A four-star hotel in Berat's UNESCO-listed Gorica quarter, steps from the Ottoman bridge, with spacious air-conditioned rooms, mountain views, a terrace and daily continental breakfast.
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Hotel Taraca Gorice sits in the Gorica quarter of Berat, on the quieter bank of the Osum river inside the UNESCO-listed old town. The address is Rruga Nikolla Buhuri, a few minutes on foot from the Ottoman bridge that links Gorica to Mangalem, and guests rate the property 9.1 across 350 reviews, with staff at 9.6 and location at 9.5.
Accommodation is limited to three types and all of them are large: a 27 m² Deluxe Room, a 30 m² Deluxe King Room and a 70 m² Deluxe Family Room for up to five people. Every room is air-conditioned and heated, with a private bathroom with shower, a flat-screen TV with cable channels, a tea and coffee maker, a refrigerator, a desk and a patio, and looks out on the mountains, the river or the old town.
Breakfast is served daily in continental, vegetarian and halal versions, and room service is available. A terrace and a patio give somewhere to sit outside, the property is non-smoking throughout, and the front desk can arrange a paid airport shuttle. Private parking is available nearby for a small daily charge; there is no internet access at the property.
Hotel Taraca Gorice has three room types, and all of them are generous by old-town standards: the Deluxe Room at 27 m², the Deluxe King Room at 30 m², and the Deluxe Family Room at a rare 70 m². Each one is air-conditioned and heated, with a private bathroom with shower, bidet, hairdryer, slippers and free toiletries, a flat-screen TV with cable channels, a tea and coffee maker, an electric kettle, a refrigerator, a desk and a wardrobe. What changes from room to room is the outlook and the layout: mountain, city and river views, a patio, and in the family room a dining area on the ground floor. Bed configurations are listed below.
For a small hotel inside a protected quarter, Taraca Gorice covers the essentials well. Breakfast is served daily and comes in continental, vegetarian and halal versions, and room service brings food and drinks to the room. Outside there is a terrace and a patio, the natural places to sit at the end of the day, with the hills and the Osum valley in view. The whole property is non-smoking, heating and air conditioning are fitted throughout, and the family room makes it workable for groups. The front desk can arrange a paid airport shuttle, useful given the distance from Tirana. Two practical caveats before booking: parking is off site nearby for about €4 a day, and no internet access is available.
Hotel Taraca Gorice stands on Rruga Nikolla Buhuri, in the Gorica quarter on the left bank of the Osum, directly opposite Mangalem. Berat has no airport and no passenger trains, so almost everyone arrives by road. Tirana International Airport Mother Teresa is about 120 km away; Vlora International Airport is closer, roughly 66 km by road and about an hour and twenty-five minutes' drive. The cheapest route from the capital is the bus from the South and North Terminal in Tirana, which leaves every thirty to forty minutes from early morning to late afternoon, takes around two and a quarter hours and costs about 500 lek. It sets down at the Berat terminal on Rruga Antipatrea, a couple of kilometres away; a short taxi ride finishes the trip. The hotel can arrange a paid airport transfer. Drivers should know that private parking is off site nearby, needs no booking and costs about four euros a day, and that Gorica's lanes are cobbled and steep, so travel light.
Gorica is the quieter half of the old town, and its chief pleasure is the view back at Mangalem's stacked white houses, the facades that earned Berat the name city of a thousand windows. The Ottoman Gorica Bridge, a few minutes on foot, links the two quarters. On the far bank the climb to Berat Castle takes about twenty-five minutes on cobbles; the citadel is still inhabited and free to enter, while the museums inside charge around 400 lek. The Onufri Iconographic Museum, in the Cathedral of the Dormition of St Mary, holds the red-toned Byzantine icons the painter is known for, and keeps longer hours from May to September. Further out, Mount Tomorr National Park rises nine kilometres away and Osum Canyon, about ninety minutes by road, is the local rafting trip, best in spring. Spring and autumn are the pleasant seasons; July and August are hot and busy.
