Food in Albania is quite varied thanks to the many influences on the country, particularly from Turkey, Greece and Italy. Dairy products, especially milk and yoghurt, are present in almost every meal, usually locally sourced. Kosovar food is equally influenced by Balkan, Turkish and Mediterranean cuisines.

We recommend you always drink bottled water. The most environmentally friendly method is to share the larger reusable glass bottles served in most restaurants.

Taste local dishes at a guesthouse in Rabdisht, a northern Albanian village known for its stone buildings and regional cooking. The hosted lunch is an opportunity to experience the area through food prepared and served in a village setting.

Set among the mountains of the Dibër region, Rabdisht offers a quieter perspective on Albanian hospitality. The meal connects the village’s reputation for good cooking with the people and place behind it.

Explore the Adem Jashari Memorial Complex in Prekaz, including the remains of the Jashari family homes, their graves and a museum dedicated to their story. Allow time for reflection at a site central to understanding Kosovo’s modern history.

Adem Jashari and members of his family were killed during a siege by Serbian forces in 1998. Their deaths became a powerful symbol of resistance in the period leading to the Kosovo War. The preserved site conveys the human cost behind that history.

Explore Albania’s capital on a guided walk through central Tirana, taking in Skanderbeg Square, Et’hem Bey Mosque and the Pyramid of Tirana. The route brings together the city’s Ottoman heritage, national monuments and contemporary public spaces.

See how Tirana has reworked its past: the Pyramid, originally built as a memorial to communist leader Enver Hoxha, has been transformed into a cultural space. Your tour leader provides context for the city’s changing architecture and lively street life.

Meet your tour leader and fellow travellers over a group dinner in Tirana, arranged as a warm introduction to Albania. Share a table, get acquainted with the people you’ll travel with and hear more about the places and communities on the route.

It is a chance to settle into the capital’s social atmosphere rather than simply eat an evening meal. Conversation with your local tour leader offers an early perspective on Albanian hospitality and the traditions you’ll encounter across the north.

Visit Kulla Hupi, a traditional fortified stone house in northern Albania, and enjoy a snack while learning about its approximately 200-year history. Its sturdy construction offers a tangible introduction to a form of home shaped by the region’s past.

Hear how architecture could serve both domestic life and protection in mountain communities. Spending time inside the house makes northern Albania’s history more immediate than a view of its stone exterior alone.

Walk from Radomire to Liqeni i Zi, or Black Lake, on a guided outing of around one hour in the Korab Mountains. Take in the mountain scenery and the relative quiet of this less-visited corner of northern Albania.

Radomire lies near Mount Korab, Albania’s highest peak, making it a gateway to a striking highland landscape. The walk offers time outdoors and a closer view of the natural setting that defines the region.

Meet a local artisan in Kukës and watch textile and carpet weaving on a traditional loom. Learn about materials and patterns used in the region, with an opportunity to try the loom under expert guidance.

Weaving is among Albania’s longstanding craft traditions, requiring patient, skilled work to build a pattern thread by thread. The workshop also brings you into a town that sheltered Kosovar Albanian refugees during the Kosovo War, adding context to Kukës’s recent history.

Visit Gazimestan, the memorial to the 1389 Battle of Kosovo, and the nearby tomb of Ottoman Sultan Murad I. Together, these sites introduce a much older chapter of the region’s history and its enduring significance.

The battle between Ottoman and Serbian-led forces occupies an important place in historical memory. Murad I died during the conflict; visiting his tomb alongside Gazimestan gives you space to consider how one event has been remembered across centuries and communities.

Walk through central Prishtina with your tour leader, following Mother Teresa Boulevard and seeing landmarks including the Newborn Monument and Cathedral of Saint Mother Teresa. The route also takes in the capital’s government buildings and busy public spaces.

Prishtina’s streets reflect both longstanding traditions and Kosovo’s recent history. Unveiled when Kosovo declared independence in 2008, the Newborn Monument is a focal point for that story; the boulevard offers a view of everyday life in the capital.

Explore Ulpiana Archaeological Park near Gracanica and see remains associated with the ancient Roman city, including a basilica, public baths and mosaics. The excavated site offers a close look at urban life in this part of the Balkans centuries before modern Kosovo.

Ulpiana developed into an important Roman-era settlement and continued to change in late antiquity. Its surviving foundations and decorative fragments help make the scale and complexity of the former city visible on the ground.

Tour Gjakova’s Ottoman-era Carshia, or Old Bazaar, walking among traditional shops and artisans’ workshops. See how commerce, craft and community life share the streets of one of the Balkans’ largest historic bazaars.

The wider bazaar area includes landmarks such as the Hadum Mosque, while old stone bridges add to Gjakova’s historic character. A guided visit gives you a closer look at the daily rhythms of the quarter and the traditions that have shaped it.

Cross Lake Koman by ferry on a journey of around two hours through a narrow waterway framed by steep mountain slopes. Watch the scenery shift along the shores, with the dramatic peaks of the Albanian Alps rising around the lake.

Lake Koman is a reservoir whose winding shape creates an almost fjord-like passage through northern Albania’s rugged terrain. The ferry is a practical crossing, but the sustained views from the water make it a distinctive scenic experience in its own right.

Enjoy a farm-to-table meal at Mrizi i Zanave, a restaurant set amid farmland in northern Albania. Taste traditional Albanian cooking built around locally sourced ingredients in the rural setting that helps produce them.

The restaurant’s field-to-fork approach places growers, seasonal produce and regional food traditions at the centre of the experience. Sharing a meal here offers a direct connection between the flavours on the table and the agricultural landscape beyond it.

Step inside Gracanica Monastery to admire its Serbo-Byzantine architecture and richly painted medieval interior. Built in the early 14th century for Serbian king Stefan Milutin, it remains an active Serbian Orthodox religious site near Prishtina.

Look closely at the frescoes covering its walls and vaults, where religious scenes turn the church interior into a layered work of art. The monastery is part of the UNESCO-listed Medieval Monuments in Kosovo, recognised for their exceptional Byzantine and Romanesque heritage.

Visit the Patriarchate of Pec, the historic Serbian Orthodox monastery and church complex on the outskirts of Peja. Explore its architecture and religious heritage with your tour leader, gaining insight into why the site holds such importance.

For centuries, the complex served as a seat of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Its connected churches and medieval frescoes make it both a place of worship and a record of artistic traditions. It is also part of the UNESCO-listed Medieval Monuments in Kosovo.

Explore Visoki Decani Monastery, a medieval Serbian Orthodox monastery near Decan, and study the intricate frescoes inside its church. Learn about the site’s history and its continuing religious significance.

Founded in the 14th century, the monastery brings together distinctive stone architecture and an extensive cycle of medieval wall paintings. Its artistic and historical importance has earned it UNESCO World Heritage status. Visiting the interior reveals details that are easy to miss from its imposing exterior.