50 free Albania trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Albania calls itself Shqiperia, the Land of the Eagles, and it packs an extraordinary amount into 28,748 square kilometres: Illyrian tribes and Greek colonies, Skanderbeg's 25-year stand against the Ottomans, four centuries of Ottoman rule, independence in 1912, King Zog, and Enver Hoxha's hermit communist state with its 750,000 bunkers and its constitutional atheism. This quiz covers all of it. You will find questions on geography, from Mount Korab and Lake Shkoder to the Vjosa, Europe's first wild river national park, and the Riviera; on the UNESCO sites of Butrint, Berat and Gjirokaster; on the language that is a branch of Indo-European all its own; on the 1997 pyramid-scheme collapse, NATO membership in 2009 and EU accession talks. Culture gets its share too: tave kosi and byrek, raki, iso-polyphony, Ismail Kadare, Mother Teresa's Albanian roots, Dua Lipa, Norman Wisdom's strange stardom under Hoxha and the national team at Euro 2016. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Albania, its cities, history and culture, so the dates, heights and names will stand up.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Albania has coastlines on the Adriatic and which other sea?
The Ionian
It borders Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Greece by land.
Q 02What is the capital and largest city of Albania?
Tirana
Durrës, Vlorë and Shkodër follow it in size.
Q 03Albanians call their country Shqipëri, widely interpreted to mean what?
Land of the Eagles
The older name Arbëri survives in the Arbëreshë communities of southern Italy.
Q 04The Albanian flag shows what black emblem on a red field?
A double-headed eagle
It was the coat of arms of Skanderbeg's Kastrioti family, adapted from the Byzantine imperial flag.
Q 05Which ancient people, including the Taulantii and Ardiaei, dominated Albania before Macedon rose?
The Illyrians
The name Albania is linked to the Illyrian tribe of the Albani mentioned by Ptolemy.
Q 06Which Greek colony was the most notable of those founded on the Albanian coast?
Apollonia
Butrint in the south was a Chaonian settlement that became a Roman colony.
Q 07Skanderbeg deserted the Ottoman army in 1443 at which battle before seizing Krujë?
Nish
He then formed the League of Lezhë in 1444 and resisted the sultans for 25 years.
Q 08Skanderbeg's victories over the Ottomans earned him which papal title?
Athleta Christi
His stand delayed the Ottoman advance into Western Europe, though most European powers except Naples failed to help him.
Q 09Albania declared independence from the Ottoman Empire on which date?
28 November 1912
The Assembly of Vlorë established a senate and government days later.
Q 10Ahmet Zogu proclaimed Albania a monarchy in 1928 and took which royal name?
Zog I
At 27 he had been the country's youngest ever prime minister; Mussolini's Italy drove him into exile in 1939.
Q 11Enver Hoxha, who ruled Albania from 1944 to 1985, was born in which southern city?
Gjirokastër
The same UNESCO-listed 'city of stone' produced the novelist Ismail Kadare.
Q 12Roughly how many bunkers did Hoxha's regime build across Albania?
Over 750,000
They were never used for their purpose; today some are cafés, storehouses or animal shelters.
Q 13In 1976 Albania became the world's first what?
Constitutionally atheist state
Hoxha's regime persecuted Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox clergy alike.
Q 21The Vjosa, which flows from the Pindus to the Adriatic, was given which European first?
Wild-river national park status
The river rises in the Pindus Mountains and reaches the Adriatic largely undammed.
Q 22Butrint, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1992, lies near which resort close to the Greek border?
Sarandë
The ancient Greek and Roman city became a national park in 2000.
Q 23Berat, a UNESCO site since 2008, is known to Albanians by which nickname for its stacked Ottoman houses?
The city of one-above-another windows
Q 14After breaking with the Soviet Union, communist Albania's enduring partner was which country?
China
Albania left the Warsaw Pact after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia; ties with Beijing cooled in the 1970s.
Q 15Which English comedian became a huge star in Hoxha's Albania, which allowed few Western films?
Norman Wisdom
In 2001 he scored a half-time penalty at St James' Park during an England-Albania qualifier.
Q 16The 1946 Corfu Channel incident involved Royal Navy ships striking what?
Mines
The court ordered Albania to pay Britain £844,000.
Q 17Albania's violent 1997 unrest, which killed about 2,000 people, followed the collapse of what?
Pyramid investment schemes
An Italian-led UN force, Operation Alba, was deployed in April 1997.
Q 18Albania joined NATO and formally applied for EU membership in which year?
2009
Accession negotiations with the EU began in 2022.
Q 19Mount Korab, Albania's highest point, rises to roughly what height?
2,764 m
The Albanian Alps in the far north are among the wettest places in Europe, with over 3,100 mm of rain a year.
Q 20Which body of water in Albania's north-west is Southern Europe's largest lake?
Shkodër
Lake Ohrid, on the North Macedonian border, is one of the world's oldest lakes.
The Ottomans called it Belgrad-i Arnavud, Albanian Belgrade, to distinguish it from Serbia's.
Q 24The capital was founded in 1614 by an Ottoman Albanian nobleman who built which structure at its heart?
A mosque
Sulejman Pasha Bargjini's Old Mosque came with a bazaar and hammam; Tirana only became capital after 1912.
Q 25Albanian is an Indo-European language and the only surviving member of which branch?
Albanic
Its two dialects, Gheg and Tosk, are split by the Shkumbin river.
Q 26The Gheg and Tosk dialects of Albanian are divided by which river?
Shkumbin
Gheg is spoken to the north and Tosk to the south.
Q 27What is Albania's currency, introduced in 1926?
The lek
It was historically divided into 100 qindarka; one story names it after Lekë Dukagjini.
Q 28What was Albania's population according to the 2023 census?
About 2.4 million
It had fallen from 2.8 million in 2011 as emigration continued.
Q 29Which religious group formed the largest share of Albanians in the 2023 census, at about 46%?
Sunni Muslims
Albania is secular with no official religion; Catholics live mainly in the north and Orthodox in the south.
Q 30Which Sufi order, headquartered in Albania, accounted for nearly 5% of the population in 2023?
Bektashi
Its followers are found mainly in the south.