Cumaku Boutique Hotel & Spa

Check-in at Cumaku puts guests inside the stone lanes of Gjirokastër's old town, a short walk below the castle. Several suites and apartments add a separate living room and bedroom. Two pools sit in a landscaped setting behind the hotel, open daily from 9am to 8pm. There is also a spa and wellness centre, plus room service and Wi-Fi throughout. Breakfast is included. It is served in the dining room or on the terrace, with seasonal fruit, pastries and coffee or tea. From the terrace, you can look out over the Drino Valley toward Gjirokastër Castle, whose stone walls rise above the town's tiled roofs. Rooms are carpeted, a detail that sets them apart from the exposed stone and timber typical of the old town's older houses. The hotel keeps its scale modest: fifteen rooms in total, none far from reception. Reception runs from 8am to 10pm daily, and the address sits on Rruga Alqi Kondi, close enough to the castle for guests to reach it on foot within minutes.