20 days in Albania
Mouth watering gyros, deep orange sunsets, endless sunshine, wonderful people…these are the things that spring to mind when I think of the time I spent in beautiful Albania. Before backpacking I had never knew where Albania was, actually I was ignorant enough to not have even heard of the country! Looking back I cannot believe my ignorance, however a lot of people I speak to have also never really given Albania much thought. This is the first mistake. The second mistake is knowing of Albania, but not thinking of it as a travel or holiday destination. Now don’t get me wrong, there are some aspects of Albania that should be approached with caution, however is this not the same with most, if not all, countries?
In 2022, I spent 4 nights in Shkodër staying at The Wanders Hostel. 1 night spent in dorm room and 3 nights spent in a private room. If you can afford it, I would recommend staying in one of the private rooms. You have access to a fenced in community area of apartments using a key, you then walk up a spiral staircase to the top floor where you share a bathroom, kitchen and living area with 1 other bedroom (a couple/person from the same hostel). The apartment is light, airy and large and was perhaps a £20 more per person to the dorm bed. In my opinion this is definitely worth it, especially if you’ve been travelling for a while and would like some more space to cook, relax on the sofa, or just to have some definite time to yourself. Shkodër itself is a lovely city, the area outside the hostel is shiny, cobbled streets lined with tables from the rows of lively bars and cafes. In the evening, there was live music which added to the lively atmosphere of the town.
In the daytime, you can cycle to Lake Skadar from the city centre - it takes about 20-30 minutes. We were lazy and shared a taxi with another hostel friend (in my defense I was suffering the after effects of an allergic reaction to a wasp sting & was still feeling rough!), we stayed a few hours reading and journaling, then hitchhiked. Now, if you are travelling alone I would obviously not recommend hitchhiking, however I think it goes without saying, if you genuinely feel 100% perhaps trust your gut, but I would always heir on the side of caution. Luckily, my friend and I managed to hitchhike throughout Albania with no horror stories to tell, everybody who picked us up was extremely friendly and we felt safe at all times. In hindsight it was and is a very dangerous thing to do, so please stay safe.
My friends were dropped off at Rozafa Castle to watch the sunset, unfortunately as I was feeling very unwell I was dropped back in the city centre and walked back to the apartment. Rozafa Castle is set at the top of a hill with beautiful views of the fields, houses and views of Shkodër. The perfect spot to watch the evening sunset.
The main reason people visit Shkodër is because it is the gateway to Theth. A place among the mountains that words just cannot describe. Many of the hostels in Shkodër will happily organise your transport to and from Valbona. It is extremely popular to arrive in Valbona and then hike (17km) to Theth. However, my friend and I decided we would head straight to Theth, missing out on the hike. Arriving in Theth was incredible, the views of the mountains, the river streaming through the guesthouses, goats wandering across the road, cats and dogs playing on the open fields. It was just breathtaking and out of this world. I could quite easily just spend a week in Theth, getting lost on the many hiking paths, swimming in the river and pools, reading a book outside in the sun. The guesthouse we stayed in was called Alpine House - breakfast and evening meals are included in your room rate. The lodge was simply beautiful, a wooden, rustic lodge with multiple levels. We stayed on the top floor, the beds are all singles and it feels very much like you are staying in an American summer camp. I loved it. The meals are served inside the main guesthouse with benches lining the room. I loved this way of eating next to strangers, discussing hikes, travel routes/plans, or simply just chatting about life. Weirdly, this was where I was staying when I found out the Queen had passed away!
Following our couple nights stay in Theth, we travelled back to Shkodër for a few nights (this is when we stayed in the private room/apartment), and from there we journeyed to Berat. Berat is a small, clean, pretty town in south of Albania. We only stayed for 2 nights and stayed in Hostel Mangalem hidden in a good location to centre within the maze of cobbled streets - almost too well hidden, it took us a good 20 minutes to find the hostel!
Berat has a beautiful castle dating from the 13th century, described as a fortress that overlooks the town, that a group of us marched up (it was a tough walk!!) and once we’d found a nice spot overlooking the town below, we sat and watched the sun go down. A beautiful spot for a beautiful sunset, we watched as the lights twinkled from the houses below, we saw paragliders float through the sky and even saw a couple having their photos taken outside a church below following their wedding. We then explored the ruins in the dark, playing hide and seek and taking photos and we ended the evening sitting on a hill, watching the stars come out, pointing out the constellations and laughing. It was a simple, lovely evening.
Next on the list was Vlorë, a seaside town in the south of Albania. We only stayed here 1 night so I cannot comment too much on Vlorë. However I will say the hostel we stayed at was quite out of the way, not really within walking distance of the city centre, but in a good location to the beach! We mainly stopped in Vlorë as our group was keen to do multiple stops, and not travel the full distance from Shkodër to our destination, Himarë , in one trip.
Beautiful, wonderful Himarë. Where to start? To describe Himarë is to describe a place where time stops still, where the very air rich with positivity, happiness and life. Someone described Himarë as a magical place, magical in the sense that whatever you manifest will come to fruition there. If you have the chance to see just one place in Albania, Himarë is the place I’d recommend. We stayed in Sunbakers Hostel which is the most popular hostel for this town, and perhaps all of Albania. For every person we met who was backpacking Albania mentioned Sunbakers, they spoke of a fun, partying hostel. I would describe Sunbakers as not so much a party hostel, but definitely a social hostel. A whole group of us ended up staying at Sunbakers for over a week (we stayed 11 nights and had originally planned to stay only 4!), therefore we all became a big group of friends. We just couldn’t bring ourselves to leave. Day after day we would look at each other and say “one more day?” which then snowballed into several more days. That was the thing with Sunbakers, and Himarë, it sucked you in. Life in Himarë was simple yet oh so pleasant. Breakfast was served for free, you had 3 options; French toast, eggs or toast. Being vegan I chose the toast option, however after spending a week watching everybody else enjoying their French toast I was jealous. My friend asked if I could have French toast cooked in just sugar without the egg and my wish was granted. The man taking breakfast orders was an older man, possibly in his early seventies, who volunteered at the hostel following his move from the States. His name was Tom and he was so funny and charismatic. Quite often he would forget people’s orders (he never wrote them down), he would wander past and suddenly spot somebody who he’d forgotten their order, he’d march back to the kitchen and promptly forget again! This was part of the charm of the breakfast experience at Sunbakers and nobody minded. The day I had my vegan French toast he had to be reminded of my order at least 4 times, it was so comical. When it eventually arrived they had given me 6 slices of vegan French toast (rather than the regular 2) as an apology for the delay. I look back at these breakfasts with a fond smile.
We spent our days mainly at the beach, we’d traipse down in small groups and by midday we’d end up in one big group. Our towels stretched on the beach in clumps, some people reading, some napping, some chatting, some playing card games, some swimming. They were those rare days were the hours stretched out endlessly ahead of you. Evenings were spent ordering food (or cooking in the kitchen), the hostel had a deliveryman from the town who would drive up on his motorbike with people’s pizza or gyros orders. There was always music playing from the outside bar, but in the evening it would be louder. People would play drinking games, drink or simply get to know each other. Laughter, music and happiness seemed to emit from us all.
Eventually we managed to escape Himarë’s charms and left to spend 1 night in Sarandë before crossing the border into Greece. Sarandë is a lovely seaside city next to the Greek border. You can also travel to Corfu from here I believe. We only really had one evening in Sarandë which we spent exploring the centre and finding somewhere nice for food and cocktails. We stumbled across a few fairground rides and had a go on the bumper cars!
Overall Albania is one of my favourite countries I’ve visited. It’s definitely off the beaten track and not as easy to navigate as your usual “TUI” holiday. I hope this encourages people to take the plunge into a different type of holiday, to hop on a minibus from Tirana Airport and explore the rest of this beautiful country with friendly locals and see a bit more of a country you wouldn’t necessarily think of when you think of a trip away.
If you have any comments, questions or anecdotes please do reach out! I will be adding a full post for each place I stayed in Albania on my Instagram: @eveatravels
Have a wonderful day!
