Our country, Albania is still largely undiscovered and a mystery for foreign visitors. Tirana & Bovilla 1 day tour offers a very comprehensive experience of our capital city Tirana, its culture, religion, lifestyle, and historical heritage past and present. While the day is very active with the visit at Bovilla reservoir and an easy hike to enjoy beautiful nature and gorgeous view.
Meet and return at: Scanderbeg Square, in front of Et’hem Bey Mosque
9 am at the meeting point
7 – 8 Hours
English, Italian and Greek
Discover Tirana, the capital of Albania, by a walking tour and a short drive to Bovilla reservoir, hiking shortly to the best view of the lake, on a full-day tour from Tirana. The tour is medium walking, with many visits to historical and cultural sites, the hike on Bovilla reservoir needs hiking shoes & an extra T-shirt. The weather most of the time is very nice and comfortable, only during July and August you should bring your hat, sunscreen, and water.
Our tour begins in the center of the city where we will visit the Ethem Bey Mosque, built in Albania by Mulla Beu, from Petrela, around the end of the XIIX century. The son of Mullah, Haxhi Et’hem Bey, completed the minaret and portico of the mosque, made the decoration with paintings and so he could finish the mosque in 1830-1831.
Next to the Mosque, we continue our visit with the Clock Tower of Tirana, built in the XIX century between 1822-1840, a 1st category culture monument. Its 90-degree spiral is 35 meters high and until 1970 has been the capital’s highest building. Then we will explain Scanderbeg Square and the buildings around it.
We continue our visit passing by Bunk Art 1, underground bunker showing communism atrocities, Tirana Castle complex, where we can see the building where our prince lives and then to the main boulevard with its building of diverse architecture, as per the time they were constructed. On our visit, we cross the Blok area and the dictator Hoxha’s villa and you can judge by yourself what this area means for Tirana today.
Second part of the day we will go for a hike at Bovilla reservoir. We will drive for 1 hour until we arrive at the Bovilla dam and the reservoir, 14 km northeast of Tirana. This lake is used for the Tirana city white waters. The water there is gathered from Terkuza stream and rain. We will hike for about 50 min until we reach the best view spot of Bovilla Lake and the surrounding area and enjoy its gorgeous panorama.
The tour was super. Our guide was very friendly and showed us beautiful places. We could contact him with any question and he recommanded super restorants and aktivities in Tirana. We learnd a lot about the city and the view at the end of our hike was amazing (even on a rainy day). Only the way up was quit tricky (hiking shows are important). We would definatly do this trip again.
Tripadvisor review: Tirana Walking Tour and Bovilla Lake
Amazing trip to Tirana and Bovilla Lake. Learned a lot about the Albanian history and culture in Tirana. Bovilla Lake is a must see – so beautiful and the drive from Tirana to Bovilla Lake through the mountains is also a big experience! Could definitely recommend the trip! Also huge kudos to our friendly and informative guide, Eni. Greating from Denmark
Tripadvisor review: Tirana Walking Tour and Bovilla Lake
The trip started with a walking tour in the center of Tirana, the guide Eni explained a lot and shared interesting knowledge. During the city tour we visited the most important buildings and attractions that Tirana has to offer. I’d recommend you to do the tour at the beginning of your stay in Tirana, otherwise parts of the tour will be repetitive. Afterwards we went into the car and drove towards the Bovilla lake. As I was the only participant we had a good chat on the way there. After an hour we arrived and after a short hike we were rewarded with an incredible view over the lake and the reservoir. It was amazing to be the only group of people there, usually such places are packed but not here. We stayed on the peak for some time to take photos, enjoy the view etc. and eventually drove back to Tirana. Overall a very interesting experience and a good mixture of city and nature.
Great experience you don’t wanna miss when in Tirana. Only 30 minuts away from the city you find yourself sorrounded by the most beautiful nature. The hike was fantastic and our guide Alban very nice and full of humour – we laughed a lot on our way to the top. Took lunch at an authentic restaurant at the top – def worth a visit! ♥️🤗
Review from Trip Advisor
Esperienza bellissima sul lago di bovilla, si può ammirare il panorama dall’alto, dopo aver
percorso un breve tragitto a piedi
