This ultra-modern, well lit and labelled museum just back from the seafront has a breathtaking collection of historical artefacts. Highlights include the fine-boned sculptures and statues, delicate gold jewellery, amphoras recovered from the seafloor and still covered in barnacles and beautiful painted vases and pots that are so perfectly preserved they look as if they were painted just yesterday. Allow at least an hour for a visit.
Durrës Archaeological Museum
Top choice in Durrës
Lonely Planet's must-see attractions
22.09 MILES
This fantastic conversion – from a massive Cold War bunker on the outskirts of Tirana into a history and contemporary art museum – is Albania's most…
19.65 MILES
The largest museum in Albania holds many of the country's archaeological treasures and a replica of Skanderbeg's massive sword (how he held it, rode his…
19.77 MILES
Tracing the relatively brief history of Albanian painting from the early 19th century to the present day, this beautiful space also holds temporary…
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19.78 MILES
The little cousin to the main Bunk'Art, this museum, which is within a communist-era bunker and underground tunnel system below the Ministry of Internal…
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19.61 MILES
This grand old 1930s building started life as Albania's first maternity hospital, but within a few years the focus turned from creating new life to ending…
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0.27 MILES
The weathered Roman-era Amphitheatre of Durrës was built on the hillside inside the city walls in the early 2nd century AD. In its prime it had the…
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22.79 MILES
This traditional home in the castle complex below the Skanderbeg Museum houses one of the best ethnographic museums in the country. Set in an original…
24.8 MILES
Just 25km east of Tirana is Mt Dajti National Park. It is the most accessible mountain in the country, and many locals go there to escape the city rush…
Nearby Durrës attractions
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The weathered Roman-era Amphitheatre of Durrës was built on the hillside inside the city walls in the early 2nd century AD. In its prime it had the…
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3. Former Residence of Enver Hoxha
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Sheshi Skënderbej is the best place to start witnessing Tirana's daily goings-on. Until it was pulled down by an angry mob in 1991, a 10m-high bronze…
6. Equestrian Statue of Skanderbeg
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An impressive monument to the Albanian national hero stands in the middle of this eponymous square/traffic roundabout.
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