Most Inspirational Moment
Visiting pretty Ottoman cities such as Berat and Gjirokaster. Learning about the country's history and troubled past and travelling along the Vjosa Valley in the south - very scenic. Albania is 70% mountains and is very scenic, whether you are the mountains and viewing the plains below, or driving through the plains with the mountain ranges around you. Meeting local people and visiting family homes.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Excellent
Advice for Potential Travellers
Currency - as previous reviews mention, credit cards are not accepted in a lot of establishments, in particular restaurants and shops I visited. In a lot of places we visited, Euros were accepted and some items were in LEK and Euros. You can't buy LEK in the UK, you need to change money when you are there. The best rate was in an exchange bureau not far from the hotel in Tirana, which our guide (Armir) showed us. There is a bureau at the airport on arrival but the rate is probably not very good, as is usually the case in airports - follow your tour leader's advice re exchanging money, you don't need to change cash immediately. I exchanged £100 into LEK on the first day in Tirana and it lasted me throughout the holiday, including tips. I used credit card for paying for the meal in Hotel Panorama in Kruje on my last night, as I had used up the last of my LEK that day. I also took Euros and used those where they were accepted, in particular souvenir shops in some places and towards the end of the holiday when my supply of LEK was very low. You could even tip the guide and driver in Euros if you run out of LEK. Essentially, don't change large sum of money when you arrive, see how you go and then change small sums as and when, and take Euros with you as you can always use them on a future holiday to another country. Any unspent LEK you can always exchange at the airport on leaving the country, before going through security. At the time, 100 LEK was about the same as one Euro, so easy conversion rate with your Euros or when buying anything. Prices in Albania are a lot lower than in other European countries and eating/drinking out is fairly cheap - £8 approximately for a pizza (and it was large) and two soft drinks! Ice creams in Berat were very cheap in cafes etc (about 35p for one scoop), some cities charged a lot more - especially in Durres where they were about £1a scoop. Tourist Information - For pre-trip reading and for reference during the trip, take a good guidebook with you (I took the Bradt guide to Albania). Tourist information leaflets and maps are few and far between and a lot of the hotels we visited didn't have either. Tourist information offices, when open, don't really have a lot of info compared with other European cities. The tour leader gave orientation walking tours in some cities or towns; we arrived at and visited a lot of the towns and cities late in the day so you don't get much time in them- we only had one group evening meal (the final night) so we made good use of our time after any orientation tour by exploring by ourselves (we found everywhere very safe to do so). Group meals were always at lunch times so you didn't really need a meal in the evening some times, Note the lunch included at village of Dhoksat was plentiful and excellent, you certainly won't want to eat a lot (if anything) in the evening back in Gjirokaster - note the meal prepared and cooked by the family in Dhoksat is vegetarian - tell your tour leader early on in the holiday if you have food allergies or dietary requirements, or would like meat/fish - as Armir had contacted them well beforehand in this respect.
