Dumps near hotels and lack of service: 7 reasons not to visit Albania

Apart from relatively low prices and beautiful mountain and sea scenery, this country has nothing to boast of.

The fact is that many tourists who have visited it write negative travel reviews. OBOZREVATEL decided to find out what are the main disadvantages and why Albania may ruin the whole vacation.

1. If you did not initially go to Albania to enjoy the "other Europe", then you will be disappointed. There are ruined buildings, gray-black bare mountains without forests and greenery, barracks where poor people live, graffiti on fences and forgotten bunkers from the communist era literally right near the hotels.

2. There are few places in Albania where you want to take pictures until your phone runs out of memory. There are some, but to find a truly picturesque place, you need to rent a car and drive a long way along the beach. Even at famous resorts, for example, from Sarandë to Vlorë, there is nothing to see.

3. There are no broken roads in Albania. However, some of them are extremely narrow and steep. For example, in the mountains. There are also no tunnels for cars and few gas stations, which makes it difficult to travel long distances on the serpentine road.

4. The official currency of Albania is the Albanian lek, with the exchange rate to the euro now being ~99 leks for 1 euro. Few travelers know about this local currency, so traders often take advantage of it. For example, at gas stations and markets, Albanians charge tourists in euros and get a good deal, often two or even three times more expensive than the original price in leks.

5. You should not go to the country only for a beach vacation, as you may be out of luck, and the beach at your hotel will be dirty and small. Albania is designed to combine a seaside vacation with active travel by car or excursions.

However, if you do not have a car, you will have to travel by old buses without air conditioning. This is frustrating given that you need to drive at least 6 hours through a mountain serpentine from Tirana airport to the coastal resorts.

6. In Albania, it makes no sense to take evening dresses, suits, bags and shoes, as there are no fashionable restaurants and shops in this country where you can walk around and buy something. In addition, you should also avoid local alcoholic beverages, as the lion's share of alcohol in the country is genuine.

7. There is no such service as in Egypt or Turkey. Hotels are mostly staffed by local youth under the age of 25. Some reviewers note that some of them flirt with vacationers and even swim in the pool on Sundays.