Explore Albania by Road in 6 Days

As 2 of the more relatable faces in Travel Vlogs on YouTube, Taz and Libby (from Sun Kissed Bucket List), pick up a rental car in Tirana and spend 6 days moving through historic towns, mountain passes, coastal villages and turquoise bays, ending in a stone city that looks like it belongs in a storybook. This article walks through the key stops on their route and what they enjoy most at each place, so you can use their trip as a ready-made outline for your own Albania road adventure.

Tirana to Berat

The trip begins at Tirana airport, where they weave through immense traffic to pick up a small rental car and get their first taste of Albanian driving, which they describe as wild but strangely fun. Once they escape the gridlock, the drive to Berat takes only a couple of hours, and you can already see how confident they feel about doing this country by road.

Their first Airbnb in Berat sets expectations high, a big apartment with a lounge, separate bedroom, full kitchen, balcony and fast Wi‑Fi, all for about £20 a night. They keep repeating how good the value is “for Europe,” and that mix of space, comfort and low price becomes a theme of the whole series.

Berat and the City of a Thousand Windows

Berat, known as the city of a thousand windows, is where the country really starts to win them over. They film along the river with white Ottoman houses stacked up the hillside behind them and point out how the rows of windows make the whole town look different from anywhere they have seen before. Crossing the bridge brings them from the older quarter of Mangalem to a quieter side of town, backed by mountains and what look like olive groves or vineyards, and the call to prayer drifting through the valley is one of those small sound details they actually stop to notice.

The walk up to Berat Castle is steep and hot enough that Libby jokes she looks like a tomato by the time they reach the top, but the view makes the climb feel worth it. What fascinates them most is that people still live within the castle walls, so it feels less like a fenced-off ruin and more like a small lived‑in village with stone houses, alleys and viewpoints looking out across the town and river.

Vlorë and the First Glimpse of the Coast

Leaving Berat, they head toward the sea and reach Vlorë, their first coastal stop. The seaside promenade feels like a classic holiday town, with calm water on one side and hazy hills behind, and they admit it is not the prettiest beach they have ever visited, but still a great place to switch into slower, beach‑day mode. The shallow, clear water and long scape of sand make it easy to imagine Vlorë as a simple, first-night-on-the-coast stop.

This is also where they first talk about the colour of the sea changing the further south they go. Even here, they point out how the water shifts from pale to deeper blues as it gets further from shore and hint that everything will get more intense as they drive closer to the Greek border.

Llogara Pass

From Vlorë, they climb into the mountains over Llogara Pass, which quickly becomes one of their favourite sections of the entire road trip. The road went through tight hairpins, and the landscape alternates between thick forest and exposed rock, with views where the blue sea appears far below a wall of green slopes. At the main viewpoint, they stop at a small memorial and look out over a panorama of mountains and coast that feels far bigger than you expect from such a short country drive.

Libby is half laughing and half panicking as they descend, gripping the seat and talking about how tense her hands and toes feel on the steep, narrow sections. They stress that you should avoid the tunnel that cuts under the pass, because you would miss all of these views, and they note that even their small Renault handles the climb perfectly well, so you don’t need a big 4×4 to enjoy it.

Himarë and Castle Sunsets

After a failed attempt to get all the way down to Dhermi Beach on a packed weekend, they push on and base themselves in Himarë. Their Airbnb there is simple but bright, with a double bed, an extra single, desk for editing, air‑conditioning and an ensuite bathroom, all for roughly £30 a night, which they call very fair for a place by the sea. From the balcony, they can see hills and hear cowbells somewhere in the distance, and they keep saying how strongly Albania is “winning them over” with that mix of quiet, nature and price.[1]

Himarë is also where they lean into what becomes a running joke for this series, watching the sunset from a castle. Himarë Castle itself is more ruin than intact fortress, but the location is spectacular, perched above the town with sweeping views over the Ionian Sea and even across to Corfu and other Greek islands less than 10 kilometres away. There is a small entry fee, but they are more focused on the light, the cliffs and the long horizon line than on any formal sightseeing.

Beaches Around Himarë and Sarandë

Down at the water in Himarë, they finally get the kind of beach moment they had been hoping for, with cold but bearable water and a backdrop of mountains that makes the whole bay feel dramatic. Libby calls it one of the most scenic beaches she has ever visited, and you can tell she means it by how long they stay in the water and how often she says she is “obsessed” with the colour. They mention that some beaches nearby drop off quite steeply, so it is worth paying attention to where you step in, but overall they love the gentle waves and sheltered curve of the bay.

A bit further south, in and around Sarandë, they keep up the routine of early-morning swims and all‑day spots on bean bags under umbrellas. In one place, they pay about €10 for two bean bags and shade for the day, and actually prefer them to rigid loungers because they can shift them around and sink into them more easily. They contrast that with parts of Ksamil, where two sunbeds can cost €30–35 and even access to some stretches of sand can carry a fee, which they see as a sign that certain pockets of the Albanian Riviera are already catching up with more expensive European hotspots.

The Blue Eye

From Sarandë, they detour to the Blue Eye, one of the most photographed natural sights in southern Albania. Even before reaching the official entrance, they stop by the roadside because the river running alongside the road is so clear and blue that it looks like a stretch of filtered footage. At the main spring, they pay for parking and a small ticket, then follow a short path to the viewing platforms where you can look straight down into the deep, turquoise pool.

They explain that divers have gone down to around 50 metres without finding the true source, so no one really knows how deep the Blue Eye goes, which adds a bit of mystery to what would already be a striking place. The water is extremely cold, and swimming is not allowed, though they do notice a couple of people ignoring the signs, and they keep coming back to how unreal the colour looks in person compared to what you might expect from photos.

Gjirokastër and the Stone City

The final stop on their route is Gjirokastër, known as the stone city for its slate roofs and Ottoman‑style houses climbing the hillside. The old bazaar district has cobbled streets lined with shops selling carpets, textiles and magnets, and they turn the simple act of picking a souvenir into a rock‑paper‑scissors game when they cannot agree on which design to buy. It is also here that they talk more about how close everything in this part of the Balkans feels.

Their guesthouse in Gjirokastër is one of their favourite stays, with tall windows, traditional furniture and a clear view of the castle from their room, lit up at night. In the old town, they sit with glasses of wine and a slice of trilece, a milk‑soaked cake topped with caramel, and both of them rave about it far more than you would expect from such a simple dessert.

Ending the Road Trip

On their last morning, they step out to look over the valley one more time, then walk down to their car, “Lucy,” parked with another cinematic mountain view behind it. They talk about how driving through southern Albania has felt. From here, they have a 6‑hour drive toward a land border crossing and hint that they will be back in Albania soon for a completely different kind of trip.

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As a channel, Sun Kissed Bucket List sits comfortably among YouTube Travel Vloggers who make longer road trips feel easy to copy rather than intimidating, and this Albania series is a good example of that. For anyone scrolling through Travel Vlogs on YouTube to build a first-time Balkans itinerary, this 6‑day route from Tirana to Gjirokastër is a solid template you can adapt, with enough detail on prices, driving and stays to turn inspiration into concrete plans.

For more laid‑back road trips and honest reactions to places that still feel relatively under the radar, subscribe to Sun Kissed Bucket List and use their videos as the starting point for your own drives along the Albanian coast and beyond.