Discover Northern Albania and Kosovo

About this tour

North Albania Tour will make you discover Northern Albania and Kosovo share a common past. Also, they are so much culturally alike. The dialect spoken called “Geg dialect”  includes all northern Albania, Kosovo, and beyond. Firstly, we will start the tour in Tirana visiting the heart of Tirana, the Scanderbeg Square, and Et’hem Bey Mosque. These two cultural monuments are an important part of Tirana. It is one of the most beautiful things Tirana has to offer.

On the square is located the Scanderbeg Monument, which is the National Albanian Hero Gjergj Kastrioti and his horse. The monument is part of the heart of Tirana for more than 50 years ago. The square has got its name from the monument. The square is made up of a side with Tiles that come from every corner of Albania and in them, it’s engraved the city or town it comes from.

Next, you will visit the National History Museum in Tirana.

This museum is the largest in Albania, and it helps you understand Albanian History. This is why the museum deserves to be one of the first on top places to visit in Tirana. The museum is divided into rooms where you can see historical events from medieval times until today.

The National History Museum is built during the communist regime and the architect was the daughter of Enver Hoxha (Dictator and communist leader of Albania).  However, the museum was built to hide the terrible fatalities of communism. Nowadays you can see the communist exhibition that shows the dark side of Communism.

Discover Northern Albania and Kosovo – Kruja

After head to the agritourism center of Marikaj where a nice lunch arrangement waits for us (Sondor Travel ). Next, we travel to the city of Kruja where we can visit the Castle and Scanderbeg Museum.

The Museum of Scanderbeg was designed as an ancient fortress. It is composed of separate pavilions, each representing a piece of Kruja, Albania’s heroic struggle against Ottoman invasion. These include the pavilion of antiquity and early middle age, the Albanian princedom pavilion, the pavilion of the ottoman invasion, the medieval fortress pavilion, and the Albanian resistance pavilion.

Each of these, in its own way, reflects the life and activity of Albania’s most famous national hero.

Kruja Castle was built in the 5th and 6th centuries A.D. Charles I of Anjou rebuilt the walls in the 13th century and the Turks rebuilt them again some centuries later. In 1617 an earthquake caused great damage to the walls, after which they were reinforced with 9 towers. The highest and most well-defended part of the fortress is a clock tower. It used to serve as an observation platform during times of war.

Discover Northern Albania and Kosovo – Prizren, and Peja

We travel through the Nation’s Highway toward Prizren, Kosovo. In Prizren, we will visit Sinan Pasha mosque, League of Prizren, and the old city center. We continue driving to Peja to visit the Patriarchate of Peja.

We visit in Decani Serbian Orthodox Monastery enlisted in UNESCO World Heritage List. Next, we drive to Gjakova and have lunch in the restaurant “Carshia e Jupave” (on group expenses). In the afternoon we cross the border into Albania. On the way to Valbona, we can stop and take some pictures of the Valbona River.

Also, we will walk for about 1 hour to Kukaj village where we will learn more about the life of the local shepherds.

Discover Northern Albania and Kosovo – Shkoder, and Durres

We travel by our minibus until Fierza to catch the boat that sails for about 2 hours through Koman Lake. In Koman lake have been built 3 of the most important hydropower plants in Albania with an installed power of 600 MW. Not far away from the Power Plant are situated the Koman Tumuli, a very important necropolis that has helped the Albanian archeologist understand better how the ancient Illyrians transitioned into the nowadays Albanian population. After this interesting experience, we stop for lunch in the restaurant Dea. (Sondor Travel). After lunch, we drive towards Shkodër where before entering the city we can visit Rozafa castle, which dates back to the 4th century BC.

Next, to Durrës the 2nd biggest city in Albania, which dates back to the 7th century BC to visit the Roman Amphitheatre. After the visit, we go for lunch (Sondor Travel) in a characteristic restaurant in Shkembi i Kavajes-Durrës. Next, we resume driving to Berat to visit the UNESCO city. First, we will visit the castle, which dates back to the 5th century BC and after that, we will take a walk through the Mangalem quarter which gave a distinctive look at the city’s architecture.

Discover Northern Albania and Kosovo – Elbasan – Tirana

Our journey will take us to Elbasan where we will visit the Castle, which dates back from the 15th century, and Saint Mary church in the castle.

we take an excursion to Dajti Mountain by cable car. It takes about 20 minutes to reach Dajti Mountain and visit the site. From there we can enjoy a nice panorama of Tirana city.

We end the tour in Tirana