Golem Travel Guide

Golem is one long sandy beach with hotels, apartments and pine trees along it, a few kilometres south of Durrës and under an hour from Tirana Airport. It is where Albanian and Kosovar families spend their summer week, where many package holidays land, and where we end up more often than anywhere else in the country because it is simply convenient.

It is not the Albania of the turquoise-cove postcards. The Adriatic here is sandy, shallow and gets warm early in the season, which is exactly what you want with small children and exactly what you do not want if you came for snorkelling. Manage that expectation and Golem is an easy, cheap, low-stress base.

Who should stay in Golem

Families with small kids, anyone on a resort-style holiday, people arriving late or leaving early who want a beach instead of a city for the first or last night, and travellers using it as a base for the inland day trips: Durrës (15 minutes), Tirana (45 minutes), Krujë (1 hour), Berat (under 2 hours).

Independent travellers heading for scenery and small villages will be happier on the Riviera. Golem is a stop, not the destination.

Where to stay

Golem is mostly large hotels on the beachfront and apartment blocks behind them. The big resorts work for all-inclusive weeks; the apartments are better value and put you in the town rather than in a lobby.

Our pick is Apartment Matufino: a cosy studio for up to four (double bed plus a sofa bed), in the centre of Golem and a short walk from the beach, with a parking space at the apartment (rare here in July and August) and an airport transfer if you want one. It is where we send friends and family.

The beach

Long, sandy, shallow, lined with beach bars renting sunbeds. The water is calm and the entry is gentle, so kids can play for hours. It is busiest in front of the big hotels; walk a few hundred metres and you get space. Sunbeds and umbrellas cost a few euros; bring a towel and you can lie on the sand for free.

Beach Bar Raiden: where we drink, and where you can find us

Every town has a bar the locals use, and in Golem ours is Beach Bar Raiden. It pours Czech Budvar and Albanian Korça on tap, the cocktails are properly made rather than pre-mixed, and a half litre of Budvar is 350 lek (about €3.50), which for a beach bar on the Adriatic is very fair.

It is also where Karel, who runs this site and the r/AlbaniaTravel community, spends his evenings when he is in Golem between trips around the country. If you want to ask something in person, compare notes on a route or just have a beer with someone who knows the place, this is the spot. No appointment needed; if he is in Albania, he is usually there in the evening.

Getting there and around

From Tirana Airport it is 45 to 60 minutes by car or transfer on the motorway past Durrës. There is no direct bus from the airport; by public transport go via Tirana and Durrës and allow two hours. Within Golem everything is walkable along the beach road, and taxis to Durrës are cheap.

If you are renting a car, having it delivered to Golem rather than picking it up in Tirana saves you the city traffic. We can arrange that with the rental company we use.

Day trips from Golem

• Durrës (15 minutes): the Roman amphitheatre, the old town walls and seafood on the promenade.
• Tirana (45 minutes): the capital for a day, see our Tirana guide.
• Krujë (1 hour): castle, Skanderbeg museum and the old bazaar, the best half-day trip in central Albania.
• Berat (under 2 hours): the Town of a Thousand Windows, doable as a long day but better as an overnight.