10 Days in Albania: Alps, UNESCO Towns & the Riviera, Day by Day

Ten days is the sweet spot for Albania. A week covers the south properly; ten days lets you bolt the Albanian Alps onto the front — Theth's stone towers, the Valbona valley and the Komani Lake ferry — before dropping south for the UNESCO towns and the coast. This is the route we'd drive ourselves, and the one our 7-day guests most often wish they'd had three more days for.

The structure: Alps first while your legs are fresh, cities in the middle, beach at the end. Mountains-first also derisks the trip — if weather shifts your Theth plans, you can reshuffle the south; the reverse is much harder.

Comparing trip lengths? Start with our 7, 10 and 14-day overview →

The ten days at a glance

Two nights in the mountains, one ferry, two UNESCO towns, three nights of coast.

Days 1–3: Shkodra and Theth

Start with the easy 90-minute drive to Shkodra, the lakeside northern capital that feels half-Italian: pastel façades, espresso bars, more bicycles than anywhere in the Balkans. Climb Rozafa Castle for sunset — lake on one side, mountains on the other.

Then the road everyone remembers: up and over into Theth. It's paved now, still spectacular, and takes about three hours from Shkodra with photo stops. Theth village keeps its famous lock-in tower and its slow rhythm; walk to the Grunas waterfall the first afternoon and to the Blue Eye of Theth (the mountain one — you'll meet its southern namesake on day 7) the next day. Nights are guesthouse nights: dinner is whatever the garden and the grandmother decided, and it's often the best food of the trip.

Strong legs and an early start on day 3? The Theth–Valbona pass crossing at 1,800 m is the best day hike in the Balkans — doable here if you arrange a driver shuttle, or built in properly on our guided 3-day Alps trek.

Day 4: the Komani Lake ferry

Backtrack to the Komani dam for the ferry — two hours gliding through a flooded canyon that looks fjord-built, one of Europe's great boat rides for the price of a pizza. Book a day or two ahead in summer. Off the boat, drive down to Tirana for the night and give the evening to Blloku's cafés.

Days 5–7: Berat, Gjirokastër and the Blue Eye

Now the southern classics, one town per day so neither gets shortchanged. Berat first — the city of a thousand windows, its lived-in castle quarter and the Onufri Museum's icons, with a family winery for the evening. Then two and a half hours south to Gjirokastër: the great fortress, the bazaar, the Skenduli House and qifqi rice balls for lunch.

Day 7 starts at the Blue Eye spring before the crowds, crosses the Muzina Pass, and splits the afternoon between the ruins of Butrint and the beach at Ksamil. Sleep by the sea.

Days 8–10: the Riviera, properly

This is why you added the extra days: the coast without the rush. Beach-hop north — Gjipe's canyon cove (25 minutes on foot, worth every step), Jale's clear water, sunset in Himarë. Day 9 is deliberately empty: swim, eat fish, repeat. If sitting still isn't your thing, Himarë's boat tours reach the Pirates' Cave and coves with no road access.

Day 10 crosses the Llogara Pass — sea level to 1,000 metres of hairpins with the whole coast in the mirror — and returns to Tirana via lunch in Vlora. Around three and a half hours of driving, the most of any day, and the views make it feel like less.

The practical part

Total driving is roughly 22 hours across ten days. A compact SUV is right for this route; the Theth road is paved but mountain-grade. Book the Komani ferry and Theth guesthouses ahead in July and August. Cash for the mountains, cards fine on the coast.

Prefer to skip the logistics? Our 7-day guided road trip covers the southern loop with a guide-driver, and pairs with the 3-day Theth & Valbona trek for almost exactly this route — ferries, guesthouses and luggage mules included.