• Don't miss the ancient city of Butrint (website: www.butrint.org), with archaeological remains spanning 2,500 years. Embark on one of the suggested walks or take a boat trip around the park.

• See the other interesting and accessible archaeological sites, such as the abandoned city of Apollonia and the Roman amphitheatre in Durrësi. Byllis is a little harder to get to, but well worth the effort.

• Visit Rozafa Castle, in Shkodra. Built before the Roman conquest, it was last used for military purposes as recently as 1913. Rozafa was the last fortress in Albania to fall to the Ottomans, in 1479.

• Make the easy day trip from Tirana to Kruja, the family seat of Albania's 15th-century hero, Skanderbeg. Within the medieval castle's walls are two interesting museums. The restored Ottoman bazaar just outside the castle offers the best souvenir-shopping in Albania.

• Explore the Ottoman cities of Gjirokastra and Berati, with their unique domestic architecture and their imposing hilltop castles.

• The national collections of religious art, in Tirana, Korça and Berati, contain wonderful icons painted by the 16th-century artist Onufri and his successors in the 18th and 19th centuries.

• Admire the vibrant colours of the frescoes in Albania's little-known churches. Voskopoja, near Korça, was once the largest city in the Balkans, full of churches and basilicas, and with its own academy where artists were trained.  

See Contact Addresses for further tourist information.