This city is full of typical neighborhoods and shady terraces. Gjirokastër has managed to preserve the picturesque and typical architecture of the old Albanian residences.

Also known as "the city of stone", Gjirokastra is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005. This city is the birthplace of the well-known Albanian writer, several times a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Ismaïl Kadare who has dedicated several novels to his city and, on a less literary note, the hometown of former communist dictator Enver Hoxha.