An odd few days making the way across Northern Albania

Nature
The wow factor for nature - does it show nature at its best? Doesn't need to be the wildebeest migration or diving with hundreds of hammerheads. Rather make you pause as you realise just how awesome the natural world can be
3
Culture
How much does this experience showcase some of the better and finer things that us humans can offer? Sure, it can be ancient ruins and renaissance churches, but it can also be festivals or soaking up some of the great modern cities of the world
3
Fun factor/activity
Very simple - was it fun? This is usually linked in with doing some kind of activity - i mean, walking along some cliffs is nice, but paragliding from them, now that is fun. Its a vastly underrated factor in a truly great experience
3
Avoid the crowds
Big tour groups and being surrounded by loud fellow tourists can sap the life out of even the greatest of travel experiences. This score is to reflect just how much you can avoid this. But. . . The score also takes into account if the crowds actually add to the experience, such as with a party town or a bustling local market
6
World famous
How world famous is the experience?
3
unique
How hard is it to have a similar experience in other places round the world?
5
Overall TE Score
The overall travel experiences score:  fun factor + avoid the crowds + (best of nature or culture) + (best of world famous or unique). Then convert into a score out of 100
42 *What the scores mean and where do they come from
RANKING
How this travel experience ranks compared to all the other experiences on this site, based on the travel experience (te) score
408th/454
Bottom 10%
continent
Europe
country
Albania
Length of time
3-4 days
Typical daily price
This gives you a rough idea of the daily price based on 2 people travelling where they can split costs like accommodation. It excludes travel there and back, and factors in inflation the numbers in brackets show the price range for the full time of the experience (so not necessarily daily). It is a range to reflect different budget vs higher end
$100 ($100-$450 in 2020 prices)
Time of year visited
July
Primary Tags
Click on any of the tags to see all travel experiences with the same tag
All Tags
Wow Factor
The wow factor reflects just how much you’re likely to say “wow”. As there’s a lot of experiences in the world, and a lot of wows, i’ve gone with a simple ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ to ⭐️ score, and a separate category for the truly "gash"
Gash
Summary

I spent 3 days passing through Albania on the way from Lake Ohrid in Macedonia to the coast of Montenegro and not sure I’d recommend it as a destination in its own right.  The main reason being that the surrounding countries seem to have so much more to offer.  The coast, whilst nice, cannot compete with the magnificent coastline of Montenegro or the nearby beaches in Greece; the interior is also nice, but it is a cut below the view you get over Lake Ohrid in Macedonia; and Tirana is ok to walk around but you’d never chose it over Sarajevo or the world famous Dubrovnik.  It gets points for sheer randomness, for example the countryside is littered with 170,000 bunkers to help ward off potential invasion, but overall I’d put it down the list when it comes to places to visit in the Balkans

  • If you are keen though on a trip around this part of the world with its stunning castles and old towns, and some of the best coastline in the world all compactly housed within the Western Balkans’ 8 countries, see my 2-3 week itinerary for the highlights and general tips for this part of the world, –3 week trip around the Balkans States
Highlights
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#1 Checking out the main sites in central Tirana

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#2 Driving through the hills near the border with Macedonia

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#3 Spotting some of the 170,000 super random bunkers spread out all across the country

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#4 Wandering through the actually quite pretty tree-lined streets in suburban Tirana

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#5 Staying in Shkodra to see the . . . er . . .mosque I suppose

Experiences nearby

The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences

Score Detail

The scores above are the real point of this site.

Over 20+ years and 100+ countries, I’ve tried to rank the world’s best travel experiences — from genuinely mind-blowing ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to the properly gash.

Every one of the 500+ places on this site has both a Wow Factor rating and a more analytical Travel Experience (TE) score based on the things that actually make travel memorable.

If you're curious about the thinking behind it, head to the About page.

Otherwise, explore the map above or on the Home page and see which places truly deliver maximum wow.

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