Thoughts on Group Leader
Very good.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Sit back and enjoy! Hotels and food better than expected.
Reviews
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Reviews
A journey through history
Very enjoyable with a good variety of different sights
Communism meets the Costas
This tour is pretty full on at times but has a number of frustrating periods of down time. A lot of time is spent on the road but not a lot of distance covered (the roads are winding and often steep, did anybody realise how mountainous Albania actually is?) Scenically Albania can be very striking with a range of contrasts and feels. The stark communist era buildings are a stark contrast to the adventurous modern (last 20yrs) building designs. It is a shame that lots of pre- communist era buildings are derelict and villages deserted. Preservation/restoration of older buildings is very questionable, eg 14th century base, rebuilt/restored last year, not for the purist. There is a lot of coastal building, in 5 yrs it will look and feel like a Spanish Costa.
Most Inspirational Moment
The level of the un-explored archaeology
Thoughts on Group Leader
Talked and talked, I gnawed my leg off. Seriously, very passionate and knowledgeable , but seemingly unable to filter the main memorable points and a tendency to lose the 'hook' within the torrent of information. Very helpful most of the time. The goalposts also tended to move, resulting in wrong place, wrong time.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Hotel rooms are very variable, be prepared to take the rough with the smooth, singles beware you will get more than your fair share of the rough. Beware of rooms that open directly onto stairs. Travel in the spring when it is cooler, June is too hot, the mountains way well still be snow capped in the early spring. Go soon, this country is developing very rapidly and will lose its' charm very quickly once the 'all inclusives' start to move in.
Amazing country
A very busy tour which took us to all the major sites and through beautiful countryside
Most Inspirational Moment
Seeing the beautiful scenery and the fascinating historic towns. The museum of Medieval Art in Korçë was stunning. I’m not a huge fan of Icons but this museum was excellent.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Artur is a lovely man, very well organised and attentive. Unfortunately his English was difficult to understand when he was explaining the history, archaeology etc.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Shoes with decent non-slip soles are essential for the slippery cobbled streets. A trekking pole useful especially if it is raining.
Never again
Constant dire room issues ruined it. Wrong emphasis on trip content, notes inaccurate, bad hotel and restaurant choices. Leader elusive, finally his response: “you’re on the wrong holiday”. Lived in 8, school 4, business 7 + holidays = 44 countries visited but Albania broke me.
Most Inspirational Moment
Berat's mosque. Imam polite, informative, ceiling of the annexe was out of this world, exquisite.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Offhand, I blew a fuse having to constantly fight my own room battles, he told me to "calm down". It Just got worse. I wasn't last to book but was treated as an inconvenience, after-thought. At one point genuinely thought I would be sleeping on the bus or at a different hotel as debate raged for 1/2 hour, last to get key every time.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Choose a different country, strongly suggest review choice of tour operator.
Highlights of Albania
10 day trip of central and southern Albania (9 nights and 8 full days) visited the major attractions and drove through beautiful scenery. It was a full itinerary and at times felt rushed with city walks taking place late afternoon/ early evening at the end of a long driving day.
Most Inspirational Moment
The visits to the small villages of Lin and Voskopoje, and the visits to the family houses for lunch in Dhoksat and morning tea in Berat. These all gave a great insight into the lives of Albanians over generations.
Thoughts on Group Leader
The group leader was very knowledgeable and had a lot of information to pass on. He was very caring about the group. It would have been helpful to have more definite instructions on plans and timeframe when visiting sites so we knew exactly what time and where to meet. Lunch breaks could have been shorter. The driver was very skilled and his driving on difficult roads was appreciated by the group.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Read up about Albanian history before travelling and if possible spend time in Tirana first as this tour has only 1 morning there.
Fascinating Albania
This is a beautiful country with breath-taking mountainous scenery. Although some drives are long the tour takes you to really intersting places large and small, that are well worth visiting and carefully chosen. The accommodation is varied (eg within the castle walls at Berat or in a Natioinal Park) but always good and clean. You learn a lot about the lives of the Albanian people and their long and often turbulant history. And although the food is fairly simple it is really delicious and the freshest I’ve ever eaten, thanks to all the produce being grown locally. The local fish (Koran)from lake Ohrid was really tasty. The freshness of the food was one of the high points of my trip. The people are genuinely friendly. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing so much of this varied country
Most Inspirational Moment
Goodness! What to say? I enjoyed so much of the trip... the mountains, seeing all the amazing produce growing all around in the country side, the remaining Ottoman houses and mosques and the few Byzantine churches that survived the communist destruction, the old towns like Kruje and Girokastra. The Icon museum in Korce. Also hearing from the owners of two fascinating Ottoman houses we visited whose families had managed (just) to keep their homes during the communist regime.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Our group leader was hard working and very well organised and the trip ran smoothly. We always had interesting stops en route, and good places to eat. However his level of English was not what is expected of a professional tour guide, and he had particular difficulties in pronunciation and the use of tenses which at times caused difficulty in understanding. But he was a nice guy who was very knowledgable, punctual and worked hard for us.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Enjoy being in a country on the cusp of being on the tourist map. So some museums are still being refurbished and some coastal areas are not yet highly developed. Enjoy the amazing local produce but dont expect your dishes to necessarily arrive when you expect them! Enjoy the countryside - drink from mountain springs and bathe in hot springs. Enjoy visiting castles and ancient sites. You will see so much on this trip.
highlights of Albania
I travelled independantly with a small group of friends on the 24th May and joined the group in the Tirana hotel.
The itinerary was excellent and the hotels, bus and our driver were all very good. The only thing that let the trip down was the guide and this had a very detri.ental effect on our holiday.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Our group leader,Arthur, spike very poor English, often translating things word for word (FROM Italian or Albanian) .this made it very difficult to understand especially as his pronunciation was so poor. He constantly repeated the same facts which became very waring and talked almost all the time on the bus even when asked for some quiet ti.e. When people stopped listening he shouted louder and several times he snapped at some of the group. He became angry when people wanted to visit sights and museums and I found myself avoiding him at all times.
Advice for Potential Travellers
this was an interesting trip if you had a different guide.
Albania trip May’24
Beautiful country which is still updating infrastructure for a booming tourist industry. A lot of the past Ottoman buildings may be swept away in some of the overdevelopment that is happening.
Albania’s self sufficiency of fruit and vegetables means you are always eating local and the quality and taste reflect that.
Most Inspirational Moment
Traveling through the spectacular Gramos Mountains next to the Vjosa River between Erseke and Permet. Skenduli House in Gjirokaster was a particularly interesting visit. The host, whose family had lived in this house for many generations, spoke excellent English and explained the historical uses of the different rooms including for weddings.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Our Group Leader was a lovely man who worked very hard and had good knowledge of Albanian history and culture, unfortunately his level of English was not good so it became difficult to follow what he was saying. He also felt he should be constantly giving us information when travelling on the mini bus which led to a lot of repetition which also became trying. At some sights we would preferred to read the English information boards ourselves but the Group Leader insisted on doing this for us.
Advice for Potential Travellers
The Albanians are friendly and helpful but I would visit before the tourist boom starts to dominate the culture. Most of the museums we wanted to visit were closed for repairs or renovations. It didn’t actually look like much work was happening so I would check this out before going.
Highlights of Albania
A comprehensive tour of Albania encompassing many different areas. It’s a historical, archaeological & environmental delight.
Most Inspirational Moment
Seeing wild flower meadows in the mountains with the shepherds & their flocks plus a predominance of agricultural land. The profusion of home grown fruit & vegetables. A veritable time warp. Also, the large amount of Roman & Byzantine ruins showing the importance of the country years ago.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Artur was enthusiastic about his country & extremely knowledgeable. However, he went into too much detail; he tended to over talk so we had no reflection time until he was asked to have periods of silence. His command of the English language was sufficient for us to understand him, but at times I felt he did not really understand our questions as he would not answer them with a relevant answer as he seemed to miss the point. He did repeat the same information more than once even when on the bus with the microphone. Maybe this was to ensure everyone had heard it but that did become rather wearing. Maybe this is the way he has been trained…
Advice for Potential Travellers
This is a full on trip with no spare time; we were mostly moving on each day.
Good but not great
The natural landscape of Albania is stunning; loved the mountains, lakes, rivers, sea. The built environment is less attractive with some high rises spoiling the overall appeal of the country. The tour is very cultural – lots of churches, mosques, buildings, ruins. The whole thing felt like ‘stop, look, listen’ school trip at times with a never-ending Albanian history lesson. Little free time with a packed schedule and we were discouraged from exploring independently from the group.
Most Inspirational Moment
There's not one that stands out about the others, but I like the opportunity to swim in the sea, the hot springs, the walk, (only a short one disappointingly) the views of the mountains , the meal in the house owner's garden and Berat - great accommodation, fabulous group meal next door to hotel, a nice 'feel' to the town and some free time
Thoughts on Group Leader
Artur is very knowledgeable but was ranked as one of the worst guides I've ever had on my travels. He was clearly passionate about Albanian history, and seemed to think that we all shared his passion with non-stop commentary whilst he was guiding us around the sights, on the bus - he would not shut up. I wanted the opportunity to look around in peace, to look through the bus window in peace, to chat to fellow travellers but there was a constant drone of history in a very hard to understand accent (though he is fluent) . I asked him to offer less commentary on the bus so he switched off the microphone and carried on talking as much without the microphone. Far too much detail, lots of repetition. He seemed to get cross when we didn't have any questions but then when I did ask questions he was cross because he's already given the answer at some point when I'd switched off from the droning. He was reluctant to allow us the opportunity to meet the group later and opt out of the guided tour. He got very, very cross with me when I said that Voskopje was not an artists' village but the trip notes said 'the artists village...an important and well-known centre for the arts where many talented Albanian painters work' I asked when we were going to see the artisits as there was one church with painted walls that had been graffittted over and he said that the artists had died centuries ago. So why did the trip notes use the present tense? He lacked any understanding of my frustration over this.
Advice for Potential Travellers
If you are fascinated by Albanian history, love to look around churches and mosques, old and new and old ruins then this is the trip for you.