicas.
Sorgente
Bënjë Thermal Springs
Sulphur pools beside the Ottoman Katiu bridge, at the mouth of the Lengarica canyon.
Catena montuosa
Ceraunian Mountains
The coastal ridge that makes the Riviera: 2,000 m peaks rising directly out of the Ionian.
Città di medie dimensioni
Cërrik
A town founded around an oil refinery in the 1950s.
Villaggio
Dardhë
A stone village at 1,340 m in the Morava mountains, one of Albania's small ski destinations.
Città di medie dimensioni
Delvinë
A hill town above the Sarandë plain with a mixed Albanian and Greek population.
Villaggio
Dhërmi
An old white village on the slope above one of the Riviera's longest pebble beaches.
Spiaggia
Dhërmi Beach
A long white pebble shore under the Ceraunian ridge, and the Riviera's main nightlife strip.
Contea
Dibër County
Albania's mountain interior on the North Macedonian border, containing Mount Korab.
Città di medie dimensioni
Divjakë
The town beside the Karavasta lagoon and the pine forest of the national park.
Area protetta
Divjakë-Karavasta National Park
Coastal pine forest, dunes and lagoon protecting the region's Dalmatian pelican colony.
Città di medie dimensioni
Dropull
A valley of villages south of Gjirokastër with a large Greek-speaking population.
Spiaggia
Drymades Beach
The pine-backed northern half of the Dhërmi bay, slightly quieter than the main strip.
Città
Durrës
Albania's principal port and its oldest continuously inhabited city, founded as Epidamnos in 627 BC.
Sito storico
Durrës Amphitheatre
The largest Roman amphitheatre in the Balkans, found by accident in 1966 under the modern city.
Spiaggia
Durrës Beach
A continuous sand strip running south from the city — the busiest beach in Albania by visitor numbers.
Sito storico
Durrës Castle
Byzantine sea walls raised under Anastasius I, later strengthened by Venice and the Ottomans.
Contea
Durrës County
The country's smallest county by area and its main gateway: the biggest port, the longest sandy beach.
Città
Elbasan
A central industrial city inside an Ottoman fortress wall, on the old Via Egnatia.
Sito storico
Elbasan Castle
An Ottoman fortress built on a Roman site, with a living town inside its walls.
Contea
Elbasan County
A central industrial and agricultural county on the Shkumbin river, historically the road east.
Città di medie dimensioni
Ersekë
The highest town in Albania, seat of Kolonjë municipality below Mount Gramos.
Sito storico
Et'hem Bey Mosque
The small mosque on Skanderbeg Square whose frescoes of trees and waterfalls are unusual in Islamic art.
Città
Fier
The service town of the oil and farming plain, next to the ruins of Apollonia.
Contea
Fier County
The agricultural and oil-producing plain of the south-west, with the ancient city of Apollonia.
Spiaggia
Filikuri Beach
A hidden cove with a sea cave, most easily reached by boat from Himarë.
Città di medie dimensioni
Finiq
A municipality of villages near Sarandë, containing the Blue Eye and the ancient site of Phoenice.
Sito storico
Fortress of Bashtovë
A rare rectangular lowland fortress built by Venice to guard a river port on the Shkumbin.
Città di medie dimensioni
Fushë-Arrëz
A small timber and mining town in the northern highlands.
Città di medie dimensioni
Fushë-Krujë
The industrial town on the plain below Krujë, and the site of Albania's largest cement works.
Spiaggia
General Beach (Plazhi i Gjeneralit)
A sheltered arc on the Rodon cape, below Skanderbeg's coastal castle.
Spiaggia
Gjipe Beach
A pebble beach at the mouth of a limestone canyon, reachable only on foot or by boat.
Canyon
Gjipe Canyon
A narrow limestone slot that meets the sea at Gjipe beach — the Riviera's one true canyon.
Città
Gjirokastër
The 'stone city': slate-roofed tower houses on a steep slope beneath one of the Balkans' largest castles.
Sito storico
Gjirokastër Castle
One of the largest castles in the Balkans, holding an artillery gallery and a captured US aircraft.
Contea
Gjirokastër County
The southern mountain county of the Drino and Vjosa valleys, with a UNESCO stone city.
Villaggio
Golem
The busiest stretch of the central sandy coast, immediately south of Durrës.
Spiaggia
Golem and Mali i Robit
The continuation of the Durrës sand south past Qerret and Mali i Robit.
Spiaggia
Grama Bay
A remote bay on the Karaburun peninsula whose cliffs carry Greek and Latin inscriptions cut by ancient sailors.
Città di medie dimensioni
Gramsh
A mountain town on the Devoll river, once the site of a large arms plant.
Cascata
Grunas Waterfall
A 25–30 m fall in the Theth valley, and a declared natural monument.
Città di medie dimensioni
Himarë
The centre of the Riviera coast: a Greek-speaking historical community, an old hill village and a string of coves.
Sito storico
House of Leaves
The former headquarters of the Sigurimi's technical surveillance branch, kept as it was found.
Spiaggia
Jal Beach
Two adjacent pebble coves below Vuno, long a summer-camping spot for young Albanians.
Spiaggia
Kakome Bay
A deep, clear bay north of Sarandë, long the subject of a contested development.
Città di medie dimensioni
Kamëz
A city on Tirana's northern edge that grew almost entirely from internal migration after 1991.
Area protetta
Karaburun-Sazan Marine Park
Albania's only marine national park: sea caves, wrecks and the country's clearest water.
Lago
Karavasta Lagoon
The largest lagoon in Albania and the western Balkans' main breeding site for the Dalmatian pelican.
Città di medie dimensioni
Kavajë
A market town behind the Adriatic dunes, near the wide beaches of Golem and Spille.
Città di medie dimensioni
Klos
A Mat-valley town on the road between Burrel and the eastern mountains.
Città di medie dimensioni
Konispol
Albania's southernmost town, on the Greek border near the Butrint wetlands.
Città di medie dimensioni
Koplik
The seat of Malësi e Madhe, at the foot of the Alps near the Montenegrin border.
Città
Korçë
The highland city of serenades, the first Albanian-language school, and the country's oldest brewery.
Contea
Korçë County
A high south-eastern plateau of lakes and orchards, with a distinct café and brewing culture.
Spiaggia
Krorëz Beach
One of the least-developed larger coves on the southern Riviera.
Città di medie dimensioni
Krujë
Skanderbeg's mountain stronghold, an old bazaar street, and the national museum of the resistance.
Sito storico
Krujë Castle
Skanderbeg's base, which held out against three Ottoman sieges and now houses the national museum of the resistance.
Città di medie dimensioni
Krumë
The seat of Has municipality in the north-eastern hills near Kosovo.
Città di medie dimensioni
Ksamil
Four small islands and very clear shallow water; the most photographed and most crowded stretch of the Albanian coast.
Spiaggia
Ksamil Beaches
Shallow, very clear water and four low islets a short swim offshore.
Città di medie dimensioni
Kukës
A town rebuilt above a reservoir in the 1970s, and the northern end of the Nation's Road.
Contea
Kukës County
The north-eastern highlands on the Kosovo border, the gateway to the Valbona valley.
Aeroporto
Kukës International Airport
A small northern airport that opened to commercial flights in 2021, mainly serving the diaspora.
Area protetta
Kune-Vain Nature Reserve
Lagoons, pine and one of Albania's few surviving coastal alluvial forests, beside Shëngjin.
Città di medie dimensioni
Kuçovë
An oil town and air base, called Qyteti Stalin from 1950 to 1990.
Città di medie dimensioni
Këlcyrë
A town at the mouth of the Këlcyrë gorge on the Vjosa.
Lago
Lake Koman
A 34 km reservoir in a gorge so narrow the ferry crossing is treated as a scenic journey in its own right.
Lago
Lake Ohrid
One of Europe's oldest and deepest lakes, UNESCO-listed and home to species found nowhere else.
Lago
Lake Prespa
A high tectonic lake where Albania, Greece and North Macedonia meet, draining underground into Ohrid.
Lago
Lake Shkodër
The largest lake in southern Europe, shared with Montenegro and a major bird wintering ground.
Spiaggia
Lalzit Bay
A pine-backed sand bay north of Durrës that has become Albania's main resort-property zone.
Città di medie dimensioni
Laç
An industrial town and the site of the Saint Anthony pilgrimage church at Shëngjin i Vogël.
Città di medie dimensioni
Lezhë
Where the Albanian princes swore their 1444 league, and where Skanderbeg is buried.
Contea
Lezhë County
A short northern coast of lagoons and pine, backed by the copper country of Mirditë.
Città di medie dimensioni
Libohovë
A hill town below a castle built by Ali Pasha for his sister, opposite Gjirokastër.
Città di medie dimensioni
Librazhd
A Shkumbin-valley town at the gate of Shebenik-Jabllanicë National Park.
Villaggio
Lin
A peninsula village on Lake Ohrid with a 6th-century basilica floor mosaic and a prehistoric pile settlement.
Sito storico
Lin Basilica Mosaics
Floor mosaics of birds and vines from a hilltop basilica above Lake Ohrid.
Spiaggia
Livadhi Beach
The broad bay immediately south of Himarë, the most developed beach on that stretch.
Area protetta
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.
Spiaggia
Lukovë and Bunec
A run of small coves — Bunec, Krorëz and Shpella — below the village of Lukovë.
Area protetta
Lurë-Dejë Mountain National Park
A cluster of small glacial lakes among black pine on the Lurë ridge, badly damaged by logging and slowly recovering.
Città di medie dimensioni
Lushnjë
An agricultural centre on the Myzeqe plain, and the site of the 1920 congress that saved Albanian statehood.
Montagna
Maja Jezercë
At 2,694 m the highest peak entirely inside the Dinaric Alps, deep in the Albanian Alps.
Montagna
Maja e Çikës
The 2,045 m high point of the Ceraunian ridge, directly above the Riviera coast.
Città di medie dimensioni
Maliq
A town on a drained marsh plain, built around a sugar refinery in the 1950s.
Sito storico
Marubi National Museum of Photography
The archive of the Balkans' oldest photographic studio — about 500,000 negatives from 1858 onward.
Città di medie dimensioni
Memaliaj
A former coal-mining town in the Vjosa valley.
Sito storico
Mesi Bridge
A 108 m, thirteen-arch packhorse bridge over the Kir north-east of Shkodër.
Spiaggia
Mirror Beach (Pasqyrat)
Rock shelves and a small pebble strip where the water is unusually still.
Montagna
Mount Dajti
Tirana's own mountain: 1,613 m, a national park, and a 4.2 km cable car from the city edge.
Montagna
Mount Korab
At 2,764 m the highest point in both Albania and North Macedonia, on the border ridge.
Montagna
Mount Tomorr
A 2,416 m massif above Berat, and the site of an annual Bektashi pilgrimage each August.
Lago
Narta Lagoon
Albania's second-largest lagoon, with working saltpans and the island monastery of Zvërnec.
Sito storico
National History Museum
Albania's principal museum, under the Skanderbeg Square mosaic mural known as 'The Albanians'.
Città di medie dimensioni
Orikum
A marina town at the foot of Llogara, beside the ancient harbour of Oricum.
Canyon
Osum Canyon
A 26 km limestone gorge up to 80 m deep, run by raft in spring and walked in late summer.
Spiaggia
Palasë Beach
The first Riviera beach south of the Llogara pass, below the road's most dramatic descent.
Città di medie dimensioni
Patos
The centre of the Patos-Marinza field, the largest onshore oil field in continental Europe.
Città di medie dimensioni
Peqin
A small town on the Shkumbin at a crossing point used since Roman times.
Città di medie dimensioni
Peshkopi
The seat of Dibër County, known for thermal springs and the high pastures below Mount Korab.
Sito storico
Petrelë Castle
A small triangular castle on a wooded crag above the Erzen, half an hour from Tirana.
Città di medie dimensioni
Pogradec
A lakeside town on Ohrid, a UNESCO natural and cultural site shared with North Macedonia.
Città di medie dimensioni
Poliçan
A small town below Mount Tomorr built around a former arms factory.
Porto
Port of Durrës
The country's main commercial and passenger port, handling the large majority of Albanian seaborne trade.
Porto
Port of Sarandë
A small passenger port whose Corfu crossings are the busiest sea route into southern Albania.
Porto
Port of Shëngjin
A small northern cargo port beside the resort beach.
Porto
Port of Vlorë
Albania's second passenger port, with a seasonal fast link to Brindisi.
Spiaggia
Porto Palermo Bay
A near-enclosed bay wrapped around Ali Pasha's triangular fortress on its own peninsula.
Sito storico
Porto Palermo Castle
A triangular fortress on a causeway peninsula, built for Ali Pasha of Tepelena.
Spiaggia
Potami Beach
A compact bay just north of Himarë, backed by cliffs and olive slopes.
Area protetta
Prespa National Park
The Albanian share of a three-country park around the Great and Small Prespa lakes.
Sito storico
Prezë Castle
A compact hill castle between Tirana and the airport, with a view over the whole plain.
Città di medie dimensioni
Prrenjas
A former nickel-mining town on the road to Lake Ohrid.
Città di medie dimensioni
Pukë
A forested highland town on the old road north, at about 830 m.
Spiaggia
Pulëbardha Beach
A small cove between Sarandë and Ksamil, reached by a rough track.
Città di medie dimensioni
Pustec
A lakeside municipality on Lake Prespa with a recognised Macedonian minority.
Città di medie dimensioni
Përmet
A small Vjosa-side town known for its fruit preserves, thermal baths and polyphonic singing.
Villaggio
Qeparo
A half-abandoned upper village of stone houses above a quiet shingle bay.
Spiaggia
Radhimë Beach
The sheltered eastern shore of the Bay of Vlorë, facing the Karaburun peninsula.
Città di medie dimensioni
Roskovec
A small agricultural town in the Fier oil and farming belt.
Sito storico
Rozafa Castle
The rock fortress above the meeting of three rivers, and the setting of Albania's best-known legend.
Città di medie dimensioni
Rrogozhinë
A junction town on the Shkumbin near the Bashtovë fortress and the Spille beaches.
Città di medie dimensioni
Rrëshen
The seat of Mirditë, historic centre of Albania's copper mining region.
Città
Sarandë
The Ionian resort town facing Corfu, and the arrival point for most visitors to southern Albania.
Città di medie dimensioni
Selenicë
A bitumen-mining town inland from Vlorë, worked since antiquity.
Area protetta
Shebenik-Jabllanicë National Park
Old-growth beech forest on the North Macedonian border, part of a UNESCO-listed primeval forest network.
Città di medie dimensioni
Shijak
A market town between Durrës and Tirana with a long-established Roma and Egyptian community.
Città
Shkodër
The cultural capital of the north: a lake, a fortress, a bicycle city and a Catholic heartland.
Contea
Shkodër County
The north-west: the largest lake in southern Europe, the Albanian Alps and the Drin gorge.
Città di medie dimensioni
Shëngjin
A northern beach resort and small commercial port backed by the Kune-Vain pine lagoons.
Spiaggia
Shëngjin Beach
The main northern resort beach, with the Kune-Vain pine and lagoon reserve alongside.
Sito storico
Skanderbeg Museum
The museum of the 15th-century resistance, built inside Krujë Castle by Enver Hoxha's daughter and son-in-law.
Spiaggia
Spille Beach
A quieter sand beach south of Kavajë, backed by farmland rather than hotels.
Città di medie dimensioni
Tepelenë
Ali Pasha's birthplace, at the confluence of the Vjosa and the Drino.
Catena montuosa
The Albanian Alps
The limestone wall of the far north — locally the Accursed Mountains — shared with Montenegro and Kosovo.
Sorgente
The Blue Eye
A karst spring of extraordinary clarity whose bottom has never been definitively reached.
Fiume
The Buna
The short outflow of Lake Shkodër, and Albania's only navigable river.
Sito storico
The Churches of Voskopojë
Six surviving basilicas of a town that once rivalled any city in the Balkans, covered inside with frescoes.
Fiume
The Drin
Albania's longest river and the backbone of its electricity system, dammed three times in the north.
Fiume
The Osum
The river that carved the Osum canyon and runs through the middle of Berat.
Sito storico
The Pyramid of Tirana
Built as Enver Hoxha's mausoleum-museum, later a nightclub and NATO base, reopened in 2023 as a youth technology…
Fiume
The Shala River
A tributary of the Drin above Koman, reached by boat and often called Albania's Thailand.
Fiume
The Shkumbin
The river that splits Albania in two — the historic dividing line between Gheg and Tosk.
Fiume
The Vjosa
One of the last large free-flowing rivers in Europe, declared a Wild River National Park in March 2023.
Villaggio
![Title: A chief of Thethi, Tribe of Shale [i.e. Shala], Albania Abstract/medium: 1 photographic print.](/static/img/thumbs/theth-4.jpg)
Theth
A glacial valley village in the Albanian Alps: a lock-in tower, a waterfall, and one end of the country's best-known…
Area protetta
Theth National Park
The glacial valley park at the heart of the Albanian Alps, merged into a wider protected complex in 2022.
Città
Tirana
The capital: a fast-changing city of painted blocks, Ottoman survivals and new towers, under Mount Dajti.
Aeroporto
Tirana International Airport
Albania's principal airport, 17 km north-west of Tirana — for years the country's only functioning civil airport.
Contea
Tiranë County
The capital county: roughly a third of the country's people, its jobs and its universities.
Spiaggia
Uji i Ftohtë
Vlorë's own beach quarter, named for the cold springs that surface there.
Città di medie dimensioni
Ura Vajgurore
A market town on the Osum in the Berat plain.
Area protetta
Valbona Valley National Park
A broad U-shaped glacial valley of white gravel and beech forest under the Alps' highest peaks.
Villaggio
Valbonë
A wide white riverbed under 2,500 m peaks; the eastern end of the Theth trek.
Città di medie dimensioni
Vau i Dejës
The town beside the lowest dam of the Drin cascade, east of Shkodër.
Villaggio
Velipojë
A wide, shallow sand beach at the Buna river mouth, with a protected lagoon reserve.
Spiaggia
Velipojë Beach
A very shallow, wide sand beach at the Buna delta, beside a protected lagoon.
Area protetta
Vjosa Wild River National Park
Declared in March 2023, Europe's first national park built around a whole free-flowing river system.
Aeroporto
Vlora International Airport
A new airport under construction on the Narta lagoon edge, intended to serve the southern coast.
Città
Vlorë
Where the Adriatic meets the Ionian, and where Albanian independence was declared in 1912.
Contea
Vlorë County
The long southern coast: the Albanian Riviera, the Karaburun peninsula and the Corfu channel.
Città di medie dimensioni
Vorë
A road and rail junction between Tirana, Durrës and the airport.
Villaggio
Voskopojë
In the 18th century one of the largest towns in the Balkans; today a village of frescoed churches.
Villaggio
Vuno
A steep stone village between Dhërmi and Himarë, above Jal and Gjipe.
Città di medie dimensioni
Çorovodë
The seat of Skrapar municipality and the base for the Osum canyon.