Wild River Camping

UNESCO-listed Gjirokastër (half an hour’s drive) may be your first port of call; plan to spend the day there exploring its higgledy-piggledy cobbled streets connected by steps as it sprawls gracefully uphill. Have a poke around the colourful bazaar in the Old Town and admire the ornate Ottoman houses in the Manalat Quarter before clambering up to the fortress for views across the city and its surrounding valleys. Tepelena (five minutes) also has plenty of heritage to its name; its history museum displays traditional regional costumes and relics from antiquity, while the town’s austere castle was once home to the notorious Ali Pasha, who ruled over much of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1800s. Those with a head for heights can cross the Aqueduct of Ali Pasha in Bënçë (10 minutes), built during his reign to bring water to the area. If you’d rather be hiking than driving around the countryside, there are tumbling waterfalls to discover in the hills surrounding Progonat (half an hour), as well as stunning trails and mountain views in Nivica Canyon (50 minutes).