Albania
The coastline is what Croatia was twenty years ago. Go now
Population
2.7m people
Currency
Albanian Lek
Main Language
Albanian
best time to visit
May – June and September-October
Climate
Mediterranean coast, hot dry summers, cold mountainous interior
Visa
Visa free for up to 90 days in any 180 day period for UK, EU and most Western visitors
Country overview
Albania spent nearly fifty years as the most closed country in Europe under a regime so paranoid it built around 170,000 concrete bunkers across a country of under three million people. It opened in 1991 with essentially no tourism industry, and has spent the last decade being discovered very fast.
The Albanian Riviera is the reason. Beaches around Ksamil, Dhermi and Himare have the clear water and rocky coves of Croatia or Greece at a fraction of the price, though the building work happening along that coast right now suggests the window is closing. Butrint, just south, is a genuinely major archaeological site with a fraction of the visitors it deserves.
Inland is the more interesting half. Berat and Gjirokaster are Ottoman-era towns of stacked stone houses, both UNESCO listed. The Accursed Mountains in the north offer serious hiking and a guesthouse culture built on a code of hospitality that predates the state. Tirana, meanwhile, has painted its grey socialist blocks in bright colours and become genuinely fun.
Annual events and festivals
- Summer Day (14 Mar) — a pre-Christian spring festival, biggest in Elbasan, with a sweet called ballokume.
- Dita e Veres processions (Mar) — bonfires and street parties marking the end of winter.
- Gjirokaster National Folklore Festival (every 4-5 years) — held in the castle. The most important traditional music event in the country.
- Tirana International Film Festival (Sep) — the largest film festival in Albania.
- Independence Day (28 Nov) — marks independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912.
- Liberation Day (29 Nov) — the end of occupation in 1944, marked the following day.
- Kala Festival, Dhermi (Jun) — a beach music festival that has put the Riviera on the map for a young crowd.
- Turtle Fest, Tirana (Sep) — a large open-air arts and music event.
- Bajram (varies) — both Eid festivals are public holidays in a country with a Muslim majority and unusual religious tolerance.
- Orthodox and Catholic Easter (Mar-Apr) — both are public holidays. Albania takes this genuinely seriously.