Tirana, Albania

Exilim

Anyone been to Tirana in Albania? Thinking of taking a trip there with a couple of mates, we like places of the beaten track.
How did you get there? Belleair fly from London but at horrible times.
Any do's and don’t's?
What's the nightlife there?
Here its super cheap?

It will be a city break so only going to stay for 3-4 days.
Would Skopje in Macedonia be a better option?

LiamMc

I been to both countries/cities and I recommend Albania for the scenery and the different towns. It may be possible to incorporate both by crossing at Lake Ohrid, which is a destination in itself.

Tirane is a small town with a couple of central squares linked by ornate Ministry buildings and green parkland or Hotels in between. There are places to have a meal and a drink along here aswell as west of the centre, parts of this area is a prime residential area.
The National Museum is on one of these squares. When I was there, there was some very emotive exhibits . Hotel Dajti was the number one hotel here for decades and still has the dark wood panels and huge reception area of this Soviet-style hotel [there is another for hotels built around Europe during the Soviet era but I can’t remember the name]

The bus station is to the north of the centre, there are also shared taxis in the centre.

The south of the country has historic town like Gjirokaster, which has a fortress and a hostile US Air Force plane as part of it's museum.
There are steep mountains to the sea along the coast, with switch-back/hair-pins bends. Resorts like Sarander are worth visiting. The big town on the coast is Vlore and I have heard nice things about, I worked with two women from Vlore when I was in Greece.

The north of the country has rolling hills with some very scenic roads and all around is the small concrete pillboxes built for every family in the country. Kukes is a dusty market town. Shkoder is the big town up north, again I havn’t been I understand it is an eye opener for newly arrived visitors from the north.

There are fortresses dotted all over the country side.
Everywhere I went in Albania there was a warm and friendly reception, tavel times may in long in some areas but unless you are driving yourself this is not a great chore.

There are land and seas routes from every direction into Albania. Ferry services across the Adriatic Bari-Durres (port of Tirane). Ferry from Corfu to Sarander. From Montenegro its possible cross at two different border points south of Bar (Montenegro) at Muriqan and on the road from Podgorica at Han-i-Hoti both leads into the big city in the north Shkoder.

From Kosovo there are services from the towns of Pristina and Prizen, Prizen is small historic place with an old Ottoman-style bridge. Pec/Peje has an old monastery, the town itself is cut-up with heavy aid agency and K-FOR vehicles.

dory

I live in Kosovo and visit both quite regularly. I find Albania a little more difficult to get around. Not having bus stations means you have to know where the buses go from, but for 3-4 days you're not going to be going far anyway. Tirana is an amazing city, and Albania is very beautiful (and voted in Top 10 places to go in 2011 in just about every Top 10 places to go countdown).

The one thing that swings it for me is the smoking ban in Macedonia. But if you're a smoker then smoking indoors in Tirana might appeal to you. I don't think it's going to be very easy to get to either city. You could (might be a pain in the ass for a short trip) fly into Kosovo (€240 return with Malev if you book far in advance) and then it's a 4.5 hour bus trip to Tirana (or 2 hours and €5 to Skopje).