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Sign in with FacebookLatest Durres hotel reviews
Pro
Relaxed, attractive centre, historical bits and pieces dotted about town, beaches
Con
Mafia, Poverty, Corruption
In a nutshell
Albania's Las Vegas
antistar Says: The fantastically named King Zog, a name often used in Monty Python's Flying Circus sketches, was the improbable ruler of the first Albanian nation. He was actually an elected president, and shunned by the European royalty for his lack of blue blood, but the local population...
antistar Says: The pearl white Madhe Mosque (Xhamia e Madhe) sits overlooking the shady town square, where the sensible old folk of the city take refuge from the burning midday mediterranean sun. Its pristine condition can be attributed to the fact that it is practically brand new. It was...
Henrik_rrb Says: The amphitheater in Durres is their biggest tourist sight I would say, and also the biggest amphitheater in the Balkan countries. It was built by the romans in the second century AD, and once it could hold up to 20 000 spectators.Today just half the stadium is above ground,...
maykal Says: When the Italian army invaded Durres in the Second World War, British secret agents teamed up with local Albanian resistance fighters to stop the occupation. They didn't succeed, but they did manage to be commemorated down on the seafront, in the form of gun-toting...
Tower and Dutch Soldier Monument
maykal Says: The city walls meet Rruga Tregetare at a small tower, now part of a cafe. In the gardens surrounding the tower is a statue of a Dutch soldier, somebody Thomson, who seemed to have died in Durres. I don't know the story behind it, but there is a plaque explaining all about...
Plazhi i Currilave (Currila Beach)
maykal Says: Past "Baywatch", close to the university, a long sandy beach stretches off into the distance. Not the cleanest of sands, I was a bit disappointed, although it is right in the centre of a port city, so you can't expect miracles. Still, it was nice enough, backed by cafes and...
maykal Says: Head north from the port, and you'll find yourself on a seafront promenade. The first part is backed by gardens and a lacklustre funfair, but further on are some cafes and small hotels, as well as a half-finished pier which is popular with fishermen. Keep walking, and you'll...
maykal Says: A short distance from the old centre, archaeologists may find what remains of a Roman market interesting. A few colums and old bricks now lie in an overgrown park, labelled Sheshi Treg in Albanian (treg means market)...I had a quick look, but I think only experts would get...
maykal Says: Maybe this tip is a bit misleading, as Durres doesn't really have what you'd call an old town. But the lanes surrounding the amphitheatre (i.e. between the city walls and Rruga Tregetare) contain many oldish houses, and its nice to spend half an hour or so wandering around....
maykal Says: The main street of Durres, Rruga Tregetare is quite pretty, with many of the colonial buidings looking like they've been painted recently. Pavement cafes, a couple of postcard shops, lots of bicycles, and a huge mosque (supposedly old, but reconstructed so it actually looks...
maykal Says: Running next to the amphitheatre are the remains of Durres' city walls, which extend from the seafront up the hill behind the Roman ruins towards a big mosque. A small section has been done up and made into a sort of park, but the rest is crumbling.
maykal Says: Undoubtedly the major attraction in Durres, I was quite disappointed to find the gates of the Roman Amphitheatre fimly padlocked. A sign on the door announced it was open, a radio was playing from somewhere within the ticket office, a coffee cup next to a chair on the...
Durrësi, monument to the hero of the people
JLBG Says: In front of the Byzantine tower, stands a monument to the heroes of the people (hero I popullit) with six names carved on a column on which is standing a man with a machine gun and showing inland with his raised hand. The main carving says “Mujo Ulqinaku”. That refers to...
12 Opinions
9 Opinions
Helpfulness
Housed inside a Venentian tower at the base of the Byzantine walls, the Bar Torra has a prime location, and the views of the sea from its open-air turret are worth a coffee. The cafe was the first private establishment in the city, but it still retains all the old communist eastern european charm. Our waiter, when he bothered to show up, was so shocked to discover we wanted to see the menu that he nearly blew the ash off the end of the cigarette stuck to his lower lip. Nobody came to give us the bill in over an hour, so we paid it downstairs. There were more looks of shock when we tipped them. Well, why not? You don't get service like that these days.
You can probably just go up the tower for free. Many people just did. I think they were under the impression it was a tourist attraction rather than a functioning cafe. The staff didn't seem to care. Coffee was ok, service was interesting, the views good, and the price very good. When you've run out of things to do in Durres, you can kick back here until the next train or bus comes.
Written May 16, 2007
Address: Sheshi Mujo Ulqinaku Square
Helpfulness
I have to admit that it maybe wasn't the brightest thing to go to Albania during off season, but what should I have done when FIFA fixed the playing schedule so that we would meet them away in September...?
One of the places in Durres that was still attracting a crowd was the Fly Bar in the old part of town. Very high building where the bar was on the top floor with a terrace without a roof on the sides.
A bit shady to get up there, as the elevator didn't go all the way up, but the view that then welcomed us made it all worth it. It's really high!
Fly Bar is one of the more classy bars in Durres, and it's not the place you go to dressed in shorts and flip flops. The drinks were a bit more expensive then we were used to, but still way cheaper than in western Europe.
Not so much people in september, but I can imagine it's a really nice (and crowded) place during high season.
Dress Code: No dress code written as we could see, but I can imagine they wouldn't be too happy to serve you if you come badly dressed.
Written Oct 23, 2010
maykal Says: Transport in Durres is concentrated in one place. You've got a cavernous train station next to a collection of buses, furgons and taxis, and just up the road is the port where you can sail over to Bari.Buses leave from outside Tirana train station very frequently for Durres,...
antistar Says: The Albanian rail website would probably be sued for false advertising in any other country. It's main page depicts a super fast French TGV speeding through the countryside in a blur. I think they may have lifted the picture wholesale from the SNCF site, because there's...
Henrik_rrb Says: We had a good time in both Durres and Tirana, and most of the time we had really good food.But one should consider that it might not be the same kind of food as back home, and the hot weather during the summer-autumn quickly can make the food bad.I made sure to stay away...
antistar Says: Food in Albania is generally safe, as long as you are careful about where you eat. The good restaurants should be no problem. There is an issue with Albanian milk, however. Albanian cows are known to suffer from TB and other diseases, which can be passed to humans through...
Durres off the beaten Path - View on Durres
frockland Says: The pink palace was built by King Zog for himself. During the riots it was looted and nowadays its used by the Italian army. Located up on a small hill above the Amphitheatre it offers nice views on the city. Its also worth to walk up the hill towards the lighthouse a couple...
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