Every evening, in every Albanian town, people put on a jacket and go outside to walk slowly up and down. It is called the xhiro, and once you understand it you will understand Tirana. Here is the five-kilometre version we do from our own front door.
There is no English word for xhiro. Passeggiata comes closest, and Albanians borrowed the idea from across the Adriatic, but the thing itself has become entirely local. Sometime after six, when the heat drops and the light goes gold, the streets fill up. Not with people going anywhere in particular — with people walking. Families three generations deep. Teenagers in their best trainers. Old men with their hands behind their backs, covering the same two hundred metres they have covered every evening for forty years.
Under communism the xhiro was one of the few freedoms nobody could take away, and in some towns the main street was closed to cars for it. That habit survived the system. What it means for you as a visitor is simple: between about seven and nine in the evening, Tirana is at its best and its most alive, and the correct thing to do is to join in. Walk slowly. Stop for coffee you do not need. Look at people, because they are looking at you.
You can xhiro anywhere — the boulevard and Blloku are the classic stages, and the loop around the artificial lake is the long version. But over a few years of living here we have settled on one particular circuit that starts and finishes at our own door, and it happens to take in most of what a first-time visitor should see. It is about five kilometres. It takes an hour if you march and two if you do it properly, which means stopping.
The route, from above
4.9 km · 10 · 1.5–2.0 h
Stops in order — walk between them however the streets suggest
The ten stops
North to south down the spine of the city, then back up the other side. Every one of these is free to look at from the outside, so you can do the whole thing on a Sunday when the museums are shut and still feel you have seen Tirana.
The Prism
Out of the courtyard, through the tunnel, and turn left onto the boulevard.
Skanderbeg Square
Six minutes and you are in the middle of the country. Cross it diagonally so you get the scale of it, and look back at the mountains behind the museum.
Bunk'Art 2
The bunker entrance sits in the pavement like something that surfaced overnight. Even shut, it is worth standing on.
Tirana Castle
Ottoman walls with bars built inside them. This is the coffee stop.
Namazgah Mosque
The largest mosque in the Balkans, next door to the parliament. Stand back far enough to get the minarets in.
Pyramid of Tirana
Climb the steps to the top. It is the best free view in the city and it is open until late.
Arena Kombëtare
The national stadium, with a square and shops built into its base. On a match night you will hear it long before you see it.
Polytechnic University
The southern turn. The boulevard ends in a wide arc of institutional stone, and then you head back north on the other side.
Rinia Park
Fountains, shade and benches. The second coffee, if you are doing this properly.
House of Leaves
The surveillance museum, in an ordinary-looking villa on an ordinary street. Five minutes from here and you are home.
How to do it properly
Start at seven, not five
In summer, five o'clock is still furnace weather and the streets are empty. Wait for the light to soften. In winter, six is about right.
Wear the good shoes
Not for the distance — five kilometres is nothing — but because everybody else has. The xhiro is a low-key parade and turning up in hiking sandals marks you out.
Take cash
You will want a coffee at the castle, an ice cream on the boulevard and a beer behind the Pyramid. All three are a euro or two and all three are easier in lek.
Let the pavement decide
The route below is a suggestion, not a schedule. If a side street looks better, take it. Ours is full of them.
Finish with dinner
You will pass Pazari i Ri near the start and Rruga Mustafa Matohiti near the halfway point. Both are excellent places to abandon the walk entirely.
Then come back and put your feet up
The apartment is a hundred metres off the end of this route, which is the whole reason we walk it. Come in, put the kettle on, and let somebody else do the last lap.
Check your dates
Message us. A person will answer.
Booking direct is the cheapest way to stay — no platform fee on top — and it means you are talking to the family who owns the place from the very first message. If you would rather book through a platform you already trust, both listings are below and we will look after you exactly the same.
Get in touch
Tell us your dates and how many of you there are.