Albania

A little out of date now, here is my trip report from 2023.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/albania-a-lovely-adventure

I've been to Tirana and Kruje and was surprised at how much I liked them. I was on a tour and our local guide loved the US because of some foreign aid we gave them, I think when they were transitioning out of Communism.

I spent about 10 days driving around Albania in 2020. One of my favorite trips. Especially the mountains.

I visited Albania in 2024 as part of the OAT tour to Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia.

We stayed in Gjirokaster and in Tirana, and also did a day trip to Butrint and a stop in Berat.

I can't post a link here, but send me a PM and I will share my blog with you.

I've been there twice on tours of the Balkans with LyubaTours.com. It's a beautiful country with a very interesting history, friendly people, good food and no crowds. Definitely look into it more - lots to see and experience.

It is a lovely country and very inexpensive to travel in. However, it is much more of a cash economy than most other European destinations, and you'll encounter significant ATM fees when you need more cash. It's a rare destination where you can save money by going to exchange desks (not in the airport, of course), where you may pay as little as a 1% fee. However, carrying around enough euro currency (slightly better than dollars even before the recent weakening of the dollar) for an entire trip isn't something I'd want to do. YMMV.

acraven is correct. Lots of cash used. I paid for hotels with a card and that was never a problem. I hired a guide / driver for the duration of the trip. I didnt want to carry around the cash so I gave it to her on day one and said, "here, you are paid, dont run off on me." She didnt. The driver + hotels were about the same cost as just a hotel in Vienna. No, maybe less. That just left cash for food and even then half the time they took cards. So it wasnt terrible, but as acraven points out, its not Western Europe either.

Landed in Tirana (direct non-stop flight from Budapest is now about 45 euro) and went directly to Krujë (about 90 minutes). The next day we got an early start to the begining of the Komani Lake Ferry. You have to do that. Stunning trip through the mountains. We ended up at a small hotel on the side of the river. I spent 3 days fly fishing. The guide returned and we headed east through the valley and into Kosovo as a shortcut to lower Albania. Next stops were Kukes, Durres, Berat, Vlore, Sarande and Gjirokastër before returning to Tirana. The longest stay in the south was Gjirokastër. The nice thing about the guide was that every moment was productive. We would pass thorugh a town about noon, she knew the best restaurant and the locals.

Anyway, a great trip.