I bought Rick’s 800 page book. Albania isn’t even in the index! Croatia and Greece but no Albania. So I came here hoping to find something. We are traveling there for two weeks in April with a strong possibility of moving there. It is well situated for exploring Europe and for some strange reason they love Americans. I’ve never been there but I’m really looking forward to seeing it.
If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it.
Thanks!
DK and Bradt have recent guides. Be careful if shopping on Amazon because there is a flood of (fake) AI-created books.
Try posting on the General Europe page as well.
I just saw a post by Cameron Hewit on Facebook regarding Albania. I searched and found something on this website. It may be the same thing. The pictures are stunning.
https://blog.ricksteves.com/cameron/2025/01/european-discoveries-2025-balkans/
Do a search on the forum for Albania and you’ll find a little (not a ton). Here’s my trip report from 2 years ago. I loved it!
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/albania-a-lovely-adventure
Thank you! Great story.
TexasTravelMom created a great trip for herself. Albania is fascinating, but it's not an easy country to travel around because of the transportation challenges. I think getting around via rental car is probably a good option, but it wasn't an approach I was willing to take as a solo traveler.
Albania is to a considerable degree a cash economy with ATMs charging significant fees (between 3.5% and 7% or higher, in my experience). Otherwise, costs are generally low.
Pre-trip research is important unless you have all the time in the world to explore.
Albania is really inexpensive and quickly emerging in the travel press as a hot, new European destination to visit. The beaches are a big draw with locations such as Dhermi and Himare in the spotlight.
Not sure why Americans are so popular there. Maybe the fact that Blues Brother star John Belushi and his actor/brother Jim Belush, along with Robert De Niro and Danny DeVito all have some Albanian parentage has made an impression on Albanians.
