Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokastra, Albania

The old buildings in Gjirokastra, Albania
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gjirokastran_view_of_the_city.jpg
Author: Joonas Lyytinen


Berat and Gjirokastra are two historic towns in the southern part of Albania. They were inscribed as World Heritage Sites in 2005, and extended in 2008. The heritage core zones cover a total area of 58.9 hectares while the buffer zone encompasses 136.2 hectares.

What to See in Berat and Gjirokastra

The town of Berat (or Berati in Albanian) has a 13th century castle, called Kala, whose roots goes back to the 4th century. There are also churches from the 13th century Byzantine era as well as mosques from the 15th century Ottoman era. The town of Gjirokastra (also written Gjirokastër or Gjirokaster) has well-preserved two-storey houses from the 17th century. It also has a bazaar, an 18th century mosque and two churches from that period.

Citadel of Berat, Albania
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Citadel_of_Berat.jpg
Author: Joonas Lytinen


The World Heritage Site covers the old quarters of Berat and Gjirokastra. Berat is located on the right bank of the Osum river, just before the confluence with the Molisht river. The town has a population of around 45,000.

Gjirokastra is located on the Drinos river valley. It is the birthplace of Albanian Communist dictator Enver Hoxha, who was born there in 1908.

World Heritage Site Inscription Details

Location: N40 4 10 E20 7 60
Inscription Year: 2005
Type of Site: Cultural
Inscription Criteria: III, IV Advisory Body of Evaluation was conducted in 2005 and 2008. Berat and Gjirokastra were inscribed when the World Heritage Committee decided at the 29th session in Durban, South Africa, on 10-17 July, 2005.

Getting there

It is possible to take a shared taxi called furgon from Tirana, the capital of Albania, to visit Berat. You can also take a bus or furgon to Gjirokaster.

Berat Orthodox Cathedral
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:New_orthodox_cathedral_of_Berat.jpg
Author: Decius

List of World Heritage Sites in Albania and World Heritage Sites in the World

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.