18 Best, Fun, And Free Things To Do In Tirana

Tirana is the capital city of Albania. It was the second country we visited in Europe as a family (with France being the first). As a full-time, slow-travel, and world-schooling family, we tend to spend as long as we can in each destination. In Europe, that’s generally three months. So, after enjoying three months in Tirana, we’re excited to share our best tips on fun things to do in Tirana!

We loved our time in Tirana. If you’re wondering, “What is there to do in Tirana?” you’ve come to the right post. Although we have a young family, many places we’ve listed below can be enjoyed by people of all ages. 

And because we spent quite a decent chunk of time there, we can share plenty of insights and tips we wouldn’t have known about had we only experienced a short holiday there. We’ll share some of our favorite photos of Tirana, Albania, and helpful links for further information.

Keep reading to find out what to do in Tirana, whether you have kids or not. We hope you’re going to love Tirana as much as we do!

(This post includes affiliate links for which we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you should you make a purchase)

The best things to do in Tirana

Without further ado, here are some of our top picks for family-friendly activities in and around Tirana.

1. Pyramid of Tirana

Located in Central Tirana, the Pyramid of Tirana was abandoned long ago. It is wrecked but still stands and serves as a reminder of Albania’s communist past.

Built as a museum in honor of the former Albanian dictator Enver Hoxha, the monument hasn’t been maintained since the fall of communism.

There are mixed views on the Enver Hoxha Pyramid. These range from those who value its historical importance and would like to see it transformed into something like a museum or cultural center. Others see it as a pile of trash that should have been removed long ago. Until Albania decides the future of the monument, it remains as is.

For now, it still stands. If you’re looking for weird things to do in Albania, or maybe more specifically “crazy” things to do in Tirana, some people (including Ayla and Colin) are making use of it as a climbing frame. Just be careful of all the broken glass around the bottom of the monument.

2. Tirana things to do with kids | Visit the playgrounds

If hanging around (or climbing) an abandoned monument isn’t your thing, there are plenty of great playgrounds (for the whole family) in Central Tirana.

There’s a playground right next to the pyramid, lots of play options in Rinia Park across the road, and another playground a little further along the road at the junction opposite Tirana Castle.

We’ve also found a few play areas attached to cafes and a skate park. The city is super walkable, and you shouldn’t need to go far to find a play space for the kids (and grown-ups).

3. Explore the area around Tirana Castle

There’s plenty to explore in the center of Tirana. Start your Tirana sightseeing around Tirana Castle. Walk across Tanners Bridge, the restored 18th-century pedestrian bridge.

Then, head down the cobblestone street past the trendy bars, through the little green space, and over to the Justinian fortress wall.

Walk through the archway and pedestrian laneway, which has some lovely, upmarket shops and restaurants. The whole area around what remains of the castle is lovely for a wander. It’s a nice area to start your itinerary of things to do in Tirana.

4. Things to do in TIrana | Check out Reja – The Cloud

Reja – The Cloud is an interesting art structure outside the National Art Gallery in Tirana.

The first time we were in the area, we just walked past it, wondering what it might be. The second time around we went for a closer look and realized that you can go inside and even climb all over it (yes, it’s allowed).

Art can be interpreted differently by different people. Our girls definitely interpreted the cloud as a climbing frame. It provided quite a decent length of entertainment, and we had fun exploring it! If you’ve got the National Art Gallery on your list of places to visit in Tirana, then make sure you also spend a bit of time enjoying Reja – The Cloud. It’s located between Tirana Castle and Rinia Park.

Note that we didn’t visit the National Art Gallery as it didn’t really seem to be a place of interest for young kids.

5. Rinia Park

Rinia Park is very centrally located across the road from the Tirana Pyramid on one side and the National Art Gallery on the other.

It’s a fab green space to hang out at. We’d highly recommend it as one of our favorite things to do in Tirana when you want to enjoy green space in the city.  Our girls loved playing with the giant chess set and, of course, at the well-equipped playground. They also had fun running up and down the little grass hills. 

There’s a big water fountain (the Taiwan “pool”) and even a dog training area. It’s a popular place to chill and you can also grab a meal or coffee at one of the Tirana restaurants in the Taiwan center.

6. The Grand Park of Tirana

Move over Central Park and Hyde Park! The Grand Park of Tirana could be one of the best city parks in the whole world! Best of all, it’s one of our favorite fun and free things to do in TIrana.

It’s super well maintained, and you can walk or bike the perimeter around the artificial lake. Veer off along some leafy green side trails if you choose to!

There are two places you can hire a bike to cruise around (for only 100-150 lek per hour). We’d highly recommend doing so. The trail is smooth and easy to ride. You can also get a family-sized bike if you wish.

If you’re wondering about restaurants in Tirana, Albania, several cafes are around the park. Most are drinks-only cafes but we can recommend the one by the little train track for delicious local food.

The playgrounds in the Grand Park are spectacular. The main one is huge, starting with outdoor fitness machines and an excellent calisthenics area. There are also loads of play areas for the kids. They can climb ropes and bars, slide, swing, climb the bouldering wall, walk logs, and lots more. There’s also a basketball court and table tennis tables.

We’d also recommend the New Fari restaurant on the lake, which has a big outdoor kids’ playground complete with a huge bouncy castle, trampolines, slides, etc.

7. Park Lojrash Per Femije

The Grand Park of Tirana has so much to offer. Park Lojrash per Femije is another cool little park and playground you can visit there.

There’s a ship playground for little kids, swings, bars, and ropes to climb, plus a couple of really fast slides down the hill! There’s also a restaurant, fitness area, basketball court, and plenty of chairs and tables.

Just across the path is Gear Bike Albania, where you can hire bikes to cruise around the trails. They even have big novelty-type bikes that can fit a family or two!

The L2 bus goes past this park, which is essentially part of the Grand Park of Tirana. Just get off at the stop before the park, otherwise, you’ll have big busy roads to navigate to walk back to the park. And the L2 goes right past the park on its way back to town.

You’ll probably want to make more than one visit to the Grand Park of Tirana. Overall, It’s one of our favorite things to do in Tirana, Albania.

8. Harli Kafe

Harli Kafe is a great rainy-day option for kids. It’s also fab when parents need something easy to do!

Harli Kafe is near the Grand Park of Tirana and the Blokku shopping area. It’s essentially a (drinks-only) cafe, but they also have a dedicated indoor play area. The indoor play area is next to the cafe with walls, and a door in between so cafegoers can still relax.

It’s more of a ‘little kid’ playground, but Ayla still enjoyed it at six years old. Entry is 150 lek per kid, and they can play as long as they like. The play area is open daily from 9:30 am to 1 pm and 4:30 pm to 9 pm. Check it out if you’re looking for things to do in Tirana Albania, with kids.

9. Bunkart museums

We saw a few concrete bunkers around Tirana, including at one or two parks. A couple of the underground bunkers have been converted into museums. We visited the Bunkart Museum, which is located in the city center. There’s another one near the Dajti Ekspres Cable Car Station.

The Bunkart museum in the center covers relatively recent history from the war years to the post-war years.Therefore, it’s one of the very educational Tirana attractions if you want to learn about Albanian history.

There is a series of underground rooms with pictures and objects. Together they help to form a picture of the communist era in Albania.

All the information is written in Albanian and English. I took in as much as possible with two young girls in tow and would have read more independently.

I did my best to summarise some basic points for Ayla. She reached a point where she wanted to get out, though. She didn’t like the smell. It was nothing terrible, just a damp underground-type smell. At six years old, she probably wasn’t quite ready for this sort of place.

Even though she only absorbed a very small amount of what was in there I think it helped her to get a better picture of the great things in her own life and to practice gratitude.

Overall, I think she just switched off when she had had enough. A couple of rooms are R16 because they contain disturbing images. These are marked on the door so you can avoid them if you have young children.

10. Skanderbeg Square

Skanderbeg Square is the huge central square in Tirana. If you’re wondering what to do in Tirana, wander around here. Depending on when you visit, there could be many things going on there. We highly recommend Skanderbeg Square as one of the best free things to do in Tirana.

The Skanderbeg monument is a prominent feature of the Square. Skanderbeg is hailed as Albania’s National hero. He was a nobleman and military commander who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire.

Many local children enjoy climbing up the rocks that hold the statue in place, so of course, our little climbers wanted to join in, too!

Many important buildings surround the square, including the National History Museum and National Opera. We visited the National Museum, which has many historical artifacts. It’s not so great for young children, mainly because they can’t touch anything, but there’s plenty to see there which many people will find interesting.

There is a carousel in the square (200 lek), which the kids enjoyed. When we visited, there was also a wooden art sculpture. The girls also like the colorful seats and giant ‘Tirana’ letters.

Events, cafes, and International bookstore and more!

Skanderbeg Square is a great space for events. We looked around the agricultural fair at all the local produce and artisan products while we were there.

There’s a lineup of about four lovely cafes along one side of the Square, which is a great spot for delicious food and drink and to watch the world go by.

Something else we love is the superb International bookstore there. It’s a fantastic store with loads of books in English, including a wide range of activity books for kids. As full-time travelers, we have missed books, bookstores, and libraries a lot over the past three years. We don’t carry many around with us due to the weight but we did get an activity book (landmarks around the world), and a ‘learn to draw princesses’ book for Ayla to enjoy while she’s here!

Skanderbeg Square is a great place to hang out in Tirana. The central bus stop is right next to the square, so you can catch a local bus out in any direction if you choose to.

11. Dajti Mountain

Dajti Mountain is an easy and fun half-day or full-day trip from Tirana. There is plenty to do up the mountain, and you can even stay at a hotel up there. It’s one of the best places to visit in Tirana, especially if you’re a nature lover or want slightly cooler weather!

Catch a taxi or a bus to the Dajti Ekspres cable car, the gondola that goes up the mountain. I believe it’s also possible to walk up!

A bus or taxi ride from the center takes about 20 minutes, and the cable car ride is around 15 minutes. When you buy your gondola ticket, you can also buy tickets for mountain activities. These include the adventure park (high ropes, etc.), rollerblading, or mini-golf.

The cable car ride is gorgeous, and you’ll soon be into the crisp mountain air! Even if you don’t opt to do any paid activities on the mountain, there’s still plenty on offer.

There are a couple of great playgrounds for the kids, with a gorgeous mountain backdrop. There is also a drinks-only cafe at the top, with bouncy castles outside (for free). We had a delicious meal at the main restaurant at the top, from which you can enjoy beautiful views.

Once you’re up the gondola, other possible activities include hiking and mountain biking, ATV rides, horse riding, and paragliding.

We’d recommend visiting Mount Dajti. It was one of our favorite things to see in Tirana. The gondola makes it an easy and doable option to get amongst nature.

Our only dampener was being pickpocketed on the bus on the way home!

12. Take a day trip to Durres

At just under 40 minutes from central Tirana, Durres is the closest coastal area you can visit. It’s a port town where you can catch a ferry to Bari, Italy. Durres is well worth at least a day’s visit, if not more.

The town beaches we saw weren’t spectacular, but the ocean was beautiful, and we loved being by the sea. There are small beaches in the town area with a little grey sand, some pebbles, quite a bit of rubbish, and plenty of some sort of seagrass that we hadn’t seen before. Plenty of restaurants and cafes are along the seafront, and some have cleaned up the patch of beach out in front of their location.

The amphitheater is worth a look, as are the remains of Durres Castle. As they’ve also done in Tirana, a modern shopping area has been built around it.

We enjoyed hanging out at “Durres Sea View” (on Google Maps), which is a big set of steps on the oceanfront. Overall, visiting Durres is a great option to add to your list of things to do in Tirana (or, more specifically, ‘near’ Tirana!)

How to get to Durres from Tirana

You can catch the bus to Durres from Tirana. Get the L5B from the center and get off at the bus terminal a little beyond the Dogana roundabout.

Buses leave every 30 minutes to Durres from here and take a little over 30 minutes. When you arrive at the terminal in Durres, you can walk to the coast via the amphitheater and Castle.

With a higher budget, you can also catch a taxi to Durres, which will likely range from about 17-30 Euro (1 way) depending on traffic. This option will save time since you can get picked up and dropped off wherever you like. We took the local buses, which was all part of the adventure!

13. Hiking in the Sauk Hills

The Sauk Hills just south of Tirana is a fantastic area for easy hikes and exploration. It’s undoubtedly one of the free and best things to do in Tirana for people who love the outdoors, nature, and adventure. The hills hold a lot of history, which you will get a feel for on your meanders.

Most of the paths and the road leading up the hills are concrete, and the elevation is only a few hundred meters, making it a doable hiking route for most.

Alternatively, you could get a taxi ride up, which wouldn’t cost too much. I would have taken the family if we were covering a shorter distance, but I clocked up 23km on the walk from Central Tirana and back again. Plus, it was my first opportunity for a kid-free adventure in a long time!

I walked with an expat group that hikes regularly. We first walked through the Grand Park of Tirana and enjoyed the beautiful autumn colors on display. Here, we learned a bit about WWII history in the area.

From there, we headed up into the Sauk Hills and walked along Olive Road, where we saw the olives being harvested.

In the hills, we got incredible views of the city below, and the surrounding mountains. We could even see the mountains of Montenegro in the distance!

Monuments, abandoned nuclear bunkers, and more

There are two Lapidari’s (monuments) to visit in the hills. They’re called ‘Lapidari’ and ‘Lapidari 2’ on Google Maps. One of the monuments marks where a cannon was fired by the Partisan artillery unit during WWII. They managed to break up an important conference being held down below in the Nazi collaborator government building.

You can observe or explore abandoned bunkers all over the hillside. Some of these are extended networks of tunnels that you can take a look through if you dare. I can’t confirm any safety standards of what remains! You’ll be able to go further into the tunnels with a flashlight.

If you’re catching a taxi, you could ask them to drop you off outside the tunnels on the hilltop. There you’ll get great views and be able to walk to the monuments. You could negotiate for them to wait and drive you back down. Or you could walk back down to the Grand Park in about an hour.

Sadly, there is a lot of rubbish on the sides of the roads. That aside, it was a beautiful area to explore.

14. Indoor playgrounds

If you’re after things to do in Tirana with kids (especially on a rainy day), there are plenty of great indoor play areas in Tirana. Two of the locations that we have tried are at Toptani Mall and the Tirana Ring Center. We initially went to the ring center to see if we could go ice skating in their mini ice rink. However, it has been closed for a while due to Covid.

The playground at the ring center is 200 lek for two hours ($2 USD), and the Toptani playground is 300 for two hours. You’re even allowed to drop your kids and go!

Romy is still relatively little, and a kid was getting a bit rough with her during our first visit. Something similar happened to Ayla on our second visit, so I stayed close by. But at both the playgrounds, you can have a coffee just outside the play area and still keep an eye on them.

15. Libraria cafe

“Libraria” cafe is located in Central Tirana, but it’s a little hidden gem well out of the way. It’s certainly not a tourist place, and it’s not marked on Google Maps. However, with a little bit of curiosity, you can find it.

It’s a little library where you can go inside and read kids’ books. There are two boxes of books for reading, including some English books. The books on the surrounding bookshelves are for sale. They also have some toys and stationery for sale.

There’s a school upstairs, and many kids come to the library to hang out after school. We were there mid-late morning, and the kids told us they had already finished for the day!

They also have a kids’ table for art, a kids’ art lesson there on Saturday mornings, and English lessons on other days.

You can order a coffee and croissant and sit at one of the tables just outside while the kids read books. The coffee is only 60 lek (about 60 cents US!)

Libraria cafe is in a little alleyway, basically an extension of the new bazaar. Head to the northeast corner of the new bazaar and into the square. Walk across it and follow the little alleyway. Libraria cafe is at the end, next to the pizza restaurant. There aren’t many Google listings right there, but if you look for the “old bazaar,” it’s a bar that is currently being built, and Libraria is very close by.

16. Latitude Tirana

Latitude Tirana is a fun place for little and big kids alike! It’s one of the most fun things to do in Tirana, Albania, especially on a rainy day.

The big kids’ area (110cm and above) has terrific trampolines, foam pits, climbing walls, a skywalk, a skyfly, and more!

It’s 800 lek to play for the first hour and 600 for the second (take the zeros off for an estimated dollar amount). You must also wear their special socks (100 lek per pair). They obviously want you to be branded because our non-branded trampoline grip socks weren’t accepted. The sessions start every hour on the hour, so show up a bit early to make the most of it.

There’s also a fab play area for little kids, which is 400 lek for unlimited play. They also have a cafe upstairs and tables in the little kids’ area where you can have a coffee.

We recommend Latitude Tirana as a fun and exciting place to take the kids to play.

17. Walk a homeless dog

@arsalbania does incredible work rescuing, rehabbing, and caring for Tirana’s furry friends. Without an amazing organization like this, these guys wouldn’t have much of a chance.

There are opportunities to volunteer with the organization when you visit. You can walk the dogs being looked after by the Tirana Vet Hospital. Outside of being taken for walks by volunteers, these guys end up in their cages most of the day, so they need you!

If you’re in Tirana and would like to take some of these gorgeous pups for a walk (on your schedule), contact Mike (@an_american_in_albania). He’ll introduce you to the staff at the Vet Hospital and show you some ideas for walking routes.

18. Visit Petrele

Petrele is a lovely hilltop village about 20 minutes South of Tirana. It’s the home of the beautiful Petrela castle and makes for an interesting and worthwhile visit from Tirana. From the car park in Petrele, it’s a short and picturesque walk up to the castle.

There’s no entry fee; you can meander and enjoy the beautiful views. There’s an onsite restaurant where you can enjoy local food or just a strong coffee before continuing to explore the surrounding hills.

It’s a fab area for easy-level hiking, and you can explore the remains of an ancient Illyrian city. Just as fascinating is the evidence that in even more ancient times, the ground underfoot was an ancient seabed. We enjoyed discovering shell fossils up the hill during our hike with Expats in Albania.

Just as fun was foraging for ‘mare’ fruit (the “strawberry tree”) on the hillside. The fruits straight off the ground were the best of all. We still left plenty for the wandering goats! At only a hop, skip, and a jump from the city, visiting Petrele is one of our highly recommended things to do in Tirana.

Other things to do in Tirana

There are so many wonderful, free, and fun things to do in Tirana. I’m sure we only just scratched the surface during our three months there. We didn’t go into any of the mosques while we were there. However, if you’re interested, check out the Et-hem Bey Mosque.

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