8-Day Albania and Northern Greece Tour with UNESCO Heritage Sites

Meet at the airport and transfer to Tirana.

Afterwards, take a tour of the major sites of Tirana, including the colourful buildings for which the Albanian capital is now recognized. The dull grey communist-era buildings have been transformed into modern art canvases through splashes of bright colours and abstract shapes - an ingenious way of uplifting both the facades and the moods of the inhabitants.

Overnight in Tirana.

As we leave crowded Tirana, enjoy a new experience in the medieval town of Kruja, located on the slopes of Sari Salltiku Mountain. Take a walk along the old bazaar, known as the best place to find handicrafts.

Next, proceed to the 6th-century fortress, where families still live inside. Visit the Ethnographic Museum and the History Museum.

Afterwards, continue to Berat for an overnight stay.

This morning, proceed to explore the wonderful city of Berat.

Visit the castle, the Onufri Museum, and several churches and mosques. Onufri was a 16th-century Albanian master painter who had a preference for a particular red colour that he used so much it is known today as Onufrian Red. Many of his wonderfully painted icons remain in the museum, while others can be found in churches in Albania and Greece where he worked.

After visiting Berat, proceed to Korça for an overnight stay.

Korça is one of the largest and most important cultural and economic centres of Albania, located in the southeastern part of the country. The city is known for its typical quarters, composed of low houses and villas set along cobblestone streets. It is home to several museums, such as the Education Museum, the Museum of Medieval Arts, the Archaeological Museum, and the Bratko Museum. There are also beautiful churches to see, as well as a 15th-century mosque. Enjoy some free time on your own along "Bulevardi Republika" or while visiting the Old Bazaar area of the city.

After visiting Korça, we will cross the border into Greece.

Afterwards, we will drive to Kalambaka for an overnight stay.

In the morning, depart for Meteora, a wonderful monument of nature complemented by the ingenuousness of man. Breathtaking rocks hundreds of meters high rise in the middle of vast lowlands and seem to have fallen from the sky; very likely, the word Meteora was purposely used based on this impression. These rocks, stunning on their own, carry wonderfully crafted monasteries on their backs, creating a monumental interaction between nature and man that never ceases to impress both new and returning visitors. Visit the most famous and probably the best monastery of all the Meteora monasteries, the Great Meteora Monastery, known locally as the Megalo Meteoro Monastery or Metamorphosis.

Depart for Ioannina, Greece, where we will visit the castle of Ali Pasha in the centre of town, the burial place of the pasha, and the mosque that was turned into his museum.

Overnight in Ioannina.

This morning, we will proceed to Albania. After crossing the border, we will visit the ancient city of Butrint, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was first settled by Greek colonists and was continuously inhabited for centuries, forming archaeological layers of different civilizations and making it an important discovery in the Mediterranean. It is situated on a beautiful peninsula among dense vegetation, offering visitors more than just old ruins.

Afterwards, visit the Blue Eye (Albanian: Syri I kaltër), a natural water spring and a popular tourist attraction. The clear blue water of the river bubbles forth from a stunning pool more than fifty meters deep. Divers have descended to fifty meters, but the actual depth of the karst hole remains unclear.

Overnight in Saranda.

We will spend this morning in the museum city of Gjirokastra, which is also one of the three UNESCO sites in Albania. The city is overlooked by Gjirokastër Fortress, where the Gjirokastër National Folklore Festival is held every five years. It is the birthplace of former Albanian communist leader Enver Hoxha and the notable writer Ismail Kadare. Many houses in Gjirokastër have a distinctive local style that has earned the city the nickname "City of Stone" because most of the old houses have roofs covered with flat dressed stones. Gjirokastër features an old Ottoman bazaar originally built in the 17th century and rebuilt in the 19th century after a fire. There are more than 500 homes preserved as "cultural monuments" in Gjirokastër today. After leaving Gjirokastra, continue to the ancient city of Durrës, which is also the most important seaport in Albania.

Visit the amphitheatre, the biggest in the Balkan Peninsula, with a capacity of 15,000 spectators, and see its rare wall mosaic dating to the 2nd century A.D.

Overnight in Durrës.

Transfer from Durrës to Tirana airport.

End of our service.