As the name suggests this is a bare essentials tour for fully independent travellers. As such it is devised to be the most budget tour showing the highlights of Albania by providing clients with an itinerary, a modern vehicle and a safe driver with conversational language skills, who will only follow the outlined itinerary and its suggested stops. All other extra elements such us; additional days or visits, better standard hotels, a guide who is also the driver, meals and more can be tailored to the clients need at additional costs.
Location: Albania
Duration: 5 days - 4 nights
Pick up at Tirana airport and transfer to Vlora. On the way we stop to the ancient city of Apollonia situated on the famous Via Egnatia - one of the most important cities in Roman times. The Roman Emperor Augustus Octavian studied here. Afterwards we continue to Vlora, the town of Albania’s Independence for overnight.
After an early breakfast we depart for Saranda. Drive on the spectacular Albanian Riviera looking down at the Ionian Sea. Breathtaking sceneries await us at the Llogara pass - 1000 m above sea level. We continue on to Saranda, to visit the ancient city of Butrint a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The city was first settled by Greek colonists and was continuously inhabited for centuries forming archaeological layers of passing civilizations. It is situated in a beautiful peninsula among dense vegetation. Overnight in Saranda.
After early breakfast we drive to Berat. Stop in Gjirokastra a UNESCO site and museum town with beautiful and very distinct architecture. Visit the Fortress which is used as the venue for the National Festival of Folk Song and Dance and has an Arms’ Museum with weapons from WWII. Next we visit the Ethnographic Museum which is also the house where the Albanian dictator was born in. We depart for Berat one of the most attractive characteristic towns in Albania and a UNESCO protected site. In the afternoon explore the city of Berat independently. Overnight in Berat.
After breakfast we visit the Castle and the Onufri Museum. Berat castle is of particular interest as people still live within its walls in their traditional houses, as have their ancestors for centuries. The castle used to have over many churches of which 7 still remain, including one turned into Onufri Museum. Onufri was an Albanian Icon master painter of the 16th century who painted many orthodox churches in Albania and Greece. After this interesting experience we depart for Durres one of the oldest (founded in 627 B.C.) and most important cities in Albania. We take a sightseeing tour of the Amphitheatre situated in the middle of the modern city in an inhabited area. Continue to Tirana and take a sightseeing tour there. Overnight in Tirana.
After breakfast, free to explore until time of transfer to Airport. End of our services.
Best months: March, April, May, June, September, October, November
Note: The above dates are for orientation purposes, to help people book on the same dates, and pay the cheaper price. However we will run this tour on other dates as per clients’ requests.
Buonasera,
siamo rimasti molto contenti dell'organizzazione del tour, sia a livello di hotels che per quanto riguarda l'autista. L'albergo di Tirana, sebbene in una posizione curiosa tra i palazzi del quartiere, ma in centro, è stato di nostro gradimento, sia per la sistemazione della camera, che per la colazione, buona e abbondante. L'hotel di Valona era sì lontano dal centro, ma con una vista eccezionale sulla baia e una camera molto grande e spaziosa, con un bel balcone. Abbiamo anche usufruito della piscina, da cui tuttavia proveniva musica un po' alta nel pomeriggio e nella sera tardi dopo mezzanotte. L'hotel di Saranda (un po' particolare nello stile e nel decoro) non era troppo lontano dal centro, ma con buona sistemazione della camera e con una buona colazione. L'ultimo hotel, quello a Berat, era molto carino essendo in stile con l'architettura cittadina, e anch'esso molto confortevole, in pieno centro, con un ottimo ristorante sulla terrazza e una buona colazione. Riguardo all'autista, siamo rimasti veramente molto contenti di Klodian, sempre disponibile e gentile con noi, simpatico e molto colloquiale: ha sempre cercato di portarci nei luoghi migliori da cui partire per le visite delle tappe, consigliandoci anche ottimi posti in cui mangiare. Anche gli spostamenti in taxi sono stati rapidi e puntuali. In generale, come già detto, siamo rimasti molto soddisfatti del tour e del vostro Paese. Nel caso fossimo intenzionati a esplorare anche la parte nord e il Montenegro in un prossimo futuro, saremo ben felici di ricontattarvi. Grazie ancora e a presto! Buona serata!
Thanks the other day for arranging our tour in Albania. We all had wonderful days there and found a lot of Albanian beauty. Especially, thanks are due to your terrific driver, Mr. Bardyl, for his perfect escort throughout the journey. Our members now wish to give him big regards with message below and a few photos as attached. We hope to visit your country again someday. Your superb driving skills on the bumpy roads made our trip very comfortable. We also enjoyed tasty Albanian cuisine thanks to your good choice of restaurants. The ice cream you treated us in Tirana was too much but tasty to make us eat up, remaining us a piece of good memories during the trip. For such a short period, I thank you for sharing enjoyable time with us.
Hope you are fine. First of all I would like to THANK YOU, for the brilliant co-operation and you gave a chance to my customers to experience Albania. As per tour leader and participators they had a great time. Sure, I know we will continue our work. Already I have one group next year. Send me some offers for winter time as well. Thank you, Best regards,
With a little delay I would like to thank you on behalf of our managers - Irina and Roumen Naydenovi for the wonderful organization of their trip. The whole group liked the program, the hotels and had a great time in Albania. Please, also send their special thanks to the guide in Tirane. Thank you once again for your good assistance. Looking forward for our future cooperation. Best Regards,
I enjoyed my trip to Albania very much and I hope that I will be able to return some day. I especially appreciated the special effort that Berti made to show me some bunkers....I will never forget it as it will be one of the very special memories from all of my travels! It was amazing how quickly he became friends with the farmer who had the bunkers on his land. And then the farmer wanted us to join him for coffee and I was invited to pick peaches with the farmer's son....this truly personalized the trip from an ordinary tour and added a special dimension to the trip. The visit to Berat was very interesting but I will never forget the bunkers! The day trip on Saturday was also very interesting as there was much to see in Kruja. The photos of the George W. Bush cafe have gotten much attention from my friends here at home. Durres was a bit of a disappointment as there was not much to see beyond a quick look at the amphitheater. I hope that these quick thoughts are helpful. Thank you again for a very memorable visit to Albania!
My son and I greatly enjoyed our very short visit to Albania, and want to thank you for your part in arranging this. We were particularly lucky with the weather and even luckier with the guide you chose for our trip to Kruje. He was not only knowledgeable on the ancient history of Albania but also very informative on more recent events. I would be grateful if you would email me his full name so that we can recommend him to any of our friends who follow in our footsteps.
