Krujë is a small town with not one but two important landmarks that puts it on the itineraries of many tourists every single year: the Krujë Castle with its museum on Skanderbeg and the shrine of Sari Salltik atop the mountain that overlooks the city. For the latter, kindly check out THIS work of mine in which I wrote at length about my wonderful experience hiking up the mountain. For the former and more, read on!
Krujë is an interesting little town to say the least. Though its center may be, and likely is the most well-developed and well-maintained part of Albania (perhaps with the exception of highly touristic coastal towns like Sarandë, but then again, I could not see them myself this time), the immediate surroundings of that central touristic area is quite rundown to say the least.
The very centre of Krujë, where all the “touristic stuff” happens is a buzzing city centre that is full of tourists. Think of a city with just tourists in it, that is what you have here. I am sure that in winter that is not the case, but in summer all you can hear seem to be Italian, English, Romanian, and some Bulgarian. Because it is so touristic, prices reflect that quite a lot. Almost all menus give you prices in Euros too, and those prices seem to be more expensive than their lek counterparts. Of course, there are some budget friendly spots as well, so all you need to do is to be a bit smart about it and look around before settling with a restaurant, or just read THIS piece I wrote here for some great recommendations!
Krujë Bazaar, or the Euro Bazaar as I would like to call it since all the prices there seemed to be in Euros. To be fair, when a tourist asked for prices in Albanian lek one owner did quote a lower price. I am not sure if that is better or worse though… In any case, Euro or lek, prices were certainly much higher for trinkets, odds and ends that were sold here. Better look for such souvenirs in Tirana.
The main castle area is interesting, super interesting in fact. It is not that historical, as renovation seems to be the name of the game up there. Berat Castle (about which you can find out more about HERE) was the better one out of the two if you care about authenticity. However, renovations done here seem to be not so bad, with somewhat modern but not abhorrently unfitting buildings springing up all around the castle’s courtyard. Museums and towers found there are chaperoned by lovely restaurants with superb views of the Adriatic (in good weather) offering what some claim to be some of the best dishes in all of Albania.
It is not necessarily a big area, and if you are not going to have a lunch or dinner there, then I suppose even an hour may suffice to see what it mostly offers. “The castle and the tower” as I would like to call it are the only two crucial things to see there anyways, and even the tower may not be that exciting for many. It sure was not for me, since I had already scaled the mountain that overlooks the city, which dwarfs that puny tower by a huge margin. The castle proper is home to the museum on Skanderbeg, and you can read more about it and other museums in Albania HERE.
Being only an hour away from Tirana, and costing just 400 leks per person for a return trip on a furgon, Krujë is perhaps the best daytrip destination in all of Albania if you are staying in Tirana. Sure, there are many other close destinations, like Durrës or Shkodër, but unlike those and more Krujë is an exceptionally interesting and historical landmark, one that I may even call the beating heart of Albanian nationalism due to the simple fact that this is where Skanderbeg stood against repeated Ottoman attempts to capture the city. This resistance was when the Albanian identity (perhaps not as we know it today, but in a more “proto” version of it) was first truly forged into existence, and to see where a nation was born is not necessarily something you do every day. It is one of the worthier sites to visit in Albania, and you too should add it to your itinerary as soon as possible!