The stunning European city you've probably never heard of

Strolling around the leafy, boutique-lined streets of Blloku, Tirana's fashionable cafe and nightlife district, it's almost impossible to fathom that just 40 years ago, this city was the capital of one of the world's most isolated communist nations - a totalitarian regime ruled by brutal Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha, where everything from cars to religion to typewriters was banned.

Albania is the final stop on a 10-day Intrepid Travel hiking trip through the Western Balkans, a region that has undergone a tumultuous period of change over the past 30 years. But even by the Balkans' standards, Albania's transformation since throwing off its communist shackles in the 1990s is extraordinary, an ideological, architectural and economic U-turn that has to be seen to be believed.

Start your explorations in Skanderbeg Square, the city's yawning central plaza and meeting place, which is named after Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg, a national hero who led a Christian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century (you can't miss the imposing 11-metre-tall sculpture of him on horseback). Lining the square are an impressive array of buildings whose architecture reflects the city's historical influences, from Ottoman-era mosques through Italian fascist-designed banks to the brutal communist edifice of the National History Museum.

This sprawling museum is a good place to start if you want to get your head around Albania's convoluted past, thanks to its extensive - if slightly dry - collection of artefacts from Roman times through to the post-communist era. For a more engaging insight into the oppression and terror Hoxha inflicted during his 40-year reign, you'll find graphic evidence in Bunk'Art 2, a subterranean museum housed in one of the estimated 175,000 underground bunkers he built during his rule.

Equally confronting is the House of Leaves Museum, located in the former headquarters of the National Intelligence Service, which details the surveillance and torture techniques used by the secret police to silence outspoken critics and suppress political dissent.

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The city is clearly still trying to figure out what to do with the many reminders of Hoxha's rule. A monument to him in Skanderbeg Square was torn down by pro-democracy demonstrators in 1991, but his former residence, a three-level villa in the heart of Blloku, lays shuttered and derelict. In a delicious twist of irony, opposite the villa is a gleaming outpost of Western capitalism - a KFC adorned with a smug-looking Colonel Sanders. "It's like he's saying, 'I won, you lost'," says our guide Bashkim Fazliu.

Perhaps the most bizarre symbol of Hoxha's legacy is the Pyramid, a 21-metre-high concrete dome that was built in 1988 as a museum to honour the former leader but has since been used as a radio station, a NATO base and even a nightclub. Today, it's been turned into an arts and cultural centre through the addition of 48 large multi-coloured boxes that are used to hold workshops and performances.

Colour was one of the transformational tools used by artist Edi Rama when he became Tirana's mayor in 2000 (he's now Albania's prime minister). He breathed life and energy into the city's dull grey communist buildings by painting them in bright pastel hues, which in turn encouraged an explosion of vibrant street art.

There are striking contemporary artworks, too, such as The Cloud, a seven-metre-high "cloud" of steel rods opposite the National Gallery of Arts by Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto, plus political ones, including the Postbllok Memorial, which features a section of the Berlin Wall, the entrance to an underground bunker and several concrete pillars from a labour camp.

According to Fazliu, despite being predominantly Muslim, Albania is the region's most religiously tolerant nation. Evidence of this can be seen in Tirana's many mosques and churches, standout examples of which include the exquisitely decorated Et'hem Bey Mosque in Skanderbeg Square and the nearby Resurrection of Christ Orthodox Cathedral, an imposing domed complex with a soaring 46-metre-high bell tower. Mother Teresa, who had Albanian citizenship, was the first religious leader to visit the country after Hoxha died in 1985 and a statue of her can be seen outside the hulking St Paul's Cathedral.

While careful to preserve its past, the city is expanding rapidly thanks to an explosive period of prosperity. The skyline around Skanderbeg Square is crowded with cranes and modern apartment blocks. There's also been a flurry of luxury hotel openings, with Marriott, Radisson, Accor and IHG all debuting properties in the last few years.

Blloku is the showy epicentre of Tirana's burgeoning wealth, a huddle of leafy streets lined with high-end boutiques, bars and blinged-up supercars. Ironically, this area was once off-limits to everyone except the Communist party elite, but now it's the city's trendiest neighbourhood, with a sophisticated Parisian feel thanks to stylish alfresco cafes and expensive eateries.

Getting there: Tirana is a two-stop flight from Australia. Qatar Airways flies there from Sydney and Melbourne via Doha and Belgrade.

Touring there: Intrepid Travel's 10-day Hiking the Balkans trip from Split to Tirana tackles some of the most spectacular sections of the Via Dinarica hiking trail in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Albania. Maximum group size is 12. From $4060 a person, twin share. intrepidtravel.com

Explore more: visit-tirana.com

The writer travelled courtesy of Intrepid Travel.

Pictures: Getty Images; Shutterstock