Highlights of Albania

Fly from London Heathrow to Tirana, and transfer to coastal Durrës, a thriving port and resort, with soft sand beaches, seafood restaurants and shopping plazas. Four nights at the 4-star Giulia Albergo Hotel.

Drive to Kruja, Albania’s capital when Skanderbeg led the resistance movement against the Turks, keeping them at bay for 25 years. Visit the Ethnographic Museum and the Skanderbeg Museum, built within Kruja castle and recording the history of the country’s most celebrated national hero; and enjoy time to stroll through the cobbled lanes of Kruja’s Old Bazaar, lined with timber-built shops selling colourful textiles and crafts. Travel to the present-day capital, Tirana, where a walking tour focuses on the around the Skanderbeg Square and the Bllok area, a former exclusive enclave of villas for the communist elite; takes in the modern monuments of central Skanderbeg Square; and visits Komiteti Bar, a bar with communist memorabilia, for a drink.
(B, L)

Travel south to Berat, a UNESCO World Heritage town, renowned for its 16th-century mosques and cluster of white, multi-windowed Ottoman houses, and set between rugged mountains and the Osumi River. Visit the impressive citadel castle, overseeing the town from the crown of a hill, and the Onufri Museum, dedicated to the 16th-century artist and iconographer Onufri, whose work features in the interiors of many of Albania’s Orthodox churches.
(B, L)

Enjoy a day at leisure in Durrës, perhaps to explore the 2nd-century, 15,000-seat, Roman amphitheatre, take in the views from the top of the round tower, or simply stroll along the Adriatic shore.
(B)

Transfer to the airport for the return flight to London Heathrow.
(B)

Fly from London Heathrow to Tirana, and transfer to coastal Durrës, a thriving port and resort, with soft sand beaches, seafood restaurants and shopping plazas. Four nights at the 4-star Giulia Albergo Hotel.

In the morning enjoy a walking tour of the archaeologic area of Durrës with the chance to view the amphitheatre. Travel to the present-day capital, Tirana, where we visit Bunkart 1, a massive anti-nuclear bunker built for the communist dictator Enver Hoxha, now converted into a museum followed by a vegetarian lunch and a walking tour which focuses on the around the Skanderbeg Square and the Bllok area, a former exclusive enclave of villas for the communist elite; takes in the modern monuments of central Skanderbeg Square; and visits Komiteti Bar, a bar with communist memorabilia, for a drink.
(B, L)

Drive to Kruja, Albania’s capital when Skanderbeg led the resistance movement against the Turks, keeping them at bay for 25 years. Visit the Skanderbeg Museum, built within Kruja castle and recording the history of the country’s most celebrated national hero; and enjoy time to stroll through the cobbled lanes of Kruja’s Old Bazaar, lined with timber-built shops selling colourful textiles and crafts.
(B, L)

Travel south to Berat, a UNESCO World Heritage town, renowned for its 16th-century mosques and cluster of white, multi-windowed Ottoman houses, and set between rugged mountains and the Osumi River. Visit the impressive citadel castle, overseeing the town from the crown of a hill, and the Onufri Museum, dedicated to the 16th-century artist and iconographer Onufri, whose work features in the interiors of many of Albania’s Orthodox churches.
(B, L)

Transfer to the airport for the return flight to London Heathrow.
(B)