- Visit Unesco World Heritage sites: Pogradec, Butrint, Berat and Gjirokaster
- Journey through the beautiful Albanian Riviera
- Discover historic monuments, including Durres Amphitheatre and Korce Museum of Medieval Arts
- Explore Llogora National Park
![Highlights of Albania](https://res.cloudinary.com/enchanting/q_80,f_auto,c_lfill,x_w_mul_0.37,y_h_mul_0.47,g_xy_center,w_360,h_270/exodus-web/2018/06/Old-city-of-Berat-1.jpeg)
Highlights of Albania
Reviews
Add your own reviewVery scenic & nice towns
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.
Most Inspirational Moment
The mountain scenery (Day 4?) was outstanding. The home-hosted lunch was a true delight - best food on the trip, gracious hosts, and beautiful garden. Two days/nights in Berat was the highlight.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Artur took good care of us and was passionate about sharing all aspects of his country. Very knowledgable, helpful, personable, and gracious.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Just go! Great destination for solo travelers (ease and comfort of exploring on own day or night, any town). Sturdy hiking shoes extremely handy for the cobblestone streets and light hikes. Favorite Albanian souvenier (beautiful hand-made purse) and friendliest shopkeeper I've ever met was in Kruje towards top of bazaar near castle - Alida Teta.
Full on tour
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.
Most Inspirational Moment
The local lunch prepared for us was just lovely so fresh with all the vegetables from their garden.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Artur Lumani our guide was very knowledgeable and always there for us. He really was a pleasure to have as a guide!
Advice for Potential Travellers
Some of the accommodation is a bit dated but they are all clean. Breakfasts in some places were poor but Artur always supplied us with fresh cherries which were delicious...
A journey through history
Very enjoyable with a good variety of different sights
Thoughts on Group Leader
Very good.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Sit back and enjoy! Hotels and food better than expected.
Communism meets the Costas
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.
Most Inspirational Moment
The level of the un-explored archaeology
Thoughts on Group Leader
Talked and talked, I gnawed my leg off. Seriously, very passionate and knowledgeable , but seemingly unable to filter the main memorable points and a tendency to lose the 'hook' within the torrent of information. Very helpful most of the time. The goalposts also tended to move, resulting in wrong place, wrong time.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Hotel rooms are very variable, be prepared to take the rough with the smooth, singles beware you will get more than your fair share of the rough. Beware of rooms that open directly onto stairs. Travel in the spring when it is cooler, June is too hot, the mountains way well still be snow capped in the early spring. Go soon, this country is developing very rapidly and will lose its' charm very quickly once the 'all inclusives' start to move in.
Amazing country
A very busy tour which took us to all the major sites and through beautiful countryside
Most Inspirational Moment
Seeing the beautiful scenery and the fascinating historic towns. The museum of Medieval Art in Korçë was stunning. I’m not a huge fan of Icons but this museum was excellent.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Artur is a lovely man, very well organised and attentive. Unfortunately his English was difficult to understand when he was explaining the history, archaeology etc.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Shoes with decent non-slip soles are essential for the slippery cobbled streets. A trekking pole useful especially if it is raining.
Never again
Constant dire room issues ruined it. Wrong emphasis on trip content, notes inaccurate, bad hotel and restaurant choices. Leader elusive, finally his response: “you’re on the wrong holiday”. Lived in 8, school 4, business 7 + holidays = 44 countries visited but Albania broke me.
Most Inspirational Moment
Berat's mosque. Imam polite, informative, ceiling of the annexe was out of this world, exquisite.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Offhand, I blew a fuse having to constantly fight my own room battles, he told me to "calm down". It Just got worse. I wasn't last to book but was treated as an inconvenience, after-thought. At one point genuinely thought I would be sleeping on the bus or at a different hotel as debate raged for 1/2 hour, last to get key every time.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Choose a different country, strongly suggest review choice of tour operator.
We would like to thank you for your review, Linda, although we are genuinely apologetic that your Exodus holiday in Albania was so disappointing. We usually find that our leaders and customers get along well and that any issues raised during the trip are quickly and effectively dealt with so we were surprised to receive your feedback on this subject. We acknowledge that there were areas where your leader could have been better, including communication, and we arranged further training for him to ensure this does not impact future customers. Otherwise, we are confident that this tour met our overall expectations, evidenced by the generally positive reviews we received from your group.
Highlights of Albania
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.
Most Inspirational Moment
The visits to the small villages of Lin and Voskopoje, and the visits to the family houses for lunch in Dhoksat and morning tea in Berat. These all gave a great insight into the lives of Albanians over generations.
Thoughts on Group Leader
The group leader was very knowledgeable and had a lot of information to pass on. He was very caring about the group. It would have been helpful to have more definite instructions on plans and timeframe when visiting sites so we knew exactly what time and where to meet. Lunch breaks could have been shorter. The driver was very skilled and his driving on difficult roads was appreciated by the group.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Read up about Albanian history before travelling and if possible spend time in Tirana first as this tour has only 1 morning there.
Fascinating Albania
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
Most Inspirational Moment
Goodness! What to say? I enjoyed so much of the trip... the mountains, seeing all the amazing produce growing all around in the country side, the remaining Ottoman houses and mosques and the few Byzantine churches that survived the communist destruction, the old towns like Kruje and Girokastra. The Icon museum in Korce. Also hearing from the owners of two fascinating Ottoman houses we visited whose families had managed (just) to keep their homes during the communist regime.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Our group leader was hard working and very well organised and the trip ran smoothly. We always had interesting stops en route, and good places to eat. However his level of English was not what is expected of a professional tour guide, and he had particular difficulties in pronunciation and the use of tenses which at times caused difficulty in understanding. But he was a nice guy who was very knowledgable, punctual and worked hard for us.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Enjoy being in a country on the cusp of being on the tourist map. So some museums are still being refurbished and some coastal areas are not yet highly developed. Enjoy the amazing local produce but dont expect your dishes to necessarily arrive when you expect them! Enjoy the countryside - drink from mountain springs and bathe in hot springs. Enjoy visiting castles and ancient sites. You will see so much on this trip.
highlights of Albania
I travelled independantly with a small group of friends on the 24th May and joined the group in the Tirana hotel.
The itinerary was excellent and the hotels, bus and our driver were all very good. The only thing that let the trip down was the guide and this had a very detri.ental effect on our holiday.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Our group leader,Arthur, spike very poor English, often translating things word for word (FROM Italian or Albanian) .this made it very difficult to understand especially as his pronunciation was so poor. He constantly repeated the same facts which became very waring and talked almost all the time on the bus even when asked for some quiet ti.e. When people stopped listening he shouted louder and several times he snapped at some of the group. He became angry when people wanted to visit sights and museums and I found myself avoiding him at all times.
Advice for Potential Travellers
this was an interesting trip if you had a different guide.
Albania trip May’24
Beautiful country which is still updating infrastructure for a booming tourist industry. A lot of the past Ottoman buildings may be swept away in some of the overdevelopment that is happening.
Albania’s self sufficiency of fruit and vegetables means you are always eating local and the quality and taste reflect that.
Most Inspirational Moment
Traveling through the spectacular Gramos Mountains next to the Vjosa River between Erseke and Permet. Skenduli House in Gjirokaster was a particularly interesting visit. The host, whose family had lived in this house for many generations, spoke excellent English and explained the historical uses of the different rooms including for weddings.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Our Group Leader was a lovely man who worked very hard and had good knowledge of Albanian history and culture, unfortunately his level of English was not good so it became difficult to follow what he was saying. He also felt he should be constantly giving us information when travelling on the mini bus which led to a lot of repetition which also became trying. At some sights we would preferred to read the English information boards ourselves but the Group Leader insisted on doing this for us.
Advice for Potential Travellers
The Albanians are friendly and helpful but I would visit before the tourist boom starts to dominate the culture. Most of the museums we wanted to visit were closed for repairs or renovations. It didn’t actually look like much work was happening so I would check this out before going.
Start
Finish
Availability
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Friday Friday
06 Sep 2024 06 Sep 2024
Sunday Sunday
15 Sep 2024 15 Sep 2024
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Land Only Trip Price £ 1349 £ 1799
Optional Single Supplement +£ 200
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View Trip NotesFriday Friday
13 Sep 2024 13 Sep 2024
Sunday Sunday
22 Sep 2024 22 Sep 2024
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Land Only Trip Price £ 1199 £ 1749
Optional Single Supplement +£ 200
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View Trip NotesFriday Friday
20 Sep 2024 20 Sep 2024
Sunday Sunday
29 Sep 2024 29 Sep 2024
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View Trip NotesFriday Friday
27 Sep 2024 27 Sep 2024
Sunday Sunday
06 Oct 2024 06 Oct 2024
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View Trip NotesFriday Friday
04 Oct 2024 04 Oct 2024
Sunday Sunday
13 Oct 2024 13 Oct 2024
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+£ 200
Available upon Request
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This departure is guaranteed to go ahead but there are only 1 space left. Do not delay your booking!
View Trip NotesFriday Friday
11 Oct 2024 11 Oct 2024
Sunday Sunday
20 Oct 2024 20 Oct 2024
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+£ 200
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View Trip NotesFriday Friday
25 Oct 2024 25 Oct 2024
Sunday Sunday
03 Nov 2024 03 Nov 2024
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View Trip NotesFriday Friday
21 Mar 2025 21 Mar 2025
Sunday Sunday
30 Mar 2025 30 Mar 2025
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11 Apr 2025 11 Apr 2025
Sunday Sunday
20 Apr 2025 20 Apr 2025
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02 May 2025 02 May 2025
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11 May 2025 11 May 2025
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23 May 2025 23 May 2025
Sunday Sunday
01 Jun 2025 01 Jun 2025
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06 Jun 2025 06 Jun 2025
Sunday Sunday
15 Jun 2025 15 Jun 2025
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20 Jun 2025 20 Jun 2025
Sunday Sunday
29 Jun 2025 29 Jun 2025
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Optional Single Supplement +£ 220
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View Trip NotesFriday Friday
29 Aug 2025 29 Aug 2025
Sunday Sunday
07 Sep 2025 07 Sep 2025
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Land Only Trip Price £ 1349 £ 1849 Book with £ 337 deposit Book with £ 462 deposit
Optional Single Supplement +£ 220
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This departure is available for new bookings, and will be guaranteed to go ahead once it reaches minimum numbers. Please click Continue to proceed with booking or contact our Sales team for assistance.
View Trip NotesFriday Friday
05 Sep 2025 05 Sep 2025
Sunday Sunday
14 Sep 2025 14 Sep 2025
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Land Only Trip Price £ 1349 £ 1849 Book with £ 337 deposit Book with £ 462 deposit
Optional Single Supplement +£ 220
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This departure is available for new bookings, and will be guaranteed to go ahead once it reaches minimum numbers. Please click Continue to proceed with booking or contact our Sales team for assistance.
View Trip NotesFriday Friday
12 Sep 2025 12 Sep 2025
Sunday Sunday
21 Sep 2025 21 Sep 2025
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Land Only Trip Price £ 1349 £ 1849 Book with £ 337 deposit Book with £ 462 deposit
Optional Single Supplement +£ 220
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This departure is available for new bookings and has reached the minimum number of passengers required to go ahead. Please click Continue to proceed with booking or contact our Sales team for assistance.
View Trip NotesFriday Friday
19 Sep 2025 19 Sep 2025
Sunday Sunday
28 Sep 2025 28 Sep 2025
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Land Only Trip Price £ 1349 £ 1849 Book with £ 337 deposit Book with £ 462 deposit
Optional Single Supplement +£ 220
Availability
This departure is available for new bookings, and will be guaranteed to go ahead once it reaches minimum numbers. Please click Continue to proceed with booking or contact our Sales team for assistance.
View Trip NotesFriday Friday
26 Sep 2025 26 Sep 2025
Sunday Sunday
05 Oct 2025 05 Oct 2025
Availability
Guaranteed (Available)
Land Only Trip Price £ 1349 £ 1849 Book with £ 337 deposit Book with £ 462 deposit
Optional Single Supplement +£ 220
Availability
This departure is available for new bookings and has reached the minimum number of passengers required to go ahead. Please click Continue to proceed with booking or contact our Sales team for assistance.
View Trip NotesFriday Friday
10 Oct 2025 10 Oct 2025
Sunday Sunday
19 Oct 2025 19 Oct 2025
Availability
Available
Land Only Trip Price £ 1349 £ 1849 Book with £ 337 deposit Book with £ 462 deposit
Optional Single Supplement +£ 220
Availability
This departure is available for new bookings, and will be guaranteed to go ahead once it reaches minimum numbers. Please click Continue to proceed with booking or contact our Sales team for assistance.
View Trip NotesFriday Friday
24 Oct 2025 24 Oct 2025
Sunday Sunday
02 Nov 2025 02 Nov 2025
Availability
Available
Land Only Trip Price £ 1349 £ 1849 Book with £ 337 deposit Book with £ 462 deposit
Optional Single Supplement +£ 220
Availability
This departure is available for new bookings, and will be guaranteed to go ahead once it reaches minimum numbers. Please click Continue to proceed with booking or contact our Sales team for assistance.
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