Traveling with kids in Albania is fun

Our observative experience

Through the years we have met many couples with kids that visited Shkoder & Albania and spent several days with us where we organized tours for them or joined us at our bar for a juice at “Shega Eger. 

Traveling with kids in Albania is easy & fun, especially during summer time. Most of those families were from Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Chekia and more. A lot of them preferred to drive to Albania from their country and came south-east with vans or campers. Ideally they would use a town like Shkoder as a base and then do activities with their kids around it, such as biking, swimming, hiking or kayaking.

Driving to Albania would take more of your vacation days away but some travelers prefer it since the drive round trip becomes an adventure. Often they would stay in camping sites but also in AirB&B, hotels or hostels. At the end a room for a family of four will cost from 40-60 euros per night.

Alternatively if someone can’t drive or is coming from a distant destination, renting a car in Tirana could be the best option. If you rent at the airport you will spend more, but if you book your car 3-4 months in advance you will get a good deal and a better car for the journey.

Our personal experience traveling with a child

Now let me give you our experience traveling with our little daughter in north & south of Albania in two different trips. When we did the south trip we started from Shkoder and drove to Pogradec in Ohrid lake and spent a night there, then the next two nights we were in Korca and used Korca for daily trips that took us to Prespa lake and other villages around Korca. We found it quite easy traveling with a six month old child compared to now. The longest drive was from Korca to Permet, a beautiful drive with so many picturesque views and we made many stops before we arrived in Permet.

Permet is a small but great town to spend two nights with kids. During our stay there we also visited the hot springs nearby. In addition from Permet you can hike the Zagori mountains or visit the Bektashi holy sites,many monasteries or Kelcyra castle.

Our last two nights on this trip in the south we went to Gjirokaster, a must visit town for travelers. Gjirokaster is similar to a hike, if you have a child carrier that will make things easy since the town is on hills.

Our purpose of this trip was to do the inland south Albania and not the coast of the south but if you go south most likely you will go to Saranda and drive through the Llogara path to Vlora, there the kids will have a great time by enjoying the small sandy beaches.

Saranda is a great place to spend nights with kids and during the day you can take them to Ksamil or other small beaches nearby.

The other trip we did in the north was a hiking trip and took us from Shkoder to Valbona through Komani lake with the ferry. We hiked from Valbona to Theth and we had to carry our 16 months daughter in the back during the hike and it took us 6 hours with many breaks in between.

To conclude

Last considerations, if it is too hot when you visit Albania evoid Tirana, you don’t want to be in a very trafficked and hot city knowing that behind you is the beach and sea breeze. The kids will hate it!

Food is one of the best things that you will experience, fresh fruits & vegetables will have a powerful taste so get ready in the summer for cherries, mulberries, apricots, peaches, watermelon, plums, and our favorite fresh figs! September will bring pomegranates, jujuba, kaki, mandarins, kiwis and many more.

Looking forward to having you in Albania, you are welcome to contact us if you have questions about your trip.