When I first visited Albania in 2004, as a student, safe to say me and my 2 travel companions appeared to be the only tourist there.

Without direct flights from the UK (we had to fly from London via Italy), no hostels and few people that spoke English (as far as we encountered), safe to say Albania wasn’t considered pretty off the beaten track, one of the final frontiers for travel in Eastern Europe.

With 2 weeks in the country, we toured extensively from Tirana south and, not encountering a single other tourist on the way, it felt delightfully intrepid not to mention, incredibly affordable.

At that time Saranda had no hotels along the beach, Tirana had no companies offering city tours and in Butrint, archaeologists were still excavating!

Needless to say, Albania as changed since 2004 and is now well and truly on the travel radar.

A hotspot for those looking a cheaper spot than Greece or Croatia, but with the same amazing Ionian coastal colours and sandy beaches, from the mountain historic towns of Gjirokastër to the beautiful beaches of Ksamil – this county is only set to get more and more popular!

Learn more about visiting Albania in these posts…