Tirana Travel Guide
Travel guide to Tirana, Albania with comprehensive information about events, shopping, and major Tirana sporting events to help you enjoy your visit more.
Tirana Overview
Tirana is the capital city of Albania, located in the north of the country and sitting alongside the River Ishm. It offers a mix of styles, being located midway between Rome and Istanbul, and sharing traits of each within its architecture.
Culture and history is very important to the city and its residents, and with this in mind the National History Museum and National Art Gallery are here in the city. Both focus on what the people of the country have achieved and also act as a reminder of the past.
A fascinating aspect in Tirana is the use of its own ecosystem. The city sits next to a vast area full of trees, called the Saint Prokopi Park, and this acts as a purifier of the city's carbon monoxide emissions, like a microcosm of the global ecosystem. However, just as with the global scenario, the output from the city does need to be reduced.
With regard to nightlife in Tirana, it is a mix of restaurants, bars and clubs. The locals tend to be more restaurant oriented and these can be found throughout the city. The clubs and bars spring up seemingly overnight, and can vanish almost as quickly, such is the shift in tastes here. What is fantastic one week can be old hat a few weeks later, so something else appears to take its place.
Tirana is a city in the midst of major change, developing its personality daily and as such is an interesting and exciting place to visit.
Top Tirana Attractions
A visit to Tirana must include the Skanderbeg Square, a large open space right in the heart of the city. The city itself is quite compact, so walking is the best way to get around here. Also close by is Mount Dajti which towers over the city and is well worth a visit as it is a National Park that, as well as being an area of natural beauty is also home to many animals indigenous to the area.
Shopping in Tirana
The majority of shops here are derived from the needs of the local people, so they are rich in the cultural identity of the city, and welcoming of international visitors. The mall concept hasn't really been brought in yet since it needs significant investment in the infrastructure, so the shops are of more traditional style and spread around the city, although as it is relatively compact anyway that does not prove to be a disadvantage.
Tirana Sporting Events
The city has two football clubs KF Tirana, who are the current league champions and KS Dinamo Tirana who are a little behind them.