Tirana
This fantastic conversion – from a massive Cold War bunker on the outskirts of Tirana into a history and contemporary art museum – is Albania's most…
Must-see attractions in Tirana
Tirana
The largest museum in Albania holds many of the country's archaeological treasures and a replica of Skanderbeg's massive sword (how he held it, rode his…
Tirana
Tracing the relatively brief history of Albanian painting from the early 19th century to the present day, this beautiful space also holds temporary…
Tirana
The little cousin to the main Bunk'Art, this museum, which is within a communist-era bunker and underground tunnel system below the Ministry of Internal…
Tirana
This grand old 1930s building started life as Albania's first maternity hospital, but within a few years the focus turned from creating new life to ending…
Tirana
Just 25km east of Tirana is Mt Dajti National Park. It is the most accessible mountain in the country, and many locals go there to escape the city rush…
Tirana
Sheshi Skënderbej is the best place to start witnessing Tirana's daily goings-on. Until it was pulled down by an angry mob in 1991, a 10m-high bronze…
Former Residence of Enver Hoxha
Tirana
This simple three-storey villa was the home of Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha for decades, and his wife continued to live here for years after his death in…
Tirana
This dramatically set 15th-century hilltop castle, just a short distance outside Tirana, is worth a trip if you're not visiting one of the other better…
National Archaeological Museum
Tirana
The collection here is comprehensive and impressive in parts, but there's only minimal labelling in Albanian and none at all in English (nor are tours in…
Tirana
Tirana's 35m-tall clock tower was completed by Ottoman architects in 1822, and it was for years the tallest building in the capital, sounding a bell every…
Equestrian Statue of Skanderbeg
Tirana
An impressive monument to the Albanian national hero stands in the middle of this eponymous square/traffic roundabout.
Tirana
Designed by Enver Hoxha's daughter and son-in-law and completed in 1988, this monstrously unattractive building was formerly the Enver Hoxha Museum and…
Tirana
To one side of Sheshi Skënderbej, the 1789–1823 Et'hem Bey Mosque was spared destruction during the atheism campaign of the late 1960s because of its…
Tirana
At the top of Rr Elbasanit is the Martyrs' Cemetery, where some 900 partisans who died in WWII are buried. The views over the city and surrounding…
Statue of the Unknown Partisan
Tirana
The socialist realist Statue of the Unknown Partisan, just off Sheshi Skënderbej, seems to be aiming his weapons at the Parliament building (1924) down…
Tirana
If you turn up Rr Murat Toptani, behind the National Gallery of Arts, you'll pass the 6m-high walls of the Fortress of Justinian, the last remnants of a…
Tirana
A rather incongruous 19th-century stone bridge remains remarkably well preserved in Tirana's modern centre and is one of just a few remnants of Ottoman…
Tirana
To the east of Sheshi Skënderbej is the white stone Palace of Culture, which has a theatre, shops and art galleries. Construction of the palace began as a…
Tirana
An architectural creation by Enver Hoxha's daughter and son-in-law, the square Palace of Congress is on Tirana's main ceremonial avenue. It no longer…
