Berat, AlbaniaBerat, Albania
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berat_Albania_bridge.jpg
Author: Jason Rogers
photo licensing

Berat is a city in south-central Albania. It is the capital of the District of Berat and the County of Berat. The city has a population of 126,000 (2011 estimate). It is located at an elevation of 58 m (190 ft). The city is in the Central European Time, which is an hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+1) and two hours ahead during Daylight Saving Time in summer.

The name Berat is derived from Belgrad, meaning "white city", similar in meaning to Belgrade. It is located on the right bank of the river Osum, before it joins the river Molisht.

Berat is a city with many buildings of historical significance. Its old town of Berat was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 2008 along with the old town of Gjirokastra.

Church of the Holy Trinity, Berat CastleChurch of the Holy Trinity, on the grounds of Berat Castle
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Berat_Albania_7.jpg
Author: Diego Galli
photo licensing

As would be expected, the history of Berat goes back thousands of years. The earliest documentation appears in the 6th century BC, when it was settled by a Greek tribe. In 200 BC, the city was captured by the Roman legatus Lucius Apustius.

When the Roman Empire collapse, Berat became part of the Byzantine Empire, as with the rest of the Balkan peninsula. It was captured by Bulgarians under Presian I in the 9th century. That was when it was renamed Beligrad.

Berat fell to the Ottomans in 1417. Although Albanian forces tried to get it back, they did not manage to recapture it. By the modern era, Berat became one of the most important Albanian cities in the Ottoman Empire. Since the 18th century, the city has some twenty-two guilds ranging from metalworks to silversmithing and silk making.

Visiting Berat

You can reach Berat by taking a bus or minibus (called furgon) from Tirana.

Places of Interest in Berat

  1. Berat Ethnographic Museum

  2. Kala Castle

  3. Onufri Iconography Museum

 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.
Copyright © 2003-2025 Timothy Tye. All Rights Reserved.