Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo: Ohrid, Skopje and Prizren

Arrive in Tirana

Tirana International Airport to your hotel in Tirana

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Tirana
• Environ 30 min de route

Soir

Fly into Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza (TIA) at Rinas, about 17 km northwest of the city, in time for the evening meeting: plan to land by about 4 pm (the exact latest arrival is confirmed with your final itinerary). A driver meets you in the arrivals hall for the drive of 25 to 40 minutes to a central hotel, where we stay two nights. At about 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a briefing on the route ahead: three countries, three currencies, three border crossings and what each day asks of you on foot. Then we walk to Skanderbeg Square and climb the steps of the Pyramid, the former Enver Hoxha museum reopened in 2023, as the city lights come on. Dinner together follows in a restaurant nearby, a first taste of Albanian cooking: fërgesë of peppers and cheese, grilled lamb and a glass of local wine or raki.

Compris

• Pick-up at Tirana International Airport (TIA)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Evening walk to Skanderbeg Square and up the Pyramid
• Welcome dinner

Tirana and Kruja

Tirana, then Kruja and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Tirana
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

After breakfast your guide walks the group through central Tirana. We step into the small Et'hem Bey Mosque on Skanderbeg Square, its walls painted with trees, bridges and waterfalls, and walk past the mosaic on the National History Museum to Bunk'Art 2, a Cold War bunker built for the Interior Ministry and now a museum of the police and secret police under communism. Late in the morning we drive about 45 minutes north to Kruja, on a mountain ledge above the plain.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in the town, then we walk up the cobbled old bazaar, lined with wooden shops selling felt, carpets and copper, to the castle where Skanderbeg held off Ottoman armies in the 15th century. The Skanderbeg Museum inside the walls tells his story, and the Ethnographic Museum next door shows an old merchant's house.

Soir

We are back in Tirana by late afternoon, and the evening is free for the cafés and restaurants of Blloku.

Compris

• Tirana walk with your guide: Skanderbeg Square and the Et'hem Bey Mosque
• Bunk'Art 2
• Sit-down lunch in Kruja
• Kruja old bazaar and castle
• The Skanderbeg Museum and the Ethnographic Museum, Kruja

Activités en option

• Dajti Express cable car (price shown at booking)

Over the mountains to Lake Ohrid

Tirana to Elbasan, across the border at Qafe Thane, then Struga and Ohrid

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Ohrid
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

Lake Ohrid opens below as we come down to Struga, where the Black Drin river leaves the lake, and we stop there for a sit-down lunch. Ohrid town is twenty minutes on. We check in for two nights and set out on foot in the late afternoon: the 11th-century church of St Sophia with its frescoes, the ancient theatre, then up to Samuel's Fortress for the view over the roofs and the lake.

Soir

From the fortress the path drops through the pines past Plaošnik, where St Clement founded a school in the 9th century, to the small church of St John at Kaneo on its rock above the water, which we reach at sunset. Dinner is your choice in the old town.

Compris

• Border crossing into North Macedonia with your guide
• Sit-down lunch in Struga
• Ohrid walk with your guide: St Sophia, the ancient theatre, Samuel's Fortress, Plaošnik and St John at Kaneo

By boat to St Naum

Ohrid by boat to St Naum, then by road back via the Bay of Bones

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Ohrid
• Environ 45 min de route

Matin

Mid-morning we board a boat at Ohrid harbour and cruise south along the eastern shore of the lake, past beaches and villages under Galičica mountain, to the monastery of St Naum near the Albanian border. Lake Ohrid is one of the oldest lakes in Europe, and the town and lake are on the UNESCO World Heritage list. St Naum founded the monastery in the early 10th century, and the church on its headland holds his tomb and later frescoes; peacocks walk in the gardens. Below it, the springs that feed the lake rise in clear pools, and a local boatman rows us through them under the willows.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal at St Naum, usually Ohrid trout. The van brings us back by road, with a stop at the Bay of Bones, a reconstructed Bronze Age village on stilts with a small museum over the water.

Soir

The late afternoon is free for a swim, then we meet again for dinner together in the old town.

Compris

• Boat from Ohrid to St Naum
• The monastery of St Naum
• Rowing boat on the springs at St Naum
• Sit-down lunch at St Naum
• The Bay of Bones museum
• Dinner in Ohrid

North to Skopje

Ohrid to Skopje by Kicevo and the motorway

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Skopje
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

We reach Skopje at about midday and stay two nights. Lunch is a sit-down meal in the Old Bazaar, the Čaršija: kebapi, tavče gravče of baked beans, and peppers. Then your guide walks you through the bazaar's lanes to the Kuršumli An caravanserai and the Mustafa Pasha Mosque, and up to Kale fortress for the view over the Vardar and the city. Skopje was largely rebuilt after an earthquake in 1963, and again in the 2010s, when the river banks filled with statues and new classical facades; your guide explains both. We cross the 15th-century Stone Bridge to Macedonia Square and finish at the Mother Teresa Memorial House, near where she was born in 1910.

Soir

The evening is free.

Compris

• Sit-down lunch in Skopje's Old Bazaar
• Skopje walk with your guide: the Old Bazaar, Kuršumli An, the Mustafa Pasha Mosque and Kale fortress
• The Stone Bridge and Macedonia Square
• The Mother Teresa Memorial House

Matka canyon

Skopje to Matka canyon and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Skopje
• Environ 1 h de route

Après-midi

Back at the dam, lunch is a sit-down meal on a terrace above the water. We return to Skopje by about 2 pm, and the afternoon is free: ride the cable car up Mount Vodno to the Millennium Cross for the view over the city, visit the National Gallery in the old Daut Pasha Hammam (entry included), or sit in the bazaar over a coffee.

Compris

• St Andrew's Monastery, Matka
• Boat on Lake Matka to Vrelo Cave, with the cave visit
• Sit-down lunch at Matka
• The National Gallery in the Daut Pasha Hammam, Skopje

Activités en option

• Millennium Cross cable car on Mount Vodno (price shown at booking)
• Kayak hire at Matka (price shown at booking)

Into Kosovo: Gracanica and Pristina

Skopje across the border at Blace to Gracanica, then Pristina

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Pristina
• Environ 2 h de route

Matin

After breakfast we drive north to the Kosovo border at Blace, about 20 minutes from Skopje, and on through Ferizaj, about 100 km and an hour and three quarters of driving plus the border check. Before Pristina we stop at Gračanica, a Serbian Orthodox monastery built by King Milutin in about 1321 and part of the UNESCO-listed Medieval Monuments in Kosovo. It is still a working convent, so dress with shoulders and knees covered; inside, the frescoes cover every wall up into the domes.

Après-midi

We reach Pristina, Kosovo's capital, at about midday, check in and have lunch on your own along Mother Teresa Boulevard, the pedestrian street through the centre. In the afternoon your guide walks you to the Newborn monument, unveiled on independence day in 2008, the National Library with its domes and metal lattice, the Sultan Mehmet Fatih Mosque from the 15th century and the Ethnological Museum in an Ottoman family compound.

Soir

The evening is free.

Compris

• Border crossing into Kosovo with your guide
• Gračanica Monastery
• Pristina walk with your guide: the Newborn monument, the National Library and the Sultan Mehmet Fatih Mosque
• The Ethnological Museum, Pristina

Prizren

Pristina to Prizren

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Prizren
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

A relaxed start, then we drive about an hour and a quarter southwest on the motorway to Prizren, under the Sharr mountains, arriving mid-morning. Your guide walks you through the old town along the Bistrica river: Shadërvan square with its fountain, the Ottoman stone bridge, the Sinan Pasha Mosque of 1615 and the complex of the League of Prizren, where Albanian leaders met in 1878. We visit the 14th-century church of Our Lady of Ljeviš, part of the same UNESCO listing as Gračanica, when it is open to visitors.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal by the river. The afternoon is free for the silver filigree workshops in the bazaar, a coffee in the square or a rest at the hotel.

Soir

In the early evening we walk up together to the fortress, about 20 minutes on a steep lane, to watch the sun go down over the roofs and minarets, then come down for the farewell dinner.

Compris

• Prizren walk with your guide: Shadërvan, the stone bridge and the Sinan Pasha Mosque
• The League of Prizren complex
• Our Lady of Ljeviš, when open
• Sit-down lunch in Prizren
• Sunset walk to Prizren fortress
• Farewell dinner

Back to Tirana and home

Prizren across the border at Vermica, then the motorway to Tirana International Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 3 h de route

Matin

After breakfast we leave Prizren at about 8:30 am for the Albanian border at Vërmica and Morinë, twenty minutes away. From there the motorway runs past Kukës and through the mountains of the north, by tunnel and long bridges, down to the coastal plain: about 200 km and three hours of driving to Tirana International Airport, with a coffee stop on the way. We aim to reach the airport by about 12:30 pm, so book a flight leaving after about 3 pm and allow for border waits, which can be longer on summer weekends. Your guide checks your flight times before the trip and comes with the group to the airport. If you would like more time, we can add nights in Tirana at the end, and the driver drops you at your hotel instead. If you would rather fly home from Pristina, ask us when you book.

Compris

• Border crossing into Albania with your guide
• Drop-off at Tirana International Airport (TIA)