Early stages of planning a trip to Albania--I have questions!

I was in Albania last year, almost exactly a year ago. I spent three nights in Gjirokaster and two nights in Tirana. Did day trips to Butrint and Berat. Also went to North Macedonia, with two nights in Ohrid and two nights in Skopje. I was on a tour with OAT (https://www.oattravel.com/trips/land-adventures/europe/northern-greece-albania-and-macedonia-ancient-lands-of-alexander-the-great/2021?icid=global:adventures:central-europe-and-the-balkans:land-adventures:gre). It was an awesome tour. The places we visited in northern Greece were amazing, and I loved Albania. Ohrid was so pleasant and pretty, and Skopje was fascinating and very different from anywhere else I've been in Europe.

I don't know about the places you mentioned (Sarande or Ksamil), but if you have any questions about my experiences, please let me know and I'll be happy to share any thoughts or ideas.

The Albanian coast is increasingly built up. I only passed through Sarande on the way to Butrint, and that's not a good basis for judgement. However, it didn't seem a place that would appeal to me (not a beach person) or justify a trip from Greece. Butrint is considered quite a big deal, which I can understand. I couldn't get past the frustration of knowing there were great mosaics buried under sand.

Gjirokaster is extremely atmospheric. It's worth traveling from Greece to see, if you can figure out a transportation solution.

However, mainland Greece has lots of interesting options. I wouldn't feel the need to cross the border and would hold off on Albania until I could give it a lot more than 4 days. Transportation in Albania is quite challenging, so it's not a great quick-trip destination.

I would tend to agree with acraven that Sarandë is a large built up city. I also just passed through, but nothing I saw or read would lead me to go back to spend time there. Ksamil might be ok in May. It would be easy to get to from Corfu and not necessarily require a car.

My trip is becoming out of date - acraven and Lane have been more recently. But of the places I visited, Gjirokastra seems to do more of what you are looking for. The minivan bus was easy from there to Sarandë - so the reverse might depend on timing. If you rent a car, that also takes time, but the highway between the two was nice. But you’d need to find lodging with parking (or parking below and lodging above by taxi).

I am not sure I would go to the trouble it requires in order to spend 4 nights in the Sarandë/ Ksamil area. You might check flights Thessaloniki to Tirana or bus to Korca.

Someone else has been recently and arranged ahead for private transfer between cities - that could also be a good option. My daughter and friend were in several places there last year, with a rental car.

I am looking at a return next summer, so if you do drive, I will be looking for feedback. Lol.

I was in Albania about 4 years ago. I think it was 10 days from:

• Valbone (fabulous and I will be back next or the following year) to
• Gjirokaster (for historical context and atmosphere the number one stop) to
• Sarandë (yes a modern city but a beautiful modern city full of wonderful and kind people. Sometimes it’s good to see the “real” part of a country and the best food on the trip … I will be back)

With a dozen road stops in-between.

• Road stops at Eco-Farm Restaurants and
• artists house and
• mom and dad for fresh cooked fish and homemade Raki poured from a recycled plastic coke bottle and
• ancient villages with amazing local food from outdoor kitchens

One of my most memorable trips.

I have seen TexasTravelMom’s posts and trip reports and I know she spends 8 months a year on the road in Europe. Among the RS folks she is one of the most experienced and rational travelers and when she says she will rent a car and ride the busses in Albania I understand it one way, when many others say it, I think it’s something with the possibility to be quite different. Personally, I would worry about the language issue if I needed help, I would worry about the lack of facilities between points of interest where one could get help, I would worry about some distinct cultural differences in unassisted interactions and as much as I love Albania it isn’t among the nations with the lowest crime. Odds of something going wrong are low and if it does, maybe worst case is a loss of a day or two of holiday time. For me, I live close and the flights are cheap, so I can return or extend. No problem.

So, what did I do? I hired a guide with a car. What I got out of it besides not having to wrry about all the stuff above was someone that knew places to stop that just aren’t on the maps or internet tourist sites. I got to spend a lot of hours talking to a local from which I learned a lot about culture and society in Albania. I got to meet mom and dad 😊 and I got a lifelong friend that still writes me. How perfect!

TexasTravelMom has in recent years hired guides in Montenegro and Bosnia and Romania and if you read her reports or catch her references the guides were among the highlights of her trip (TTM feel free to correct me). Heck the one from Romania a few weeks ago, her and the other RS folks on the tour gushed so much over that they have an upcoming video conference set up which anyone can join and meet him. To this day if you want to travel to Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Slovakia and you post I will give you the name of someone who I met, stay in touch with and who has enriched my life. I would not have gained that solo in a rental car.

What’s the cost for this? Come on, this is Albania not Croatia; things are still reasonable. The tour planner in Montenegro that I post about often put together a trip to Albania for a couple of friends of mine last year. I think she just set up the introduction with a trusted Albanian guide. My friends had the time of their lives. I haven’t priced it out in a few years, but I suspect that a day with a car and driver + a nice hotel + food is less than the cost of a bus + a nice hotel + food in Austria or Croatia. So, the trip can be less expensive that Wester Europe (which I think would be a mistake) or it can be deeper for the same cost as Western Europe (bingo).

This isn’t about right or wrong ways of approaching the issue, more about my personal decisions for the best, most enjoyable holiday for my type of travel and for what I enjoy the most. This is the way of travel that has given me the best exposure, enjoyment and longest lasting and best memories.

So before you decide the route, make sure you are getting what works best for you out of the method and if that is driving yourslef, then pick TexasTravelMoms brain.