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Kruja is a small town a little north of Tirana that just so happens to be one of Albania’s most popular destinations. However, many travellers to Albania don’t know about this important historic town or how to make their day trip to Kruje from Tirana.
The good news is that a Kruja day trip is easier than you’d expect when you know what your options are. Allow me to take you through how you can get to Kruja from Tirana and what there is to do once you get there. You’ll likely agree that even though there aren’t many things to do in Kruje, the trip is well worth it.
Is Kruje worth visiting?
Before we get to how you do a day trip to Kruje, let’s look at why the day trip is worth doing.
The main reasons to do a Kruje day trip are:
- you’re looking to get out of Tirana for a bit and see more of Albania
- you want to learn about local history and national hero Skanderbeg
- you want to see Albania’s traditional side
But it’s important to understand that Kruje is small and there aren’t that many attractions in the town. For larger destinations with a lot of traditional scenery to see, I’d suggest trying to visit Berat and Gjirokaster instead.
One reason Kruje may be worth visiting, but that I can’t say for sure, is to go hiking. The mountains overlooking the town have a steep hiking track that leads up to the Sari Salltik shrine.
Normally, I’d be ready for this kind of activity, just not when Albania is going through an intense summer heatwave as it was during my trip.
How to get to Kruje from Tirana
Getting to Kruje is relatively straightforward, whether you go by car or public transport.
If you have a rental car, you can drive from Tirana to the town in roughly 40 minutes. You’ll find street parking in town and several parking lots below the castle.
Going to Kruje by public transport is also straightforward.
Head to Tirana’s main bus station — the South and North Albania Bus Terminal — and look for buses with a sign to Kruje. Buses to Kruje tend to leave on the hour and take roughly an hour to get there. You buy tickets on board – they’re cheap (roughly 100-200 lek ~ €1-2).
Buses heading back from Kruje leave from the town’s bus stop.
Tours to Kruje
For some travellers, the idea of finding your own way to Kruje is too much hassle.
If that’s you, then a tour is the obvious way to go. Visitors will find a nice selection of tours from Tirana, although they’re generally very similar with small variations on what’s included. The main options are:
- Standard tour shared tour from Tirana to Kruje
- Private tour from Tirana to Kruje
- Combined tour to Kruje, Bovilla Lake and Gamti Mountain
Now, full disclosure — these tours cost a lot more than going by bus. The combined tour includes several attractions that would be hard to visit together with public transport. But for the others, you need to decide whether cost or convenience is more important to you.
Kruja Castle
Kruja Castle is the defining landmark of the town and its main attraction.
The castle has a long history, with the earliest of the fortresses built here coming from the 5th-6th centuries. But its most famous history has to do with Skanderbeg, an Albanian figure whose importance I’ll explain shortly.
Walk through the main gate to the castle hill and you’re met with the ruins of the Old Mosque and a 15th-century hammam.
Loop around behind the modern Skanderbeg Museum above these ruins and you’ll find more ruins, this time of the 15th-century Skanderbeg Church and its watch tower.
While you can enjoy views from the castle, I think that the viewpoint by the church tower is the castle’s best. From this section of the fortifications, you face the big looming mountains behind Kruje, as they cascade down to the plains around Tirana.
From other sections of the castle walls, you can just make out views of the capital through the summer haze.
I encourage you to go for a bit of a wander while up at the castle. A small neighbourhood covers the lower part of the castle grounds, with some guesthouses sprinkled among its old-fashioned homes.
At the lowest section of the castle grounds lies the Tekke of Dolma by an old well. This 18th-century shrine sits by an old olive tree and several tombstones. The Ethnographic Museum of Kruja lies within the castle grounds, but I don’t believe it was open when I visited.
Skanderbeg Museum
Inside the main keep of Kruja Castle is the Skanderbeg Museum.
While it’s officially called the Gjergj Kastrioti National Museum, it’s better known by the national hero’s common name – Skanderbeg. Gjergj Kastrioti / Skanderbeg led a rebellion against the Ottomans in the 15th century and ruled from Kruja Castle.
Skanderbeg is often seen as one of the region’s main defiant forces against the Ottomans. His efforts, which included creating the Albanian League, earned him the status of a huge national symbol. You see statues and squares dedicated to Skanderbeg everywhere in Albania, but also in Kosovo.
As you’d expect from the name, the Skanderbeg Museum charts the story of this historical figure.
It follows Skanderbeg’s life story, symbols related to him, and the development of the Albanian identity. But it also feels just as much a shrine to Skanderbeg as it does a museum. Murals, statues, reliefs, and more decorations venerate the man, and sometimes even the people associated with him, such as foreign authors who wrote about Skanderbeg’s actions.
The museum has a very brutalist design (it was designed under the Communist regime), adding another interesting element to the visiting experience.
Pay the 500 lek (€5) entrance fee just to see what it’s like, even if you’re not curious about Skanderbeg.
Kruje Bazaar
Coming to and from the castle of Kruje you’ll pass through the town’s old bazaar.
Unlike most of the town, the bazaar has clung to its traditional appearance. Walking through the Kruje Bazaar, along its narrow cobblestone lane, can be an interesting experience. The shops sell an uneven mix of handicrafts and soulless souvenirs, confirming that Kruje is quite a touristy place.
My disappointment at seeing branded soccer balls and jerseys aside, there’s no denying the bazaar is a very pretty corner of Kruje. At its peak size in the 17th-19th centuries, it had 200 stores, but is considerably smaller ow.
