Europe's Hidden Corner - Tirana Travel Guide

Let’s be honest - Tirana probably isn’t on your European city break shortlist. That’s your first mistake. Albania’s capital is one of the most surprising cities in Europe: compact, affordable, and full of intriguing contradictions.

It’s where Ottoman mosques sit beside communist bunkers and where cold-war paranoia gives way to rooftop cocktails.   These contradictions make it refreshingly impossible to crowbar into tired tropes of ‘East Meets West’ or ‘the Paris/Venice of the East’ – it simply doesn’t fit and is all the better for it.

Tirana isn’t about checklist tourism. It’s about soaking up stories, discovering the oddball corners of recent history, and realising - somewhere between your third cocktail and your second helping of burek - that you’re already planning to come back.

Here’s a handy Tirana travel guide for a short break following a trip I took with good friend, travel-lover and bad influence Drew. If you’re here for longer, pick up a hire car and head for the mountains.

Sidebar: the airport bus is somewhat intermittent and there’s no Bolt or Uber for company.  I used Welcome Pick Ups in both directions for a quick and easy ride to my Air BnB the centre of town.

Sidebar 2: When not travelling, Drew is an author, speaking and expert web design. He used the latter skill to help me build this site from scratch. Take a look at his many talents here.

Day 1: Bunkering Down

Start your day below ground at Bunk’Art 1 (don’t worry the sequel appears later), a Cold War-era bunker built to protect Albania’s communist elite from the nuclear fallout that never came. It’s now part history museum, part immersive art installation, and entirely surreal - complete with wax figures, propaganda films, and dimly lit corridors that could do with fewer mannequins.  It begins to tell the story of the outright bizarre regime Albanians lived under from 1945 to 1989 where the country was, to all intents and purposes, completely cut off from the outside world.

They also throw in contemporary bizarreness like a hall of mirrors in random rooms, which keeps you on your toes.

Stops later in your visit will colour in some of the darker corners of this period.

Entry is 500 ALL (opening 09.00-16.00 Mo-Th, to 17.00 Fr-Su), a taxi from the city centre is approximately 800 ALL – agree the price before you get in.

The museum is located near Dajti Ekspres cable car, so your morning pivots nicely from subterranean to scenic. Stroll back through the tunnel from the museum and grab a coffee in one of the chic pavement cafes en-route.

Once you arrive, the Dajti Ekspres (1,400 ALL return, 09.00 – 18.00) whisks you to the top of Mount Dajti in 15 minutes. You’ll be rewarded with panoramic views of Tirana and the mountain ranges which stretch in every direction around it. Alongside a couple of short walks along the summit, you’ll find a restaurant with a terrace and some tame deer – and semi-feral cats.  All of them are likely to judge your sandwich choices approvingly.

After a lazy descent back down on the cable car, hail a cab back to the centre of Tirana and visit the House of Leaves (entry 700 ALL, Tu – Sa 09.00 – 16.00, Su 10.00 – 15.00, closed Monday), the former Sigurimi (secret police) surveillance HQ turned museum. It’s small, well-curated, and extremely unsettling. You’ll be left pondering how anyone who live a normal life with the level of state surveillance during the ‘closed’ era and the cult of personality Albania’s leader Enver Hoxha imposed upon the country.

After reflecting and refreshing at your hotel, head to dinner at Mullixhiu (Lashgush Poradeci) one of Tirana’s best restaurants where local ingredients get the fine-dining treatment in a rustic-chic space. Think wild mushroom soup, slow-cooked lamb, and a homemade pasta that gives anything you’ll eat in Italy. Online reservations possible, best to book in advance on a Saturday night.

For your evening to take an altogether sillier twist, make for Radio Bar (Rruga Ismail Quemali) in the Blloku district. Once a gated zone for the regime's inner circle, the district is now choc-a-bloc with bars, cafes, and Tirana’s bright young things.  

Radio serves excellent beers cocktails with a side of Cold War kitsch - from the 1970s posters of films you won't have heard to the hooded lamps. You may recognise the telephones from your grandmother’s house although after your earlier experiences you may also who exactly is listening on the other side.

Cash only so plan accordingly.

Day 2: Squares, Secrets…and Pyramids

Begin your second day with Bunk’Art 2 (entry 500 ALL, 09.30 – 18.00 Mo-Th, to 20,00 Fr-Su), conveniently located just behind (and under) Skanderbeg Square. Where Bunk’Art 1 is grand and sprawling, this sister site is compact and focused. After your history lessons yesterday, you won’t need much imagination to comprehend some of the more sinister exhibits. The interrogation room replica alone is enough to make you double-check your phone’s location settings.

From there, stroll through Skanderbeg Square, Tirana’s central plaza and a surprisingly relaxed public space with the focal point a large statue of Skanderbeg himself, Albania’s national hero.

It’s flanked by landmarks like the Et’hem Bey Mosque, a beautiful 18th-century mosque recently reopened after extensive renovations, and the National History Museum, worth a look for the mosaic façade if nothing else.  Decent views can be had by either climbing the mosque minaret or riding the ferris wheel on the side of the square. 

While you’re here divert 5 minutes to the Pyramid of Tirana.  It opened as a hagiographic museum to the late dictator Enver Hoxha. It was the most expensive building ever built in Albania at a time when it was one of the poorest countries on Earth.  It’s had multiple functions since – IT hub, broadcasting centre, even NATO base during the 1999 Kosovan War.  Stroll to the top and ponder where this ranks in your list of pyramids.

For lunch, detour to Oda (Rruga Riza Jasa) a traditional Albanian restaurant – cash only again - tucked behind a quiet courtyard just a few minutes’ walk from the square. The menu features local staples like fërgesë (peppery cheese stew), stuffed aubergines, and baked lamb with yogurt, all served in earthenware pots. It’s unfussy, authentic, and very good value.

Once you’re fully sated, head to Pazari i Ri, the “New Bazaar” (Rruga Shemsi Haka) where you’ll find fruit vendors, artisan stalls, and plenty of places to sip strong coffee while watching the world go by. The ceramics and olive wood items on offer are particularly good value.  Fresh fruit and veg butts up against double-headed eagle souvenirs and piles of late 20th century kitsch – everything from medals to Hoxha-era posters to telephones (hey, you may have been inspired by Radio Bar last night).  Whether the antiques are genuine or cheap knock-offs is anyone’s guess but haggle away!

Side bar – if you’ve been to Italy and seen similar olive wood items (tableware etc.), it’s likely because they’re all made in Albania.  Close to the source they sell for about a quarter of the Italian price.  So now’s the time to go wild in the aisles!

Other good items on offer include local honey, olive oil infused with herbs and mountain tea.  Raki and other deceptively clear local spirits are also available if you prefer your souvenirs to come with a bit of a kick. 

If you’re still standing, head to Nouvelle Vague (Rruga Pjetër Bogdani) for one last cocktail and people watching.  It also provides the opportunity to try to put Albania into the context of everywhere else you’ve travelled. You’ll likely fail but the ‘I can’t quite put my finger on it’ uniqueness will linger long after you depart.

Why You Should Go

Tirana doesn’t try to impress you with monuments or braggy landmarks. It draws you in slowly…with its contradictions, its warmth, its scrappy creativity. It’s a city still shrugging off the weight of its past and figuring out what kind of future it wants and that makes it a fascinating place to visit right now.

There’s a lot to take in: bunkers and mountaintops, secret police files and slow-cooked stew, street markets and rooftop bars. It’s affordable, approachable, and, best of all, still mostly undiscovered.  Just remember to bring cash.