Albania: Berat, Gjirokaster OR Ohrid, North Macedonia

I wont be much help because I have not yet been to Ohrid. But may some day as there is air service there now.

But, I have been to Berat, Gjirokaster and Berat was very, very okay, and Gjirokaster was fabilous. Pretty far trip, the both, for a day and a half though. Make it 3 or 4 days and go to Valbona.

Ohrid is absolutely beautiful- I highly recommend it. You can take a trip along the lake to Sveti Naum and see the monastery where the Cyrillic script was invented, and there are great walks along the lake, including up to the Church of St John. We also did a one-day personal tour with Explore Macedonia (https://explore-macedonia.mk/) to Mavrovo which is another very scenic area, and visited the very impressive monastery of Sveti Jovan Bigorski. I would definitely recommend that company- we had a driver and an extremely knowledgable guide. We were travelling between Skopje and Ohrid and managed to do everything on public transport (bus) except the day trip to Mavrovo.

In Albania I found a car was necessary. I've not been to Berat but Gjirokaster is very nice, and if you would rather head south, I also really recommend Butrint for Roman ruins. March will be too early to go to the beach at Sarande.

One thing to note is the weather can be very changeable in March- we went to Ohrid in April and some days were lovely but we also got a lot of rain.

Setting aside travel time, I'd rank the options as: Ohrid, Gjirokaster, Berat. However, all are very interesting. I spent multiple nights in each one.

I believe driving in Albania would be relatively easy, and I understand car-rental rates are low. Ground transportation is quite challenging because of the difficulty of pinning down bus schedules and sometimes even the location of bus stops. You definitely need both patience and time to deal with Albanian buses. It's definitely not something I'd recommend when you only have 1-1/2 days.

You might find it affordable to hire a private driver.

As our time was short, we ended up booking a tour to Berat using "Albanian Odyssey". Our tour guide was fantastic, picked us up at our hotel in a very comfortable vehicle, drove us to Berat through picture-perfect farmland and mountainous backdrops, patiently answered questions, led us through a fascinating tour of the castle and icon museum, took us to a fabulous place for lunch, allowed time to explore on our own without feeling rushed, and then drove us back - even taking some of us to the airport to catch a flight after dropping the others back in Durres. With so much in Albania still a "work in progress", from our experience I'd highly recommend using a tour company rather than renting a car -- especially if time is short. Next time though we'll definitely include Gjirokaster and Ohrid as they both look amazing!

Thanks for the update!

Thanks for getting back on this! I totally missed it first time around.

Ohrid is on my “soon” list but I loved my stay in both Berat and Girokastra. Albania is still a work in progress with public transportation being the piece most lacking, although that is how I got around during my 2 weeks. There were places I looked for a tour, but online I didn’t find options being a solo traveler. But that’s been a couple of years.

I am starting to feel the urge to go back for a few repeat places, plus a few new ones. How was Durres?