Top things to do in Tirana

Bunk'Art

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 exciting new sight and easily a Tirana highlight. With almost...

With its lace window-curtains and tubs of flowering plants, this might look like a simple French bistrot and indeed, the food leans heavily on Gallic cuisine. But a meal here reveals a refined operation, as...

Uka Farm was founded in 1996 by former Minister of Agriculture Rexhep Uka, who started organic cultivation of agricultural products on a small plot of land. His son Flori, a trained winemaker and standout amateur...

Named for the owner's collection of antique Albanian radios, Radio is an eclectic dream with decor that includes vintage Albanian film posters, deep-1950s lamp shades and even a collection of communist-era...

One of the great classics of Tirana dining. This tiny place which consists of nothing but a small smoky grill, does one thing and one thing only – qofta (rissoles) – and the same woman and her family have been...

Styled as a cafe-museum, this little bohemian place looks like a flea market. Every spare centimetre is crammed with communist-era relics, farming implements (those pitchforks hanging from the bar are probably a...

This local institution serves traditional Albanian and Italian fare in the heart of Blloku. The inventive menu includes oven-baked veal and eggs, stuffed aubergine, pizza, and pilau with chicken and pine nuts. Be...

National History Museum

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 horse and fought at the same time is a mystery). The...

National Gallery of Arts

Tracing the relatively brief history of Albanian painting from the early 19th century to the present day, this beautiful space also holds temporary exhibitions. The interesting collection includes 19th-century...

Around the corner from the chic cafes of the Blloku neighbourhood, chef Bledar Kola’s Albanian food metamorphosis is hidden behind a row of grain mills and a wall of corn husks. The restaurant is one of the...

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 Affairs, focuses on the role of the police and security...

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 lives, as the hospital was converted to an interrogation...

Despite its rather pretentious name, this place is all understatement, with a restrained decor and passionate staff who effortlessly translate the daily specials from a giant blackboard into English for guests....

This beach-shack-like place on the edge of the New Market square looks decidedly out of place, but then the food it serves is also utterly different to anything else you might find in Tirana. Created by an...

Enough Albanian traditional artefacts to shame an ethnographic museum bedeck the walls of this charming Blloku place. There's an excellent selection of traditional Albanian cooking – try the delicious Korça...

This former bunker is now a bohemian bolthole amid a sea of fairly predictable Blloku bars. Inside it's stuffed full of communist-era furniture and antiques/junk including homemade paintings, old vinyl, clocks...

A super popular seafood and sushi restaurant merged with a lounge bar that attracts all of Tirana's beautiful people. Service is on the mark and the food, which is genuinely decent, is presented with an artistic...

Downstairs from the small eponymous hotel, the Green House boasts an enviable terrace and a classy atmosphere that hums with the buzz of the local Blloku crowds day and night. The menu is strongly Italian- and...

Styled like an old English-village teashop, this little place serves a dozen bio teas, although we're pretty certain that the mango and yoghurt tea isn't a standard of English-village teashops. More familiar to...

Right in the heart of the city, this long-established bookshop has an excellent selection of books on Albania (including many in English) you're unlikely to find elsewhere, as well as good maps and guidebooks to...