Welcome to the scenic route, where I send you postcards from wherever I've landed. This is number four of my 2026 travels.
New here? Let me catch you up. Hubby and I were living in Sydney, Australia, and then we packed up and moved. The scenic route is every stop we made on the way to our new home.
So we drove from Vlore back up to Tirana to collect the rental car and then stood in line for two hours. A line out the door, all our luggage with us, and a counter in absolutely no hurry. Using a whole lotta patience, we eventually got the keys and we were off, leaving the city behind in our dust.
Here's the thing, we went to Vlore to slow down, and Vlore is genuinely lovely, but the vibes were not matching the adventure calling us in. So we did the opposite of what we planned. We loaded the car with every bag we had and took the scenic route, with no itinerary beyond seeing as much of the countryside as we possibly could.
I had no expectations going in. I opened my heart and my mind to whatever came and let my curiosity do the rest, and I was energized the second we cleared the city limits.
We took the A3, which is the motorway out of Tirana, and then ventured through back roads, through lush green fields and small villages, and watching the landscape change was the best part of the drive. Coastal Vlore, then the sprawl around Tirana, then the rolling hills of central Albania, with the energy shifting the whole way. We pulled over so many times just to stand and look at the green pastures, marveling at how lucky we were to exist in all that beauty and light.
Postcard One was two days in Abu Dhabi on a stopover, which is where all of this kicked off. Postcard Two was Tirana, which took three countries to get to. Postcard Three was Vlore, where we booked two weeks and lasted one. They go in order so feel free to start from the top. This postcard is from Berat, and it's the place I wasn't ready to leave.
The pictures did not do it justice
We picked Berat on the strength of total strangers. Taxi drivers, waiters, people we met in passing, all of them telling us we had to go. It didn't take much convincing once we looked up the photos.
Top of that list is Arlind, our generous and kind driver, at Pati Taxi. He drove us from Tirana down to Vlore and back again. He gave us recommendation after recommendation for where to go and what to do around Albania, and we owe so much of this trip to him.
Honestly, all I knew about Berat was that it had a unique aesthetic and that it's a UNESCO heritage site. That was the extent of it. Then we drove into the town and I was floored, because the pictures did not do it justice at all.
We got there right as the overcast was rolling in and got stuck in a rain storm as we were walking up the cobblestone streets to our hotel. What's up with these downpours upon our arrival? But it wasn't long until the sun greeted us with a lovely golden hour, coming down warm over the whole village and over me, and it felt magical. All of it white Ottoman houses from the 18th century, stacked up the hillside one on top of the other.
Berat sits in a valley with the Osum river running right through it and stone bridges linking one side of the historic village to the other.
We stayed at the Oda e Gurit Boutique Hotel, which has exposed cobblestone inside the room lined with dark wood, matching the village outside it. It was so cosy that I could not decide whether I wanted to sleep for the rest of the day in the warmth of the room or get out and explore.
Berat is quaint and charming and earthy. My type of place for sure. I knew within an hour that we should have budgeted more time.
I'm not usually an olive person
Grill House Berat
We spent the first day just walking. Gorica, then over one of the stone bridges and along the Mangalem, the two old quarters sitting across the river from each other. No plan, no list, nowhere we had to be.
We had worked up quite the appetite after the drive. Well, I say we. Let's be real, I was a passenger princess for all of it.
We really wanted local food, so we went to Grill House Berat, where I had the tavë kosi, which is lamb baked under a thick layer of custard. Hearty and filled me with warmth as Berat was a little chilly. I had dollma too, vine leaves stuffed with rice. Needless to say I was stuffed, and I knew I needed to keep walking to work off everything I had just put away.
Berati's Veranda rooftop restaurant
So we walked up and down winding cobblestone alleyways, up steps that take you past people's homes and hotels and rooftop cafes, until we stumbled on Berati's Veranda, a rooftop restaurant with the most divine olives. I am not the biggest fan of olives but these were delicious.
Then the homemade wine. You'll find homemade wine on the menu all over Albania and it can be hit or miss, but this place's was so tasty we had to order another round.
We were still up on that roof when we noticed another rain storm moving in, so we started speed walking down the narrow pathway and headed back, though not before I stopped at a cafe for an obligatory sweet treat.
Then I heard a voice say slay girl
We started the second day with breakfast at a little outdoor cafe up near the castle, which gave us the perfect morning view out over the countryside. A simple Albanian breakfast of omelette, cheese, Albanian pancakes and a basket of bread. Albanians aren't shy when it comes to their carbs!
Then we went up to Berat Castle, which sits inside a fortress up on the hill looking down over the whole village. You get a 360 view of the town from up there, along with some insane mountain views. We walked around the stone ruins and along the edges of the fort, and came to the Holy Trinity Church from the 14th century.
What I marveled at was what's still standing up there. The orthodox church and the mosques, coexisting inside the same tall walls, sprawled along the hills.
I was taking photos of the landscape when I heard a faint, dainty voice behind me say, "slay girl." I turned around and there were four Albanian teenagers looking at me with absolute glee, giving me the tiny finger-clap. If you know, you know. It's a gesture Black women use with each other to show appreciation, and there it was, coming from four girls on a mountain in central Albania.
It was a cute moment, seeing how culture travels across boundaries and time. It put a small smile on my face and I gestured back slay.
I wasn't ready to go
When it was time to leave, it felt incomplete. I wasn't ready.
Berat was so inviting that I spent most of the day already regretting the schedule. I kept thinking we should have budgeted more time for it. One day was never going to be enough.
So if you're putting an Albania trip together, give this town more than a night. It's small, and it's going to be tempting to treat it as a stop between two bigger places. Don't do that.
From Berat we were back in the car by early afternoon, heading for the North Macedonian border through Tomorri Mountain National Park. Hours of mountain peaks and valleys, remote and quiet, barely another car on the road. It's also where we nearly ran out of fuel in the middle of nowhere, but that one gets its own postcard.
Berat deserved more than a day.
Berat, practically
Getting there. We collected the car in Tirana, which took two hours with a line out the door, so build that in. Then the A3 south and the backroads through the small villages, SH4 and SH72.
Ask your driver. Arlind at Pati Taxi (shoot me a message for his info!) ran us from Tirana to Vlore and back, and a lot of our best stops in the country came from him. Ask yours the same way.
The car. An MG ZS from Let's Drive Tirana. Driving here was easy and straightforward, especially with Google Maps.
Road conditions. Excellent from Tirana to Berat, even in the countryside and up in the mountains. One short stretch of dirt road, and it was manageable.
Worth slowing down for. The stretch between Frasher and Gege. On a clear day you get the whole vastness of it, rolling hills and lush green fields, with Tomorri in the background.
Where we stayed. Oda e Gurit Boutique Hotel, 50 USD, four out of five. Customer service was amazing and the room was clean and super comfortable. My only complaint is that there was no breakfast.
Eat. Berati's Veranda, up in the old town, for the rooftop, the olives and the homemade wine. Grill House Berat for the tavë kosi and the dollma.
Do. Berat Castle. Give it a morning.
How long. We had an afternoon and a morning. I could have stayed three days.
Cash. Take some out for parking and small vendors. Most restaurants take card.
Would I drive it again. 100%. A car is the best way to see Albania.
