Backpacking Albania is a 9-day small-group trip from $1,489 per person with a $350 deposit. Tubing the Osumi Canyon, the UNESCO-listed old towns of Berat and Gjirokastër, the Blue Eye spring, Butrint's ruins and a Himarë boat trip. For travellers aged 20-45, in groups of 6-18, with 11 activities and 8 meals. Departures run from 21 May 2027.
Tirana → Berat → Gjirokastër → Sarandë → Himarë
Albania
5 stops
Fly into Tirana, drop your bags at the hotel and meet the people you will spend the next nine days with. Once everyone has arrived, your guide takes the group on a short first walk to Skanderbeg Square, the wide open heart of the capital. The rest of the evening is for getting to know each other, with icebreakers, a first taste of Albanian food and, for the brave, a glass of raki to mark the start of the trip.
Your first full day is spent on foot, getting to grips with Tirana and its history. Your guide leads you past the Clock Tower, through the stalls of the New Bazaar (Pazari i Ri), up to Enver Hoxha's Pyramid and on to the government buildings. By early afternoon you are free to explore at your own pace. In the evening the group meets up again for dinner and drinks, and to find a good spot for the sunset.
This morning you leave the capital behind, pausing at the Belsh lakes for photos on the drive to Berat. The afternoon belongs to the Osumi River: a guided tubing trip through the canyon, floating past sheer rock walls, waterfalls and some dramatic scenery. Once you are dry, you wander the Mangalem and Gorica quarters, the hillside neighbourhoods whose rows of windows give Berat its nickname, the town of a thousand and one windows.
The day begins up at Berat Castle, looking out over the town and the valley below. From there you drive south to Gjirokastër, known as the City of Stone, where Ottoman-era houses climb the steep slopes of the Drino Valley. You stroll through the old town and its bazaar and step inside Skenduli House, one of its historic family homes. The rest of the afternoon is yours, and your guide will have plenty of ideas for filling it.
You need to be at least 18 to join this trip, and the upper age limit is 45. Most travellers are somewhere between their twenties and their thirties, and the majority come on their own, so joining solo is completely normal. Travelling in a group of up to 18 means you will have plenty of people to share the beaches, boat trips and evenings with.
Included: eight nights of accommodation, eight breakfasts, all transport within Albania, a group leader for the whole trip and every activity on the itinerary. That covers the Tirana walking tour, tubing in the Osumi Canyon, Berat Castle, Gjirokastër's old town and Skenduli House, the Blue Eye hike, Butrint, beach time in Sarandë and Ksamil, the Qeparo hike and the Himarë boat trip.
Not included: international flights, travel insurance, airport transfers, lunches and dinners, drinks and anything you choose to do in your free time.
Groups are capped at 18 travellers, so it is big enough to be sociable and small enough to fit on one boat and around one dinner table. Most people come on their own, so you will not be the only solo traveller.
An average level of fitness is plenty. The walking is mostly easy: the Tirana walking tour, the old towns of Berat and Gjirokastër, and Butrint's ruins. The Blue Eye hike on day 5 is scenic and not too demanding, and the hike up to Qeparo old village on day 7 climbs a hillside at an easy pace, with stops for the view.
Berat and Gjirokastër are built on hillsides with steep, cobbled lanes that can be slippery, so good shoes matter more than fitness. For the tubing in the Osumi Canyon and the Himarë boat trip you should be comfortable in the water.
Albania is one of the cheapest places to travel in Europe, and your accommodation, breakfasts, transport and activities are already paid for. As a guide, budget around €30 to €40 (about £25 to £35) a day for lunch, dinner and a few drinks.
Allow a bit more for the coast: the beach clubs at Ksamil usually charge for sunbeds, and nights out in Sarandë cost more than dinner in Berat. Add extra for souvenirs, and for any airport taxis at either end of the trip.
A group leader travels with you for the whole trip, from the first evening in Tirana to checkout on day 9. They look after the transport, activities and accommodation, run the walking tours, and have plenty of ideas for the free afternoons and evenings, from where to eat to where to watch the sunset.
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