New flights launched from Scotland to one of the Med’s cheapest destinations

EDINBURGH airport is celebrating not one but two new routes to Albania.

For the first time Scotland will be connected to the Eastern European country when both Ryanair and Wizz Air launch flights to the capital Tirana.

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Irish budget giant Ryanair will begin operating flights from October 31. there will be two weekly services on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

And low-cost airline Wizz Air will start their new service on December 18, flying three times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

That gives Scots the option to fly to the up and coming destination five days of the week.

Kate Sherry, Chief Commercial Officer (Aero) said: “We’re thrilled to provide more travel options to our passengers, connecting our countries and capital cities for the first time.

“From the historic landmarks and attractions of Edinburgh to the stunning landscapes and rich cultural heritage of Tirana, this will be an exciting new route that increases Scotland’s connectivity to the Balkans.

“We look forward to adding Tirana to our destinations list.”

The former communist country offers cities, countryside and pristine beaches along a coastline as gorgeous as Croatia’s.

You’ll also find Ottoman-era towns, Roman ruins to rival those across the Adriatic, and a buzzing capital, with a brightly painted buildings, traditional restaurants and trendy bars.

The communist-era monuments at Skanderbeg Square and the Pyramid of Tirana (formerly a museum to Albania’s dictator, Enver Hoxha) offer glimpses of its recent past.

However, those seeking to take Albania’s true pulse should head to the hillside towns of Berat and Gjirokastra – both Unesco world heritage sites and essentially open-air museums of life in Ottoman times.

Keen hikers will love the valley of Valbona, with its karst limestone mountains and peaks dropping down to the ocean and the Albanian Riviera, where you’ll find immaculate beaches along the Ionian coastline – among the Mediterranean’s least developed sands.

There are beaches for all occasions: Gjipe offers tranquil cliff-hemmed sands, Dhermi is a must for party goers, while history buffs should make a bee-line for Ksamil and its Roman ruins of Butrint.

Prices are lower than neighbouring countries like Greece and Montenegro, and visitors are greeted warmly by locals, in a country yet to be hit by mass tourism.

And with distinctly Mediterranean weather it promises to prove a popular and cheap getaway.

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