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

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Tirana

   Tirana International Airport to your hotel in Tirana

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Tirana
   Détail du jour 1

   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

   Temps libre : Free until the evening briefing

   

2. Jour 2 : Tirana and Kruja

   Tirana, then Kruja and back

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Tirana
   Détail du jour 2

   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. 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. 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)

   Option plus facile : In Kruja the van drops you near the castle gate, so you can skip the climb up the bazaar.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Tirana

   Activité : About 3 hours on foot: flat streets in Tirana, then a steep cobbled lane in Kruja.

3. Jour 3 : Over the mountains to Lake Ohrid

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

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

   We leave Tirana at about 9 am and drive east through the tunnel to Elbasan, then up the Shkumbin valley to the North Macedonian border at Qafë Thanë, about three hours of driving in all plus the border check, where your guide handles the paperwork. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Skip the climb to Samuel's Fortress and meet the group at Kaneo by the lakeside path.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Ohrid

   Activité : About 2.5 hours on foot in the late afternoon, with a 20-minute climb to the fortress and steps down to Kaneo.

   

4. Jour 4 : By boat to St Naum

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

   • Environ 45 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Ohrid
   Détail du jour 4

   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. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Stay on the level paths at St Naum and skip the steps down to the Bay of Bones platform.

   Option plus active : Walk the lakeside path from the Bay of Bones to the next beach before the van collects you.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free in Ohrid

   Activité : About 1.5 hours on foot, on level paths; the boat out takes about an hour and a half, depending on the boat and the season.

5. Jour 5 : North to Skopje

   Ohrid to Skopje by Kicevo and the motorway

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Skopje
   Détail du jour 5

   We leave Ohrid at about 9 am and drive north through the wooded hills around Kičevo, then join the motorway past Gostivar and Tetovo, about 175 km and three hours of driving with a coffee stop on the way. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Skip the walk up to Kale fortress and wait in a café in the bazaar.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Skopje

   Activité : About 2.5 hours on foot in the afternoon, mostly flat, with a short climb to the fortress.

   

6. Jour 6 : Matka canyon

   Skopje to Matka canyon and back

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Skopje
   Détail du jour 6

   We leave at about 8:30 am for Matka, about 17 km southwest of the city, where the Treska river has cut a deep limestone gorge, dammed in the 1930s into a narrow green lake. Arriving early means the boats are not yet queuing and the canyon walls are still in shade. First we visit the small church of St Andrew's Monastery by the dam, painted with frescoes in the 14th century, then take a boat up the lake between the cliffs to Vrelo Cave, where a guide takes you inside to see its stalactites. 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)

   Option plus facile : Stay on the boat and skip the cave steps; or wait on the terrace by the dam.

   Option plus active : Walk the cliff path along the canyon instead of taking the boat back, or climb about an hour with your guide to the monastery of St Nicholas above the gorge.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Skopje

   Activité : About 2 hours on foot on a riverside path with some steps; the active climb is steep and rocky.

   

7. Jour 7 : Into Kosovo: Gracanica and Pristina

   Skopje across the border at Blace to Gracanica, then Pristina

   • Environ 2 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   • Nuit : Pristina
   Détail du jour 7

   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. 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. 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

   Temps libre : Lunch on your own; evening free in Pristina

   Activité : About 2 hours on foot on flat city streets.

8. Jour 8 : Prizren

   Pristina to Prizren

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Prizren
   Détail du jour 8

   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. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Skip the fortress climb and watch the sunset from a terrace by the river.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free in Prizren

   Activité : About 2.5 hours on foot, mostly on cobbles, plus the 20-minute climb to the fortress.

   

9. Jour 9 : Back to Tirana and home

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

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 9

   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)

   Activité : Book a flight from Tirana leaving after about 3 pm.

Faune et météo : May, June, September and October are warm and the best months for walking; Lake Ohrid is warm enough to swim in from about late June to September. July and August are hot in Skopje and Pristina, often over 35 C, and Ohrid is at its busiest. The Ohrid to St Naum boat runs mainly in summer; outside its season we drive to St Naum and take a boat there.

• Tirana2 nuits
• Ohrid2 nuits
• Skopje2 nuits
• Pristina1 nuit
• Prizren1 nuit