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