Tirana e Re

Tirana e Re, meaning New Tirana, covers the built-up districts west and southwest of the centre, running out along Rruga e Kavajes and Rruga Myslym Shyri. It is…Tirana e Re, meaning New Tirana, covers the built-up districts west and southwest of the centre, running out along Rruga e Kavajes and Rruga Myslym Shyri. It is residential rather than a sight, and it is where a large share of the city's short-let apartments actually are.

The reason a visitor ends up here is value. Apartments a fifteen-minute walk from Skanderbeg Square cost noticeably less than the equivalent in Blloku, and the neighbourhood restaurants, pizzerias and bakeries are priced for people who live here rather than for visitors. Rruga Myslym Shyri in particular carries a long run of cafes and small kitchens.

What you give up is atmosphere and walkability at night: the blocks are plainer, the streets are wider and busier with traffic, and there is nothing to look at architecturally. What you gain is quiet, space and a sense of how the city works away from the boulevard. Taxis into the centre are cheap and take minutes, and the walk in is flat the whole way.