SQ
Venis Hotel — Tirana, Albania

The Restaurant

One restaurant, under a chandelier, with a bar and a coffee house beside it. Mediterranean, halal options, and a breakfast most people take outside.
The dining room under its chandelier
The blue banquette and brass chairs
The room seen through the screen
Tables set for breakfast
The chandelier

BREAKFAST · MEDITERRANEAN · HALAL OPTIONS

The Restaurant

One restaurant, on the ground floor, under a chandelier and a good deal of art. The cooking is Mediterranean and there are halal options. Breakfast is continental or buffet — warm dishes, cheese and fruit, vegetarian plates, and eggs cooked how you ask for them; guests have written about the omelettes and the coffee. Most mornings people carry it out into the garden instead, which is the better idea. There is a bar and a coffee house on site, and room service if you would rather not come down at all.

The Garden

Under the trees

Under the trees

The courtyard is paved in pale stone and shaded almost completely — white armchairs, a low table, a red rug thrown down on the paving. It sits between the wings of the building, so it is quiet in a way a street-facing terrace never is.

Where people actually eat

Where people actually eat

Breakfast is served indoors, and most mornings people carry it out here instead. It is the single detail guests mention most often after the staff — the garden, and having breakfast in it.

A quiet place to sit

A quiet place to sit

In the evening it becomes the place for a drink from the bar; during the day, more than one guest has written about working out here in the peace of it. There is no spa and no pool at Venis. This is what we have instead, and it gets more use.

The olive tree

The olive tree

After dark the olive is strung with lights and the façade is washed from below, and the whole courtyard turns into the reason the hotel photographs the way it does. The sign stands on the lawn underneath it.

News from the garden

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