Arrive Tirana

You land in Tirana and there's a car waiting to take you to the hotel. Late afternoon (4pm-ish) we start our walking tour where we get to visit the main square, historic sites, and a Cold War bunker. We close the night with a welcome dinner, a raki shot, and a short intention-setting session, because knowing why you came is what makes the other days meaningful.

Overnight: Tirana

Meals Included: Dinner

Tirana to Shkodër

We say farewell to Tirana and drive north to the charming town of Shkodër and take a walking tour of the historic center and Rozafa Castle up on its hill, where the view opens out over the lake and the rivers below. In the afternoon we pick up bikes and ride along Lake Shkodër, the largest lake in Southern Europe, slow and with no agenda. (Not a biker? Wander Shkoder instead.) Dinner is at an Albanian family's home, everything grown or raised close by, eaten at a long table under the grapevines in their backyard.

Overnight: Shkodër

Meals Included: Breakfast

The Albanian Alps & the Blue Eye

Today we go on a day trip north into the Albanian Alps to Theth. We will take an easy guided walk, about three miles round trip, stopping at the Blue Eye, a spring so green and blue it looks edited. Time to sit in the sun and just be. (Not a hiker? Wander the town or take a horseback ride instead.) On the way back we visit a workshop where local women artisans make masks by hand and then have dinner at a women's social enterprise, supporting women’s economic independence.

Overnight: Shkodër

Meals Included: Breakfast

Shkodër to Berat

We say goodbye to Shkoder and head south to a farm for a cooking class. You'll learn about and make authentic Albanian food, eat what you made, and finish with a wine tasting, which is usually where the laughing starts. After full bellies, we continue on to Berat, where we walk the castle, the old town, and across the bridge into Gorica. Berat has white houses stacked up the hillside with so many windows they named the city for them. Dinner is at an organic family restaurant.

Overnight: Berat

Meals Included: Breakfast, Lunch, and Wine :)

Berat to Gjirokastër

Today we drive to Gjirokastër with stops at a monastery and the Ali Pasha Bridge, both too pretty to drive past. Gjirokastër is small and known for it Ottoman-era architecture and cobblestone streets. When we arrive we will take an easy walk of the historic core: the castle, the old town, and a Cold War tunnel dug underneath it by a government always expecting the worst. Dinner will be at a guesthouse run by a local Albanian woman.

Overnight: Gjirokastër

Meals Included: Breakfast

Gjirokastër to Himarë

We leave for the coast with a stop in the village of Lazarat for something genuinely funky: a cheese tasting with live polyphonic singing, a tradition on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Several voices hold separate lines at once with no instruments behind them, and hearing that a few feet away is nothing like hearing a recording. (Lazarat used to be the weed capital of Europe. We are going for the cheese. I want to be very clear that we are going for the cheese.) We will continue to the turquoise blue coastal water and settle into Himarë, our home for two nights.

Overnight: Himarë

Meals Included: Breakfast & lots of cheese :)

The Albanian Riviera, a day to enjoy the sea

Today you have the option to join a half day private boat excursion along the Albanian coast, pulling into beaches you cannot reach any other way and caves that open straight out of the rock — with your drink of choice, snorkel gear, and nowhere in particular to be. The afternoon is yours: the beach in front of the hotel, wander the town, sneak off to another beach, or stay curled up with a book.

Overnight: Himarë

Meals Included: Breakfast

Himarë to Tirana

Today we make the scenic drive through the Llogara Pass on our way back to Tirana. The road climbs and the whole coast opens up underneath you and we enjoy a brief stop at the ruins at Apollonia, a Greek and Roman archeological site. There's a panorama restaurant at the halfway point that serves yogurt with honey and walnuts, and I'm telling you now, that dish alone is worth the stop. We reach the hotel with time to freshen up before the farewell dinner and our closing time together.

Overnight: Tirana

Meals Included: Breakfast & Dinner

Fly home, sad it’s over but happy it happened

Well well well. We made it to the end. A car to the airport in the morning will be waiting for you, or if your flight is later, a little more time to wander Tirana. And if you're not ready to go home yet — Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo and North Macedonia are all right there. Stretch this into something longer if the Balkans call you.

Meals Included: Breakfast

Day 1 June 19