Highlights of Albania

Excellent educational historical scenic Albanian journey. Our group leader Ed was extremely knowledgeable and shared stories of living under communism. Our driver Di Di was a joy to be around. Not only was he an excellent driver on the long windy roads but he brought so much fun and joy to our group.

From ancient ruins to alpine peaks, Albania swept me off my feet with its wild beauty, warm hearts, and unforgettable surprises at every turn.

Our group was fourteen on an excellent new minibus. None of the days driving were too long in distance and the roads were mainly excellent. The weather in early June was hot (28/32 degrees). Stunning scenery and very interesting archaeological sights, incredible ancient churches and mosques. Good food although variable. Hotels were good, some excellent. Albania is a rapidly expanding tourist destination with huge coastal developments - go now.

Very interesting country with a deep history and much to offer the traveller. Majestic scenery, good food and friendly people

This fast-paced journey through Albania gave us a great feel of Albania and covered most of the South. From morning swims in Lake Ohrid to soaking in the hot springs near Permet at sunset and exploring the Adriatic at Porto Palermo. Each day offered something new, with just one night in most hotels to maximize our time. Exploring Berat’s castle in the evening, spotting bunkers across the countryside, and ending in the picture-perfect town of Krujë made for unforgettable moments. Our guide was wonderful—his deep love and knowledge of Albania brought each stop to life.

It's a fascinating country with a lot to offer. There is so much history and the people are very friendly and genuinely interested in you. I would recommend this trip to anyone.

An enlightening, entertaining experience in a country with a past that most of us can barely begin to comprehend. Stunning scenery, some ancient architecture, mixed with the more mundane day to day reality of life.

This was quite a hectic trip with 1 night spent in each location (bar one)& quite a lot of driving in between. 2 days in particular involved hours of driving around winding mountain roads (I would advise taking sickness pills if you suffer from travel sickness. What a stunningly beautiful country! More mountainous than I expected. Food & drink was of very good quality & much cheaper than UK. The only hotel that let us & Exodus down, was Hotel Pogradec on Lake Ohrid...the breakfast was appalling & everyone complained. The hotel even had the nerve to charge for coffee (the tea on offer was awful). That particular hotel apart, the service & friendliness of the Albanians was wonderful. Quite A wide variety of places/sites visited, from Churches, Castles to Museums, Archaeological parks & more. The whole country was more advanced (if I can use that term) than expected, especially places like Gjirokaster, Tirana & Berat. Overall, a very worthwhile country to visit.

A tour that covers a lot of the south of Tirana. Lovely, mountain scenery, some delightful towns, (some not so pretty). The days were full and varied, we learnt about Albania's history, met welcoming locals and swam in the warm Ionian sea. And we ate Very well! Great food for veggies.

An ideal trip for those looking to get off the beaten track and learn about this country’s interesting and long history first hand, and enjoy its food.

Albania is a beautiful country, complete with incredible mountain scenery, beautiful cities, mountainous towns, and stunning seascapes. This trip enabled me to see a lot of Albania, learn about its history, and sample its delicious food. Though it was pretty tiring changing hotels almost every day, that was a price worth paying to discover so much of this magical country.

This was a very well run tour, with good accommodation and (thanks to our tour leader, driver and fellow passengers) a terrific atmosphere. Albania perhaps doesn’t have as big highlights as some other countries we’ve visited, but this Exodus trip is an excellent way to see it.

The sequence of the tour, and the time allocated for each stop was perfect. It was well balanced between culture, history, nature, food, and people.

A most enjoyable holiday, shared with a lovely group of people - at a far more relaxed place than other Explore holidays I've done. We covered a lot of the central and southern part of the country - and it felt like we probably touched upon the majority of the major sites and towns.

This was my first trip with Exodus and it didn’t disappoint! The itinerary was quite fast-paced which meant we could cover a lot of ground. It made for an extremely interesting trip with a variety of history, culture and picturesque landscapes. I’d highly recommend it.

Loved the variety of places we visited and didn't mind the fast paced itinerary as we were able to cover a lot of ground with frequent enough stops along the way and free time in evenings. The scenery is beautiful, the people are warm, friendly and helpful, beers were icy cold (June!), very affordable, and all towns walkable and great for exploring.

This country was much more than I expected. The scenery is jaw dropping beautiful lake. The Roman remains are well preserved and well presented with lots of information. The people are lovely and so helpful.

Very enjoyable with a good variety of different sights

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.

A very busy tour which took us to all the major sites and through beautiful countryside

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.

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

A comprehensive tour of Albania encompassing many different areas. It’s a historical, archaeological & environmental delight.

This was a very good introduction to Albania. The guide (Ed) and driver (Di) were excellent. There was a fair balance between visits to historic sites, city walks, interaction with locals and beachside scenery. All the hotels exceeded expectations, as did the food. My reservation would be that it was too tiring moving hotels every night (apart from 2 nights in penultimate one). Perhaps the programme could be extended by a couple of days. Also, the time listening to detailed explanations of the geo-politics of Albania from the guide felt excessive at times. More free time to explore at leisure would have been appreciated. The beach swimming time was very brief, and not at a very good site (biting fish!). Surely there could have been a better beach to go too, and for longer. The bus was good, but the PA system was distorted sometimes making it difficult to hear the leader.

Very enjoyable tour in a very interesting country with a lot of history. Spectacular mountain scenery (some long drives but split up with stops along the journeys). Lovely Ottoman towns and cities, such as Berat and Gjirokaster, pretty villages visited en route to cities. Tourist resorts such as Saranda, and large cities such as Vlore and Durres are far from pretty or attractive. A lot of the hotels we stayed in were good and all central when in cities. Good value for money, both cost of the tour itself and in Albania in general.

Albania is a country that must be visited before it becomes too popular and over commercialised. A country that has something for everyone, history, art, walking hiking, beaches. A land to explore. This tour took in nearly everything, the beautiful mountain scenery, the flat lands and the coast. The villages and the cities. Although there were some long drives tge scenery made up for it and our guide Ed made up for it but adding extras to the itinerary. The food is interesting alot of Mediterranean dishes nothing that wasn't unpleasant. The people are very friendly and speak good English. I would go back again.

A wonderful full on tour visiting a vast array of varied cities, countryside, coastal locations and historical sites. Our guide Amir was excellent. He was very personable and knowledgeable, we learnt so much about the people, culture and history of this fascinating country. Also our driver, Gani, deserves a mention for his incredible driving along the winding hilltop roads, allowing us to relax and enjoy the amazing scenery. Thank you to you both

Albania is a gem to visit. The rugged snow capped mountains to the blue Ionian Sea, there is much scenery to take in. The small villages have character of days of old. The people are friendly and helpful. Edjon the tour guide was excellent. His enthusiasm to share his country with others was infectious. Edjon was prepared, knowing all the information to enlighten the group about Albania. His outgoing personality, individual attention when needed, and small surprises he had planned along the way kept the trip interesting. Edjon is a top tier tour guide, that we were blessed to have in Albania.

A beautiful country with a colourful history, much of it red.

I was blown away by this trip to Albania. The country surpassed my expectations and the scenery was at times breath taking. You cover a lot of ground in the trip and so really are getting a flavour for the places visited rather than having lots of time at each to fully explore. It was fascinating to find out more about the history of Albania and to see a country that is very much driving forward in it's development albeit in the early stages. Tirana feels like a youthful, vibrant capital city with the usual cacophony of car horns and sounds of a major city. As soon as you are out of Tirana you see the more traditional side of Albania, however everywhere we went there were signs of development and construction. The people of Albania were on the whole lovely and welcoming. With just the smallest effort to use an Albanian word or two, people's faces would light up and be happy to have conversations with you about where you are from etc. Our group had a particularly moving encounter with an elderly man who lived through the communist era in a concentration camp and had such a beautiful and emotional take on his Muslim faith, and how to live in peace with others. The food and drink was excellent overall and was great to explore the Albanian beers and wines, alongside the food.