Pazari i Ri

Pazari i Ri, the new bazaar, is Tirana's central market, restored and rebuilt in 2017 into a covered hall with an open square and surrounding streets, and it is where the city buys food: stalls of fruit and vegetables from the surrounding country, white cheeses and curd, olives, dried figs, honey, spices, nuts, and rows of unlabelled plastic bottles of home-made raki and wine, alongside butchers and fishmongers in the hall. The restoration brought restaurants and cafes into the streets around it, which has made the quarter one of the busiest eating areas in the city in the evening. Mornings are for the market proper and evenings for the restaurants, and they are two different places.

What you actually see

• The covered produce hall - the restored market building at the centre.
• White cheese and curd stalls - the dairy the country brings in.
• Unlabelled home raki - bottles sold direct by producers.
• Evening restaurant streets - the quarter around the market after dark.

When to go

Year round. Mornings for the market, evenings for the restaurants. Two hours. Sunday mornings are the largest market day. The restaurant streets fill from about eight in the evening.

Honest expectations

The restoration has made it neat and prices in the surrounding restaurants are the highest in the city. Home raki and wine are unregulated and vary. The market itself is smaller than it was before rebuilding. It is crowded at peak times.

Nearby

Skanderbeg Square is a short walk west; the Tanners Bridge is nearby.