A week in Albania
The travel hack we stumbled across a few years ago has brought us to Albania for £0 (flights and baggage).
There is no mystery to this hack. If you’ve read any of our previous blogs, you’ll know exactly how we do it…. and if you haven’t, there is more about this in the hints and tips section of this post. It really works. I manage to do this free-flight thing at least two or three times a year.
So, having booked the flight, we spent time researching the areas of Albania to explore.
It’s not a huge country, sitting along the Adriatic coast, nestled between Montenegro and Greece. However, it does take a while to get about as the road network isn’t extensive and the quality is ‘iffy’.
I’ve wanted to come here since visiting Montenegro a few years ago. I came close to Albania while cycling around Lake Skhodra.
Albania itself is just starting to appear on people’s radar, with that sense you’re getting in whilst it’s still really unspoiled and great value, before the inevitable march towards commercialisation.
We thought we’d mix this trip up a little, spending each night in a different location in an effort to explore as much of the country as possible. We also tried out different styles of accommodation, with prices ranging from £12.50 to £42 per person, per night.
Not knowing how busy it would be at this time of year, we booked everything well in advance. However, with hindsight, we could have booked this trip on-the-go, as the entire region was ridiculously empty. This would have allowed us to adapt our route a little more. That said, booking in advance did mean we were guaranteed the best rooms with great views, and it did kind of work out pretty much perfect in the end.
But one thing is for sure, the entire place is incredibly kind to your wallet…. Car hire came in at £68 for the week, and accommodation worked out at £182 per person for the whole stay, an average of £26 per person, per night, including breakfast. Some of the hotels were absolutely amazing, with their own private beach and stunning views.
We’d planned a route: along the southern Adriatic coastline, down to the border with Greece, and then back up again via the mountains.
A flight with a difference
We travelled via Luton Airport, and after our usual refreshments in the airport lounge (see travel hacks) we boarded the aircraft and promptly found our seats.
For short-haul flights we don’t usually bother paying the additional charge to book adjacent seats as we’d rather have the money saved for meals out once we arrive, so we sit apart! However, for this flight we were sitting on nearby rows, so a bit of polite seat shuffling with our neighbours sorted that out nicely.
So seeing we were next to each other on this occasion, we settled into a couple of episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale, which we had downloaded onto our devices in advance. More about how we managed to get Disney+ for free (linked to a travel SIM) can be found in the hints and tips section.
It would have been a nice, smooth, uneventful flight BUT…..
As we landed and the aircraft taxied in towards the stand, the usual announcements came over the tannoy. The crew signed off, naming themselves… and we both looked at each other.
“Did they just say First Officer Lucas?”
Surely not.
But yes, turns out it was!
Lucas is the son of a good friend of mine, Karen, who I’ve known since primary school some 55 years ago. He is newly qualified, with only a few dozen flights under his belt… and we happened to be on one of them.
What are the chances of that? A lovely, and unexpected, start to the trip.
NORTH MACEDONIA BORDER to ORIKUM
After checking out of our first night’s hotel, we decided to head north and explore the Albanian border with North Macedonian. We were in a hire car which we’d collected from the airport the day before.
The journey through the capital city, Tirana, was like being forced to drive around Hyde Park Corner in rush hour with your hands tied – scary! Mind you, it would have been easier had Emma not been screaming every time a mad Albanian driver did something spectacularly dangerous. We’ve since discovered that Albania has the worst traffic accident statistics across Europe – it’s not difficult to see why.
I can also now see why the car-hire manager was trying to convince us to purchase additional (excess) insurance for the car. No doubt he was on commission, and pointed out the multiple dents already on each panel of the car – along with most of the other cars in the hire centre…. However, I do have an annual contract with “Reduce My Excess” to take care of that risk globally for a year. A little tip one of my kids gave me to prevent mounting costs. Details in the hints and tips section below.
Once we left the madness of Tirana behind us, the roads opened up and the snow-capped mountains along the Macedonian border came into view.
The scenery here is spectacular.
We ended up driving for quite a while on our first day. It wasn’t planned, but the weather was looking bad towards the south, so that prompted the last-minute change of plans.
We had earlier started off the day with a good breakfast in a nice little place we had booked near the airport.
We ended the day with a meal in Orikum.
Now Orikum is a lovely little rustic, under-developed town, just south of the more popular Vlorë, which we drove through on the way down. The coast road between the two was stunning, and on another trip we will spend more time here exploring.
This trip was very much low season, so our hotel pointed us towards a neighbouring establishment for an evening meal as the restaurant was not yet open.
It was also a good introduction to the relatively good prices… 0.5 litres of local wine for £4. The food was also delicious. We mostly chose seafood, but we were also introduced to a local dish, ‘Börek’, which is basically a thin, flaky filo pastry pie.
THE GREEN COAST AND DHERMI
We explored the little town of Dhermi, which, with its 30+ churches, was an absolute dream of a place to wander around.
The sun was shining and the town, built within the ravines and rugged peaks of the local mountains overlooking the coast, gave it a feel similar to the Amalfi Coast in Italy.
Dhermi itself was almost completely empty; we only saw one other tourist in the main square.
The houses and churches are linked together by small cobblestone alleyways which were easy to get lost in – indeed we did!
This was a place that is a ‘must-see’ if travelling along this coast, and there is a story behind the huge number of Christian churches which goes back many centuries.
DHERMI BEACH
I should imagine that, like the Amalfi or the Cornish coast, this place gets incredibly busy in summer. Very few roads and far too many visitors and cars. But for now the place was empty.
A great place to explore both day and night.
Our hotel was a mere ten-minute walk from the beach, so we could easily stroll down and check out one of the many beach bars and restaurants competing for trade. The prices were great too, £2-£3 for a glass of local wine… again the local wine was delicious!
And, this place really comes alive at night…
We found a relatively quiet beach bar called Don Mare, which was knocking out large cocktails for around £7, and glasses of wine for the usual low price.
The barman really looked after us well, by stocking up our fire pit with enough fuel to keep us warm. The locals still think it’s winter
OUR HOTEL AT DHERMI – WORTH A MENTION
We booked into a gorgeous hotel near Dhermi called ‘The Empire Beach Resort’, which has got to be worth a mention as it was just about perfect and was also a great price.
The weather turned out to be fantastic too, so we took full advantage of the pool and private beach.
The restaurant on site was great quality and wasn’t too pricey, I’m guessing this was on account of it being close to the local beach and having lots of competing venues nearby.
It was a lovely place to watch the sunset too, so we headed down to the private beach to end the day.
PORTO PALERMO AND A BOUTIQUE HOTEL IN THE MOUNTAINS
We didn’t leave the Empire Beach Resort until midday, and we pottered along, driving down the coast until we reached our next destination, a tiny boutique hotel set in the hills overlooking the Castle of Porto Palermo.
If you look closely enough you’ll notice a castle on the small island in the mid-distance of the picture above. It was built under the rule of Ali Pasha, a tyrant who ruled this corner of the globe during the period of the Ottoman Empire. I’ve been reading up a little about him, his religion, relationships with the Greeks, Ottomans and others; he appears to have had an incredibly turbulent life (and death).
The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, normal service (on the weather front) was resumed. Blue skies rolled in from the east, pushing the clouds over the mountains.
The nearby bay provided a lovely backdrop from our hotel’s infinity swimming pool. We didn’t rush off, just sat by the pool, relaxing and considering our next travel options.
Indeed one of the main reasons we’d booked this hotel was the infinity pool, so we enjoyed every moment we could.
The owner was an incredibly interesting chap, a book writer and university lecturer. There must be something about this profession that attracts this type of person to run guesthouses and hotels; he was much like the chap I met in Bordeaux a few weeks ago, only this place was a tad more upmarket. His wife cooked us an evening meal which saved us having to head into the local town to find a restaurant.
KSAMIL
The next day we drove further south, on to our next destination.
As we approached Ksamil, the island of Corfu came clearly into view. It is the largest of a number of islands that hug this part of the coast. I’ve never visited Greece, so this is the closest I have been.
Corfu itself straddles the Greek/Albanian mainland and sits just across the straits, a mere stone’s throw away.
Now Ksamil itself is a delightful little corner of Albania and it’s not difficult to see why it’s so popular. Surrounded by coves, islands and inlets, it draws a lot of visitors.
It has an abundance of places to sit and take in the sights and there is no shortage of bars to have a drink or restaurants to sit down for a meal. There are prices for every budget. And that’s probably going to be its downfall. It appears to be growing a little too fast, with the locals suffering from gold-rush fever and cashing in on its popularity.
To be fair, most of the new-build appears to be low-rise and relatively good quality, but there doesn’t appear to be much in the way of strategic planning, so it could go either way. It could remain a quaint place drawing in people keen to visit its natural beauty, or end up an over-developed tourist trap frequented by stag nights and hen parties. I’m not sure which way it’ll go, BUT I’d suggest heading here before it becomes too over-developed.
Oh, and we discovered our first “‘orrible” wine of the trip. But luckily the waiter didn’t charge us for it. It smelt like bad-sweet cider, tasted like bad-sweet cider, so no amount of excusing it as “home made” would make me want to drink it! It was one of only two bad wine experiences we had, but it taught us a valuable lesson, ALWAYS request a taster before they serve up “local wine”. The quality varies!
If I’m honest, we wouldn’t stay longer than a night or two here, especially in peak season when it gets incredibly busy and the prices are hiked somewhat…. However, our experience here was fun…
We discovered a bar playing live music and selling reasonably priced cocktails. So on the basis of “when in Rome”, we had a few and I ‘almost’ got up for karaoke. Thankfully (for the locals and Emma) I didn’t! However, she was the one egging me on! Methinks she had a few too many…
HANGOVER HIKE – BUTRINT ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK
The next morning we headed out of the main town and across to Butrint. We parked the car near an old fort and went for a walk…
Well, Emma needed to clear her head!
On the walk we met a lovely woman travelling with her son. They’ve come all the way from Tennessee and we spent a little time sharing ideas and suggestions of places to visit.
Having all the time in the world, with no plans, we decided to take the scenic route via a chain ferry which took us back across to the mainland. Ksamil isn’t an island, but it feels like it, as it’s only connected at the North by the narrowest strips of land. We then took our time heading to our next destination.
Hey… and I came to the rescue of a local damsel in distress… and whilst Emma rolled her eyes, I became someone’s English hero for the day by helping to recover her herd of cows that had escaped a field. And despite what you are thinking, I’d have done the same had she not been wearing a short skirt!
BLUE EYE, Syri i Kaltër, Muzinë
A must-see if in the region is the Blue Eye water spring, found in a remote corner of the Mali i Gjerë mountains. In fact the whole area is gorgeous – stunning! Especially at this time of year with the area covered in wildflowers and lush trees.
The natural spring flows up from the river bed, creating an amazing spectacle. Of course there is a myth behind its creation, a likely story about a dragon and a donkey. If you come here I’m sure you’ll look up its history.
The rivers here, including the Blue Eye, are luminescent turquoise blue and emerald green. Totally breathtaking! The natural spring bubbles up from deep within the karst at a phenomenal rate of over 18,400 litres per second, and creates the most intense spectacle.
Visitor numbers here had been controlled in the past, being an area that was only permitted to be visited by a small number of high-ranking communist officials during the time it was under Soviet rule. This no doubt helped it to retain its pristine nature.
It’s a long but easy walk from the car park to the Eye, but worth it. I wouldn’t want to be doing it in the height of the season though, both in terms of heat and visitor numbers.
GJIROKASTËR
Wow, my personal favourite place on this trip.
For me this was a huge contrast to the places we’d visited so far. But I’ll start with the drive here, which was stunning. In fact I think the road from Blue Eye to Gjirokastër is one of the nicest mountain drives I’ve ever experienced. Made especially magical at this time of year with empty, winding roads, contrasting colours and snow-capped mountains.
I had previously booked a hotel room with a view… on top of a hill, overlooking the castle and old town. The windows in our room had a vista to die for.
Quirky, rustic and full of history, our accommodation was just what I had hoped it would be.
The drive to it was a little hairy, up steep, narrow cobblestone roads where I was praying that no-one would be coming in the opposite direction!
Our host didn’t speak English, nor did we speak Albanian, but we managed to get the basics exchanged, got changed and headed down to the old town.
The old town has a Central European medieval feel to it, almost Germanic, but with a pretty mosque located where you’d usually find a church in other places in Europe. The town itself has lots of bars and restaurants lining the old quarter. We chose to eat at a restaurant overlooking the mosque, which served up the most delicious food and great local wine.
I would have liked to stay longer in this region to explore it more, but we had a long drive northwards the next day. So perhaps next time we will build in more time.
DRIVE THROUGH THE OIL FIELDS
We decided to head up to Albania’s most popular coastal resort, Durrës. I’m told it accounts for more tourists (local and foreign) than the rest of Albania combined.
We knew this would be a long driving day, so built in plenty of time to stop for leg stretches and coffee.
Our journey took us through some amazing mountainous regions, which we chose deliberately in order to take us off the main highways.
We hadn’t realised before coming here that oil is Albania’s largest export, so we ended up driving through one of its oilfields near Vllahine.
Again, adding to the contrasting experiences of the entire trip, we were standing looking out over rolling hills with olive groves and vineyards… AND nodding donkey oil pumps and well holes.
A strange but beautiful contrast.
OUR LAST NIGHT – DURRËS
We checked into our hotel, which was only a few metres from the main beach at Durrës, parked the car and went for a stroll.
The hotel was perfectly sited, the room incredibly clean and modern, albeit small… But at £12.50 per person, per night, I wasn’t complaining, plus it was ideal for our early start the next day (we were only 30 minutes from the airport). I was parked literally right outside our room. It’s certainly a place I’d recommend for a one-night stopover like ours.
We could see immediately why this place is so popular for ‘fly-and-floppers’. It has a lovely long west-facing sandy beach, a long wide promenade and more hotels than I’ve seen for ages. Many of the hotels have their own swimming pool, beach bars and sunbeds – by the thousands (empty at this time of year).
We passed two hotels which, side by side, had simultaneous events on. Both were playing infectious Latino style music which couples were gyrating to in their hundreds. It was a taste of what this place is probably like in peak season. Incredible to watch…
A mile further southwards on our walk and the high-rise hotels started to disappear. Here, we found a beachside restaurant and settled down for our final meal of the trip, spending the last of our local currency.
WOW, what a great choice! Incredible quality and value. I didn’t expect the food to be that great here, and ridiculously low-priced… Mind you, we passed on the local wine as it was reminiscent of the wine we had in Ksamil. My guess is that the more touristic places knock out the cheaper ‘local’ wines, so just as well I asked for a taste first!
We wandered back along the promenade, watched the sunset and headed back to pack for our journey home.
Sad to be leaving, but glad to have experienced this whistle-stop tour of Albania.
It’s certainly a place I would recommend and will almost certainly return – there is so much more to explore.
HINTS AND TIPS
Free Flights
We managed to book the entire flight for this trip (including baggage) on the WizzAir flight credits we have built up in recent months simply by booking accommodation with booking.com but via the WizzAir app. It’s really simple.
I purchased one year annual membership for €36 (it’s usually €59 – but was on offer when I bought it) which has now paid for itself several times over.
This is an absolutely fantastic benefit I’ve been using for a while. I posted a detailed description of how to get these free flights in the travel-hacks section of this blog
O2 – Ultimate Travel Tariff
I mentioned earlier in the blog that I’d been watching episodes of The Handmaid’s Tale on the flight, having downloaded it from Disney Plus. The reason I mention it again here is because I managed to get Disney Plus (ad-free) thrown in gratis as part of an O2 upgrade we took out last week.
Coming to Albania, I’d originally planned to buy a virtual eSIM through Airalo, as I usually do. However, after a bit of digging, I discovered O2 had a very good deal on, so I upgraded my international roaming package to include Zone 2 and an additional 75 countries on top of the standard European coverage already included.
I now have access across 123 countries in total, including Albania, the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, the UAE, India and many others.
The upgrade only cost an extra £8 per month. That means I can keep, and actually use my UK number while travelling to these new destinations. Given that ad-free Disney Plus alone costs £9.99 per month, and they also include multi-device McAfee Security (worth around another £5 monthly), it felt like excellent value.
More importantly, it means I can make and receive proper telephone calls on the move, send and receive texts, and keep access to my 200GB data allowance outside Europe, something a virtual eSIM generally can’t match. Most eSIM packages also offer far less data.
Given how much we travel, it was a bit of a no-brainer really. The only downside is that download speeds are capped, but in practice I’ve barely noticed. Streaming, maps and general browsing have all worked perfectly well.
The McAfee security package is useful to have while travelling too, although I already subscribe to NordVPN, so for me the Disney Plus perk was probably the bigger win.
I mention it here because, if you travel outside Europe regularly, it’s definitely worth considering. For me, having an additional 75 non-European countries covered is far more convenient, and ultimately more cost-effective than constantly faffing about with separate eSIMs. From a user perspective, it’s also vastly simpler.
It’s easy enough to find online, but I’ve included a screenshot from the O2 website (of the additional countries covered, over and above Europe) below for reference.
Airport Lounges
We made good use of the airport lounges both at Luton and in Tirana airports; access was free through our usual bank perk (see Travel Hacks). However, these days we tend to pay £5 to pre-book to guarantee entry, especially at UK and busy airports.
It’s a great start and end to our trips, with unlimited food and beverages, including beer and wine… well, why not? Below are pictures of Tirana Business Lounge and Luton Lounge.
Accommodation
Here are the places we’d recommend:
1. Empire Beach Resort, Posta kufitare Dhermi, 9422 Dhërmi, Albania.
A nice bit of luxury, private beach, great food, gorgeous pool and superb service. Around £82 per night. Incl breakfast.
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2. Vila D Boutique Hotel, Rruga Persefoni Kokedhima, Porto Palermo, 9416 Qeparo, Albania. £69 per night. Incl breakfast.
Up in the mountains, overlooking an empty bay with gorgeous views. Incredibly quiet and private.
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3. Guesthouse Salaria, Rruga Partizani 44, Gjirokastër, 6000. £37 per night Incl Breakfast.
Rustic, traditional, full of history with stunning views of the castle and old town.
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4. Hotel Luris, Rruga Liria 1 flor Hotel luris, Golem, 2504, Durrës. £24 per night (no breakfast)
Ideal place to explore Durrës only 30 minutes from the airport. No frills but incredibly clean!
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5. Hotel Amantia, Rruga Pashaliman, Orikum, 9426 £43 per night. Incl breakfast
Clean, friendly, great location at the top of a quiet bay.
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6. Park Ashik, Rruga e Kavajës 20 km from Tirana and 15 km from Durres, Tirana, 1001. £37 per night incl breakfast
Functional, a little dated, but incredible good value for money with superb food. Close to the airport.
7. Emar Beachfront Hotel, Rruga Komun/ Dea, Shetitore, 9706 Ksamil, Albania. £70 per night incl breakfast.
Nice enough, clean and tidy room, Ksamil prices… (starting to milk the tourists). Lovely staff and a decent enough (but basic) breakfast. Not exactly on the “Beachfront” but close enough. Lots of building work in front of the hotel when we were there – not their fault, just bad timing on our part. Should be good when building works completed.
Car Hire – Reduce my Excess
I’d already prepared myself for the possibility of a few unexpected costs on this trip, especially with the hire car. Albania has a bit of a reputation for “creative” damage claims, so I took plenty of photos and videos at both pick-up and drop-off, just in case.
However, we hired from Wheego and had no such worries. It was all quite seamless both on collection and return. I had booked the car via Booking.com, and had pre paid £68 for the week. Wheego were great to deal with and easy enough to find, among the dozens and dozens of other hire car agencies operating from the airport.
That leads nicely onto a little tip which could save you some money too…
Years ago, I realised it was wise to take out additional ‘excess insurance’ when hiring a car. Even a minor scratch, lost key or damaged wheel can leave you facing a bill for hundreds of pounds, often more than the actual hire cost itself.
The problem is that the excess cover sold directly by car hire companies is usually eye-wateringly expensive, and they ‘tend’ to give you the hard sell when collecting the vehicle. For years, I bought separate excess insurance through Booking.com instead, which was easier to deal with but still added up over the course of a year.
More recently, one of my kids recommended a company called Reduce My Excess. They offer annual cover for multiple car hires under a single policy, which has worked out far more cost-effective for me. I’ve already hired cars three times this year alone, so it has effectively paid for itself already.
Thankfully, I haven’t needed to make a claim yet, but I’ll report back if I ever do.
There are plenty of other companies offering similar policies, so it’s definitely worth looking into if you hire cars more than once or twice a year. It can save a surprising amount of money.
Super Friendly Albanian Men
Emma’s early comment was “the blokes here all appear so menacing” and I have to admit they do have a certain look…
However, having now returned, I must say the VAST majority of Albanian men we met were charming; they may look menacing, wear black and have similar haircuts – but our experience was positive.
We managed to avoid the stereotypical mafia gangs!
Wise (formerly Transferwise)
We also stuck to using cash and only used my Wise card for local transactions, topping it up just before payments to minimise the risk of cloning, skimming and card dipping.