This Albania & Puglia itinerary includes mountains, beaches, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, wine regions, amazing food, and an international ferry boat ride! There are also a few links to more in depth blog posts about these areas.
Before I begin if you are looking for more practical information & what you need to know before traveling in Albania, check out my post here —-> 10 Things You Should Know Before you Visit Albania
Theth, Albania
Begin by driving from Tirana airport to Theth. This takes about 3.5 hours. We stopped in the town of Shkoder for lunch to break up the drive and to walk around a bit. The road to Theth is an adventure in itself. Theth is a magical place, seemingly untouched by the outside world. It is the BEST place to relax, hike, sit in nature, and adventure a bit. The best parts of Theth were hiking to the Blue Eye and relaxing at our guest house.
I have a full blog post with further information about Theth click here
Durres, Albania
Durres makes for a perfect little overnight break between Theth and Berat. This drive took about 3-3.5 hours since we had to reverse drive the Theth mountain roads. Durres is a busy seaside town with a really nice promenade and is a great place to relax for a night. We enjoyed strolling around here, spending time on the beach, and eating excellent food.
Berat, Albania
The drive from Durres to Berat is only about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Berat is a magical place. The entire town is a UNESCO Heritage Site and as soon as you arrive you can see why. It is so different and so charming, you could spend a good amount of time just wandering the streets and exploring. The castle above the town is a huge highlight and spending sunset here was one of the best parts of our trip.
I have a mini guide to Berat here on the blog click here
Himare, Albania
The drive from Berat to Himare is a little less than 3 hours. Himare is the perfect summer destination. There are so many incredible beaches here you could explore endlessly. It is wonderful to explore here by boat as well. There is so much good food, another stunning castle with incredible views, and the kindest most welcoming people you could imagine. I couldn’t recommend this area of Albania more highly and I wished we’d spent even more time here.
I also write a whole blog post about visiting Himare you can find it here
Ksamil, Albania
The drive from Himare to Ksamil was about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Although the water here is stunning, and every literal person you meet in Albania will tell you to go here… this was our least favorite stop. If you love beach clubs this place is your VIBE! If you like a more rustic and less touristy scene this is NOT it. Ksamil was wild compared to all other parts of Albania, it felt like a super touristy – party driven, area. We found a few ways to enjoy it, but it’s the place I recommend the least.
Tirana
This day was our longest drive and took about 4 hours. With our schedule we only had one day in Tirana before taking the ferry to Italy. We used a company called 1001 Albanian adventures to take us all around Tirana for the day. The city is very charming and has a lot of neat things going on. We also did a small wine tour at “Kantina Enol” which was a really nice experience.
Ferry from Durres, Albania to Bari, Italy
Taking the overnight Ferry is an excellent way to get between countries to continue this itinerary. You could also fly, but it was really nice to just go to sleep in Albania and wake up in Italy. Blog post about how to do this journey incoming!
Bari, Italy
Bari is a delight and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I believe this city is often skipped when people visit Puglia. It is WELL worth a day or two. We did a ton in a full day. We visited the Pasta ladies, we did a walking tour and learned how to make pasta, had an incredible dinner, had wonderful gelato, octopus sandwiches that blew my mind, and visited the beach too!
I wrote a post about it, you can find it here —-> How do Spend a Perfect Day in Bari Italy
Monopoli, Italy
We loved Monopoli as a base for our time exploring Puglia. The city is so stunning with its pastel colored buildings and succulents everywhere. There are so many beaches you can walk to, you have easy access to other towns, there is a train station within walking distance of the center, and the food and drink scene was wonderful. We managed to take a few day trips from here as well that I’d highly recommend.
I wrote a post about basing in Monopoli as well, you can find it here —> Monopoli: A Great Base for Visiting Puglia
Day Trip: Alberobello
We got a ride to Alberobello around mid day and were able to do a wine tasting at the winery right outside town. We wandered in, got to see all the Truli buildings, had an amazing dinner, and strolled the town with some spritz before riding back. You might hear a lot about this town getting very crowded, we felt this timing was perfect. It seemed we came in after a lot of the day trip crowds and I think it worked out really well, it was also much cooler temperature wise and easy to walk around.
Day Trip: Boat day Polignano Al Mare
We really enjoyed checking out this town and then hopping on a boat for the day. I wouldn’t recommend the company we used for the boat, but I would highly recommend finding yourself a way to get on a boat and enjoy a day in Puglia. It’s beautiful to see the coastline especially around Polignano and the famous cave restaurant.
Rome, Italy
We ended our trip with a few days in Rome as we were flying home from there. More info to come on Rome as well. We were able to take a direct train from Rome to Bari and it took about 4-5 hours.
If you’re looking to rent a car to do any part of this journey you can use my link below.
If you’re looking for more guides and information about Albania you can also check out my thatch page below. It includes my FREE guide for Where To Stay in Ablania.
My posts will sometimes contain affiliate links. This means that if you click and book through my links I will earn a small commission at NO COST to you. This helps me to keep sharing out this awesome info entirely AD FREE! I also will FULLY recommend things that I acquire NO commission on and I just think are truly good recs. You will always get the truth from me here I would never recommend something I didn’t love.