The single must-see is Rozafa Castle on its hill at the confluence of the rivers, with a thousand-year view over Lake Shkodër, the Buna delta, and the Accursed Mountains. After that, the city's character is in its long pedestrianised street, Rruga Kolë Idromeno, a stretch of restored Italianate facades that fill with cyclists and evening strollers — Shkodër is unusual in Albania for its bike culture, and a rented bicycle is the right way to move around.
Three buildings round out the historic centre: the Marubi Museum (one of the best photography museums in the Balkans), St Stephen's Catholic Cathedral, and the Ebu Beker Great Mosque. Just outside town are the Ottoman Mes Bridge and the lakeside village of Shiroka. The lake itself — the largest in the Balkans — is the open horizon Shkodër faces.