Berat in Albania | Guide and Things To Do

By Roberto (Updated Oct 21)

⏱ 5 min

Berat is a tiny town located south of Tirana, east of Vlöre, and north of Gjirokaster. Surrounded by mountains, hills, and rivers, the city owns dozens of churches and mosques. Berat in Albania is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site since 2008. Both Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra are rare examples of architecture typical ofthe  Ottoman era.

The architecture of the houses, with their red tile roofs, really offers a scenic view. There is a castle on the top of the mountain that has seen Romans, Byzantines and Turkish inhabitants. Today it still contains houses and stores, also the views from this fortress are worth the visit.

How long to spend in Berat?

Berat in Albania, as our local guide said, is like a pocket. Coming here means going in and out the same route, just to visit the city. So… considering all other regions and things to do in Albania, we would suggest spending 1-2 days here. The very best of the city is the views from Berat’s castle at sunset.

We stayed 1.5 days and that was good enough. The old town is easily walkable in one morning and with a good guide, you can explore the rest in the evening. Only if you decide to explore Osumi Canyon, you would need another extra day.

How to get to Berat in Albania

In our case, we moved by car 🚗 so we can’t provide bus information.

From the main cities, the distance and driving time is:

• Tirana: 98 km / 1 h 45 min
• Vlorë: 111 km / 1 h 35 min
• Gjirokastra: 188 km / 2 h 45 min

As we will share in future posts, we consider the driving time insane for these distances, and this is one of the things we disliked the most about Albania.

We moved from Gjirokaster to Berat and then we kept going North until Shköder to spend 3 days in the Albanian Alps to do the Valbona to Theth hike, something we totally recommend.

Basic info about Berat

Berat is incorrectly known as the City of Thousand Windows – the proper translation is One above another Window – and the number of windows is surely more than 1,000. Berat is the oldest city in Albania, where the city-castle started to be built around 500 BC. Some years later, the Romans conquered the city in 200 AD.

After the Byzantine Empire, the city – omitting many other conquers – was captured by the Ottoman Empire. Along centuries, the Muslim conversion become important and from 1500 AD the city embraced Christians, Muslims and even expelled Jewish from Spain.

In 1700 AD Berat in Albania was one of the most important urban centres from the Ottoman era. After WWI, Berat was occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Muslim allowed the local Jewish to pray inside the mosques. This mix of cultures is present in the houses, with varied blended styles. After this, communism appeared, and finally the freedom.

In short, many cultures coexisted and after centuries of changing empires, today Berat presents an interesting mix of cultural heritage and architecture.

What to Do and See in Berat

Get a Guide to explore Berat

Our day in Berat in Albania wouldn’t have been the same without Bruno. This guide from Free Walking Tour knows the city as no other person and has tons of passion for his native city. Starting from Gorica Bridge, he will explain the history of Berat, show you little churches around Gorica, climb up to the castle and give you advice for everything. A really amazing guy to recommend. We wish you the best from here, Bruno!

Kalaja e Beratit, The Castle of Berat

As mentioned before, on the top of a hill, there is Berat Castle, which offers incredible views over the valley. The way up is pretty intense walking, but there are shops to buy cold drinks and snacks on the top, in addition to traditional clothing stores.

Even today, some people do live in the castle! It’s hard to believe when you see how damaged some areas of the walls and houses are, but humble lives have humble requirements. Inside this perimeter, there are churches – many in fact – and mosques, but there’s nothing better than listening to Bruno’s explanations here.

The best attraction is the lookout of the castle, where you can have a whole view of the valley below. The views at sunset are breathtaking. Since the castle is open 24 hours a day, it’s easy to visit. Between 9 am and 6 pm there is an entrance fee of 100 lek, but outside of these times, it’s free to enter. While it’s not as amazing as other historical places we like from other parts of the world, it is worth the visit.

People Watching on Bulevardi Republika

If you have a walk for more than 20 minutes around Berat, it would be impossible to not see Buleverdi Republika. This boulevard is more than a pedestrian street in the middle of Berat. This place has tons of bars and restaurants lined with coffees. If you want to do some people-watching, this is your place.

In Albania, people have the tradition of Xhiro, which basically is go out to drink and have a social life at sunset. Something that got our attention is that three-quarters of people here were men. We felt that Albania was still a traditional and conservative country, with women inside the houses and men working or chit-chatting outside.

Eat Albanian Food in Berat

More than a To Do in Berat in Albania, it should be a To Do in life. Everybody likes trying local food when traveling and it couldn’t be better here. Albanian food is delicious, and more if you love feta cheese like me. In Berat, we found good restaurants for lunch and dinner. We tried:

• Piccolo Grande Amore
• Traditional Food and Grill

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In both restaurants, you’ll find green salad, stuffed peppers, musaka, tavern kosi, pastichio or cheese casseroles. In Piccolo Grande Amore the service was good and the views were exceptional. Whereas in the other, we found the service sooo slow that night but the food was great.

Go Rafting or Hiking in Osumi Canyon

In case you have time to spend around the area, rafting in Osumi Canyon is a good plan. Filled with a blue river, this canyon offers tours – you can check them in Berat – to hike and do rafting between the walls.

I read it’s hard to go there because the tours hardly get the minimum numbers of visitors, but like the rest of Albania, the area is gaining popularity.

Where to Stay in Berat in Albania

A quick check on Booking will give you multiple options to stay in Berat. There are boutiques, palaces converted into hotels, or local guesthouses with rustic architecture. We stayed one night in Guesthouse Arben Elezi, with epic views from the terrace where we had breakfast.

Since we only stayed one night here we cannot recommend other places, serve yourself with the variety! 😛

Traveling to Albania? Check more of our other posts