Gjirokastër to Butrint: The Total Cultural Immersion

After breakfast, transfer to a horse farm for a 3-hour guided horseback experience. Visit a local farm for lunch featuring roasted lamb and grape raki. Return to Gjirokastër for a wood-carving workshop, then join an art therapy class inspired by traditional motifs. Dinner with selected wines and cold delicacies in a traditional restaurant.

Morning visit to the ruins of Adrianopolis (2nd century). Continue to Libohova for a cooking class with Chef Sedat, preparing traditional recipes such as lakrori me themer, sarma, and hasude. Explore Libohova Castle and then hike (2 hrs, easy) to Labova of the Cross. Visit its 10th-century Byzantine church with wood-carved iconostasis. In the evening, enjoy an “Albanian night” with music, dances, costumes, and UNESCO-recognized isopolyphony.

Travel along a challenging medieval road, passing Communist-era bunkers and murals. Visit the Church of Leshnica (17th century) and stop in Dhivër. Continue to Butrint National Park, exploring the theater, basilica, baths, and Temple of Asclepius. In summer: enjoy a mussel boat tour and lakeside cooking experience; in winter: a seafood lunch. Overnight in Sarandë, with time to relax at the spa and art gallery before dinner by the sea.

Visit a local winery for tastings, then explore the Monastery of Mesopotam (11th century). Depending on the season, enjoy fruit-picking experiences. Join a seafood cooking class by the coast, followed by an off-road adventure to Progonat. Evening around the fire with roasted lamb, dairy delicacies, and polyphonic songs. Stay in a guesthouse.

Morning walk to the canyons of Nivica, with a stop at a local dairy. Continue to Përmet, where Chef Urim teaches you to cook 10 recipes featuring salca e shakullit, a rare fermented buttermilk sauce. Afternoon visit to the thermal waters of Bënjë and Lengarica canyon. Dinner in Përmet with traditional instrumental music.

Start the day with wine tasting of the indigenous Debina grape at Bejko Winery. Hike (2 hrs) to the Monastery of Spile with 1634 murals, then visit hermit caves. Lunch in Saraqinishtë with the unique recipe “Jesus swaddling bands.” Afternoon visit to Antigonea Archaeological Park, built by Pyrrhus of Epirus in 295 BC, guided by an archaeologist. Evening return to Gjirokastër for a farewell dinner.

After breakfast, you transfer to Tirana Airport or Sarandë Port.