Why this ride
Open upland riding with long sight lines and varied gradients. It also links naturally to Historic Centres of Berat and Gjirokaster.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Berat to Tepelene Backroad
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 46 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 50 min
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: planning record, not independently verified geometry.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distances and riding times are planning figures. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Access context
Verify surface, fuel and current construction before publication. Specific flag: surface review; gravel.
Seasonal context
May-Oct
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Berat
Berat is called the town of a thousand windows, and for once the nickname is just. Ottoman-era white houses climb the hillside above the River Osum in tiers, their tall windows stacked like the faces of a theatre. On the north bank, the Mangalem quarter rises to a fortress, the Kala, whose walls still enclose a living neighbourhood, with families, churches and small cafes inside; on the south bank, Gorica faces it across a stone bridge. UNESCO inscribed the old town with Gjirokastër in 2008, and it is among the most attractive in the Balkans.
Read the complete Berat write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Berat sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Memaliaj.
2. Memaliaj
Memaliaj is a small coal and farming town in the Vjosa valley of southern Albania, a short distance upstream of Tepelenë. The town does not draw crowds, and that is part of its interest. The Vjosa runs here in wide, braided channels over gravel, hemmed in by pale hills, and on a hot day the river is a ribbon of turquoise through dusty fields and olive groves. The region has long been known for its lignite, and the mine gave the town its industrial identity in the communist period, when workers were brought in and apartment blocks were built.
Read the complete Memaliaj write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Memaliaj comes up 23 km in. Next is Tepelenë.
3. Tepelenë
Tepelenë is a river town with a big name in Balkan history. It stands at the point where the Vjosa meets the Drino, in a gap between hills in southern Albania, and for anyone moving between the coast and the south it has always been a natural gate. This is where Ali Pasha, the ruler known as the Lion of Ioannina, was born in the middle of the eighteenth century, and his fortress here was one of the bases from which he built a semi-independent state that ran deep into Greece. In 1809 Lord Byron came through and described the pasha's court in Childe Harold, which is why English visitors sometimes arrive with a copy.
Read the complete Tepelenë write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
46 km in you reach Tepelenë.
Recorded source links
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Osum Canyon Loop · 100 km
- Albanian Riviera SH8 starting at Vlorë · 115 km
- Albanian Riviera, SH8 · 129 km