Berat is a historic city in Albania with a beautiful old castle, cobbled hilly streets and a variety of day trips. In this 2 day Berat itinerary, we’ll show you the best things to do, where to stay, our favourite restaurants and generally how to plan your trip!
Whether you’re on a 2 week Albania itinerary or a short trip, Berat is a must-visit! It’s close to Tirana, making it the perfect place to spend a day or two. And it’s hard not to love the peaceful atmosphere and surrounding nature spots.
The picturesque postcard view of Berat is the traditional Albanian houses climbing up the hill facing the city. This is the reason Berat is nicknamed the city of a thousand windows and you can’t miss them!
We loved our time in Berat and we can’t wait to share our favourite spots in this travel guide. As we didn’t rent a car in Albania, this trip is possible by public transport, however, you may need to book a tour or rent a vehicle for day 2.
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The Best 2 Day Berat Itinerary
Now we’ll jump into our 2 day Berat itinerary! You can easily spend one day exploring the best things to do in Berat, but we recommend taking a day trip out of the city. So we’ll share exactly how we spent our 2 days in Berat.
Day 1 – Exploring the City, Streets & Castle
On the first day of this Berat itinerary, you’ll explore the old town and the main sights in the city centre! We arrived at midday and still had enough time to complete this first day!
Admire the viewpoint of the houses
As we mentioned above, the traditional houses make Berat the city of a thousand windows! These houses watch over the city and are a highlight of visiting Berat! You’ll find guesthouses, restaurants and local homes nestled within them.
But the viewpoint is over the other side of the Osum River across the New Bridge and you can even get great views on the bridge.
Whenever we visited, the spot was never too busy so you won’t need to worry about waking up early to get there.
As the viewpoint is so close to the centre, you can stop by at any point to admire the iconic view!
Walk along Gorica Bridge
After walking over the New Bridge, you’ll have reached Gorica neighbourhood! This is part of Berat’s Old Town, but it’s not as explored as the other side (Mangalem)
To get back over to the other side of Berat, walk along the riverfront and wander through the old streets until you reach Gorica Bridge!
Just before the bridge, we grabbed some lunch at Eni Traditional Restaurant and feasted on some stuffed eggplants, peppers and potatoes!
The old stone bridge is much more beautiful than the new bridge, with arches along the river. It connects Gorica and Mangalem (the main centre and Old Town) together similar to the New Bridge.
Walk along the boulevard
Next up on our 2 day Berat itinerary is a walk through the boulevard. The boulevard is the newer area of Berat with supermarkets, banks and more international-style restaurants. It’s still quite small compared to other cities, but you’ll definitely notice the difference between the Old Town and here.
Follow the boulevard to be greeted with more amazing views of Berat’s traditional houses! We also chilled in Lulishtja next to the boulevard when the heat of the day got too much. We watched the locals playing dominoes and chilling in the park.
See the churches and mosques
Berat is filled with beautiful churches and mosques in every corner of the city and you can’t miss them! Some of them are closed for entry but we prefer admiring them anyway. Here’s a few note-worthy religious buildings to find in Berat:
- The Ruins of the Red Mosque – on the hill within the castle grounds
- Bachelors’ Mosque – in the centre of Old Town with lovely paintings on the exterior
- St. Michael’s Church – a steep incline to reach the middle of the hill, but an alternative way to get to the castle. It’s possible to enter in the morning for a small fee!
- Saint Demetrius Cathedral – a huge orthodox church with a simple interior & it’s free to enter.
- Lead Mosque Berat – a lovely mosque right next to Saint Demetrius Cathedral showing the peacefulness between religions now.
Get lost in the cobble-stoned streets
After spending the beginning of the day exploring Gorica and the newer area of Berat, it’s time to explore Mangalem and get lost in the Old Town. Back in the day, Mangalem was known as the Muslim quarter and Gorica was the Christian area.
Now Berat isn’t divided at all and locals or tourists can browse the many streets around the city. The accommodation we stayed in (Ariabaci Guesthouse) is located in Mangalem and we loved walking up the streets each day. Although it was pretty hard in the 37°C heat sometimes!
Berat’s Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage site and it’s definitely worth wandering through during your 2 days in Berat.
➤ Worried about time on your Albania itinerary? Visit Berat on a day trip from Tirana!
Sunset at Berat Castle
One of the last places to see during your first day in Berat is the stunning castle sitting high upon the hill. As the steep hill up to the castle can be brutal in the summer sun, the late afternoon or evening is the best time to visit! Plus the sunset from the castle is the best in the city.
The castle is now a ruin but a lot of the grounds have been preserved. What we didn’t realise is that there’s so much more on the hill than the castle! There’s restaurants, guesthouses and shops selling homemade gifts. Locals live in the area, so it feels like a lovely community!
Don’t forget to walk around to the other side of the castle to see the huge flag and Berat Viewing Platform with more incredible views of the city of Berat.
You’ll also find the Holy Trinity Church, Onufri Museum and the ruins of the Red Mosque on the hill.
Dine at Temi Restaurant
Although we’re vegans, we fell in love with the traditional Albanian cuisine, especially the stuffed peppers and stuffed aubergine.
Temi is a lovely restaurant within the castle grounds, so it’s the perfect spot to finish your day after a lovely sunset.
We ate here twice during our 2 days in Berat and tried the stuffed peppers, aubergine, potatoes, soup and salad! Plus every meal comes with bread.
Homemade Food Lil is another popular spot in Berat and it seems you have to book a table to secure an evening spot! We chose to dine elsewhere during our time in Berat, but we recommend booking here if you want to eat Lili’s food!
➤ Travelling more of Albania? Here’s our 2 Week Albania Itinerary filled with tips to plan your trip!
Day 2 – Day Trip into Nature
As Berat is a small city, you can explore the main sights in one day. But we recommend spending 2 days in Berat so you can discover the beautiful nature surrounding the city!
We opted for visiting Bogova Waterfall and Osumi Canyon although you can also spend the day at a winery! So here’s how to spend the second day of your Berat itinerary.
Visit Bogova Waterfall
Our time in Berat was a beautiful blend of Old Town, city and nature. Bogova Waterfall was a highlight of our 2 days in Berat and it’s absolutely beautiful!
If you’re wondering how to get to Bogova Waterfall on this Berat 2 day itinerary, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered!
How to get to Bogova Waterfall
As we didn’t rent a car for our 2 week Albania trip, we didn’t think we would be able to visit the waterfall or canyon without booking a tour. Although the tours looked great, we wanted to save a little extra money, so we hunted for another option and came across a local scooter rental company.
They only needed to check a driving license, so we rented one for the day! We recommend having an international driving license handy though. Our scooter cost €15 per day and the petrol was only €8 and we covered a decent distance.
Note: We’ve rented scooters in a number of countries throughout Southeast Asia, so renting a scooter felt comfortable to us. We do not recommend this idea if you’ve never rented a scooter before, it’s best to rent a car or hop on a tour!
You can book your tour online in advance or at local hostels in Berat. Find more details here!
By renting a scooter we managed to visit these nature spots for €23 instead of €80 (for a tour)
I’m not going to lie, the 3 to 4-hour journey on a scooter was a little uncomfortable. The journey from Berat Old Town to Bogova waterfall will take around 1 hour. But we LOVE exploring this way. When we arrived at the falls, it felt like we were back in Siquijor, Philippines.
The car park for the waterfall is the second car park you’ll come across and it’s free. The first one is run by children charging 500 lek to park, so be careful and follow this car park on Google Maps. It’s a 15-minute walk from the car park.
If you don’t fancy renting a car or scooter, we recommend booking a tour at one of the hostels or via GetYourGuide.
When we arrived at Bogova Waterfall at 11 am, it was quite busy but we were lucky to find a gap in the crowds to have a few minutes in the water to ourselves. By ‘ourselves’, we mean just Dan, because Amy doesn’t like cold water!
The pools at the waterfall are quite small and extremely cold, which is why you’ll find people dipping instead of swimming for a while. There’s a local selling drinks and snacks after 11 am if you need a refreshment.
➤ Visiting the mountains during your Albania trip? Here’s our detailed Theth Itinerary!
Explore Osumi Canyon
After a refreshing dip in the waterfall, we headed to Osumi Canyon, the largest canyon in Albania. It’s one of the best things to do in Berat (near Berat)!
As we visited in July, the water was too low and not the turquoise blue we’d seen in photos! The best time to visit is the spring months as you can go rafting!
However, we still think it’s worth a visit and you can see the impressive canyon from many viewpoints from the road.
On our 2 day Berat itinerary, the furthest point we drove was to the Summer Bar Restaurant where there’s a bar and a beach-like area. From there you can explore the canyon from above and cross a small bridge. There were lots of people swimming in the murky waters, especially as it was 35°C!
We also visited Osumi Canyon Bridge, but parked up at this spot on Google Maps as it’s not a great spot to turn around at the bridge.
The canyon is a popular spot for rafting and it’s best to book a tour to explore the waters. You can book your rafting trip here with Albania Adventures!
When we arrived back in Berat, we headed up to the castle for another dinner at Temi restaurant and enjoyed the sunset on our second night.
More things to do in Berat
- Visit the Art Museum
- Day Trip to Chobo Winery (book your wine tasting tour here)
- Berat Cooking Class – cook homemade traditional Albanian meals (veggie options) – find out more here!
Where to stay in Berat
The best area to stay in Berat is near to the Old Town. There’s quite a few guesthouses up on the hills amongst the 1000 window houses.
We stayed at Ariabaci Guesthouse and it was a 10-minute walk uphill from the city but the views were amazing and our room had the best air con of our trip! It was also one of the cheapest stays during our Albania trip! Find it on Booking.com here.
Hotel Demaj – a lovely traditional Albanian hotel overlooking the old city of Berat – Find it on Booking.com here.
Hotel Vila Twix – another great place to stay in Berat with terraced rooms and the decor is super nice – Find it on Booking.com here.
Best Restaurants in Berat
- Temi Albanian Food € – at the top of the castle with the best food in Berat & vegan options! this was our favourite restaurant in Berat.
- Eni Traditional Food Berat €€ – delicious traditional Albanian food in Berat.
- Homemade Food Lili €€ – in the owner’s garden, feast on incredible Albanian food. reservation recommended.
- Friendly House € – more Albanian food! we ate here on our last day in Berat.
How to get around Berat
We’ve briefly covered how to get around Berat but here’s a summary of different transport options.
Walking – the best way to get around Berat is by foot. Vehicles can’t enter the hilly streets of the old town neighbourhoods and you’ll find that’s where some of the guesthouses are! Be warned, there’s quite a lot of hills!
Local Bus – After arriving from Tirana, we hopped on a local bus for €0.30 each to get to the main centre from the bus station. These buses are great if you need to get around Berat!
Rent a scooter or car – If you want to explore outside of Berat as we recommended on day 2, there’s a few places to choose from. We rented a scooter from Moto Rental (Hanna’s Hostel) for €15. You can find more car rental prices on Discover Cars.
How to get to Berat
There are a few different ways to get to Berat, depending on your starting location. As we explored Berat from north to south, we arrived in Berat from Tirana. This is one of the easiest and most flexible ways to get to Berat, especially due to the international airport in Tirana. Check out our Tirana travel guide.
From Tirana – It’s a 2-hour drive from Tirana to Berat. Our bus journey from Tirana took 2 hours 10 minutes without breaks and cost 500 lek. Buses leave multiple times a day and we arrive at the bus station which is a short local bus ride (30 lek) away from Berat centre.
From Gjirokaster – It’s a 2 hour 40-minute drive to Berat from Gjirokaster. The bus journey also took around the same time and cost 1000 lek per person. The buses from Gjirokaster to Berat only leave at 2 pm.
From Sarande – There are two buses a day at 8:00 AM or 14:30 heading from Sarande to Berat costing 1400 lek. The journey will take around 4 hours whilst driving in a car usually takes 3 hour 15 minutes.
How many days to spend in Berat?
It’s common to only stay one night in Berat if you’re travelling by car.
But, if you’re backpacking Albania like we did, we recommend spending 2 nights in Berat (unless you don’t want to visit the waterfall or canyon).
The buses to Gjirokaster from Berat only leave at 2 pm (or possibly 8 am to Sarande with a Gjirokaster stop), so you’ll have plenty of time to explore the centre of Berat on the morning of your second day.
48 hours is plenty of time to spend in Berat and it’s quite a peaceful place anyway. From Berat, we headed to Gjirokaster, another charming town in the south of Albania.
Is Berat worth visiting?
Yes, Berat is definitely worth visiting! Even if you’re only in Albania for a few days, you can easily do a day trip to Berat to experience the historic culture, amazing views and small city life. Berat is not comparable to the capital city of Tirana, so it’s the perfect place to explore outside the capital!
Now that you know what to do in Berat, have the best time exploring! and check out our other Albania travel guides to plan your trip!
- 2 Week Albania Itinerary
- How to spend 2 days in Tirana
- Best Things To Do in Krujë
- 1 day in Gjirokaster, Albania
- Top Things To Do in Theth
- Things to do in Sarande, Albania
- Best Things To Do in Shkoder
- Vegan in Albania Guide
- How to travel Albania on a Budget
- 3 Day Corfu Itinerary, Greece
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