The classic Albania road trip is a 10-day southern loop from Tirana: Berat → Llogara pass → Riviera → Saranda & Butrint → Gjirokastër → back to Tirana. It totals about 25 to 30 hours of driving, under two hours a day, so you get mountains, ancient cities and the coast without the long hauls. A standard car is enough.
Albania is made for a road trip. It is small enough that a single loop links snow-capped passes, Ottoman old towns, Roman ruins and the best beaches on the Mediterranean’s cheapest coast, and the driving days are short.
Here is the ten-day southern loop I would drive, day by day, with the stops that earn their place and the practical notes that make it smooth.
The route at a glance
The whole loop starts and ends in Tirana, so it is easy to book with a single airport car pickup.
| Days | Stage | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | Tirana → Berat | ~2 h |
| 3-4 | Berat → Llogara pass → Riviera | ~4 h total |
| 5-7 | Riviera → Saranda, Ksamil, Butrint | ~2 h |
| 8-9 | Saranda → Gjirokastër → Tirana | ~4 h total |
| 10 | Tirana & departure | none |
The total is roughly 25 to 30 hours of driving across ten days, which leaves most of each day free for the actual sightseeing.
Car, licence and driving basics
A standard saloon is plenty for this loop, including the Llogara pass, so you do not need a 4×4. Expect 35 to 60 € a day in summer plus fuel, and your EU or UK licence is accepted, with a minimum hire age usually of 20.
The golden rule: drive the mountain sections in daylight. The main highways are newly rebuilt and easy, but the passes have unlit switchbacks, and Albanian overtaking is confident. Save Llogara for a clear morning or afternoon.
Days 1-2: Tirana and Berat
Land in Tirana and give it a day: Skanderbeg Square, the Bunk’Art bunkers, the House of Leaves and dinner in Blloku. Then drive about two hours south to Berat, the “city of a thousand windows”, where tiers of white Ottoman houses climb the hillside above the Osum river. Stay a night in the old Mangalem quarter, walk up to the castle (still inhabited), and eat in a courtyard taverna.
Days 3-4: Llogara pass and the Riviera
This is the day the trip earns its stripes. Drive from Berat toward the coast and up over the Llogara pass, where the road climbs a forested ridge and then falls away in switchbacks, unveiling the Riviera and the Ionian Sea far below. It is the finest drive in the country, so take it slow and stop at the viewpoints.
Drop down to the Riviera villages, Dhërmi, Himarë or Vuno, and base yourself for two nights. Swim, eat grilled fish one street back from the water, and walk down to a wild cove like Gjipe for a beach the road cannot reach.
Days 5-7: Saranda, Ksamil and Butrint
Continue south to Saranda, your base for the far south. Three days lets you do it properly:
- Ksamil (15 km south): shallow turquoise bays and tiny islands you can swim to. Go early or late to dodge the midday crowds.
- Butrint (17 km, ~10 €): the UNESCO archaeological park of Greek, Roman and Venetian remains by a lagoon. Morning is best.
- The Blue Eye spring: mesmerising, but remember swimming is banned.
- Lekursi Castle above Saranda for a sunset with the whole bay in view.
If the mood takes you, a fast ferry to Corfu (30 minutes to an hour) makes an easy day in Greece, passport in hand.
Days 8-9: Gjirokastër and back
Turn inland to Gjirokastër, another UNESCO old town, this one of grey stone houses and a huge hilltop castle with a Cold War spy plane parked in the grounds. Walk the slippery cobbled bazaar, tour an Ottoman merchant’s house, and try the local qifqi rice balls.
From Gjirokastër it is a steady drive back to Tirana on rebuilt roads. Break the journey with a coffee stop, and leave day 10 loose for the capital and your flight.
- Drive the Llogara pass in daylight, ideally heading south toward the sea for the best reveal.
- A standard saloon is enough for the whole southern loop. Skip the 4×4 upsell.
- Book Riviera nights ahead in July and August, when villages fill up fast.
- You cannot swim in the Blue Eye. Enjoy the view and save the swim for Ksamil.
- Bring your passport for the optional Corfu ferry: it is an EU border crossing.
Adding the northern Alps
Got two weeks? Extend north from Tirana toward Shkodër, then take the Lake Koman ferry through a steep, fjord-like gorge into the Valbona and Theth valleys, home to the country’s finest hiking. The classic Valbona-to-Theth pass hike is best from mid-June to late September. Note that some of the far-north roads are rougher, and this is where a signal genuinely disappears.
Navigating the loop and staying connected
A self-drive loop lives on your phone: real-time directions on rebuilt roads maps sometimes lag, offline maps for the Llogara switchbacks, booking the next guesthouse from the beach, and translating a village menu. On the passes and corniche roads, the signal is at its thinnest, so reliability is everything.
Albania is outside the EU, so your Europe roaming plan will not apply. Set up an eSIM for Albania before you go. Thanks to our negotiated roaming agreements, it connects to several local networks and switches to the best available signal, which is exactly what you want on a mountain switchback with a booking to confirm.
With Orange, the service used by over 300 million customers, you keep your bearings the whole loop: 200+ destinations covered, quick activation by app or QR code, 24/7 human support, and 100% refunded if you do not use your eSIM.
Ready to drive the Albanian loop without losing the signal?
