Shkodër is a café city. The pedestrianised stretch of Rruga Kolë Idromeno has at least a dozen cafés with terraces, and the side streets around the Marubi Museum hold a younger, livelier set of bars opened in the past decade by returning emigrants. Espresso, served Italian-style, is everywhere and consistently good. Local raki is the after-dinner standard — ask for one made from grape if you want the smoother version, from plum or mulberry if you want something fiercer.
Nightlife is concentrated around the pedestrian street and the area near the university to the north. It is unflashy by Tirana standards: bars rather than clubs, with live music a few nights a week in summer.