7 independent reviews for Albania food and wine holiday
Reviews for Albania food and wine holiday
Steve Springett review 6 Oct 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Our Guide was fantastic. It's had to name a memorable place, as all the destinations were memorable in their own way.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Consider staying in some destinations for 2 nights.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Local people and the economy4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
10 our of 10Kate Thurman review 3 Oct 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Albanian Alps, Boat ride Koman to Fierza, Butrint, Mesopotam, Gjirokastra, especially the castle, Berat, Tirana restaurants and Communist museums, Mirror beach near Saranda2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Driving is difficult and stressful. A lot of badly surfaced, narrow bendy roads and reckless local drivers. You need an automatic 4 wheel drive if you are going to the Alps3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Benefitted a lot of local businesses4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Excellent.Carmel Ann Daly review 25 Sep 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The fabulous history over the millennia. The fantastic Albanian food. The friendliness and niceness of the Albanians2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Book through this operator and especially Nicolla our guide3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Absolutely- we went off the beaten track many times and got to meet locals through Nicolla4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Utterly fabulous, enjoyable and informative and deliciousRebecca Walker-Buckton review 21 Jun 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
We LOVED the byrek cooking class at Bujtina Cakoli in Rehove. We also loved the wine tasting and lunch at Vila Shehi, everything about our visit to Berat, touring Shkoder with a local graffiti artist who showed us her work in addition to the history, stopping at the restaurant where the menu was 'whatever the owner caught when fishing that morning', seeing Butrint, the Blue Eye, and Gjirokaster, eating at Era Blloku in Tirana, visiting the Bunk'ARt 2 museum, and just overall how much work our guide, Ermal, put in to make sure we got to do everything we wanted to! He was a true treasure, a knowledgeable guide, a safe responsible driver, and someone who is genuinely excited to show off his country to new people. He also knows half the population of Albania, from what we could tell!2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Albania is pretty mountainous, so the roads are very winding and steep, be prepared! The views are amazing, so it's worth it, but it's worth knowing before you go. I'd also suggest booking into Albanian Night in Tirana if you can stay an extra evening: it's sponsored by the government and the EU as a way to promote and preserve traditional village music (including polyphonic), dance, and handicrafts, which are easy to access if you've got family in a village but a lot harder for a tourist. It's a great time but it's only been open for a couple of months so our company didn't mention it (I think they believe it's cheesy), but when flight timing meant we had to stay for an extra evening we found it, and honestly, it was worth staying another night for! They had village costumes for everyone to wear, and we 'met' various attendees to a wedding that had a lot of drama, with excellent performances by people who clearly care a lot about what they're doing.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
I absolutely feel that the vast majority of our money went to local people, mostly to emerging local businesses, and we were really happy to see that. From that perspective we particularly enjoyed our tour in Korçe, where the guide was a member of the city council and was particularly able to speak on their work to encourage entrepreneurship in the historic quarter and their struggle to conserve and protect the architectural and cultural heritage of the area without making it into a tourist theme park.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
We had a fantastic time! I would recommend the local tour operator to anyone considering booking a holiday there, and I am very pleased with Responsible Travel for vetting and choosing them.Michele Piastro review 20 Jun 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The local operator provided exceptional support and service, allowing us to focus on the country rather on logistics of where to go, what to see, etc. It was an easy trip- important to elders like myself who don’t want hassle or unpleasant surprises. Accommodations and meals were exceptional.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. The staff responds promptly, honestly, thoroughly. If you want to see Albania through native eyes this is a company I highly recommend.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Absolutely. Staying at the farming cooperatives and smaller privately owned places supported the locals.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
This is the tops, and I’ve been traveling for 60+++ years!Sarah Amirthaseelan review 10 May 2025
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
Staying in the castle at Berat was truly memorable. The Blue Eye wildlife reserve was a peaceful and beautiful place. The food, the wine and the Albanian people. Our guide was very knowledgable and made sure we had a wonderful trip.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
Do your research and be clear what your sightseeing preferences are, as the trip is tailored to you. There is so much to see.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
Yes. We enjoyed staying in local hotels and eating in local restaurants. We enjoyed avoiding the tourist areas and getting a feel for the authentic Albanian way of life.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Fantastic. The operator went above and beyond. They tailored for our needs and preferences and we felt we had a VIP service throughout the trip.Bob Turner review 20 Oct 2024
1. What was the most memorable or exciting part of your holiday?
The visit to Berat where we had an excellent guided tour and stayed in the spectacularly positioned castle with an excellent dinner. The spectacular scenery of the North around Theth and Valbona was another highlight.2. What tips would you give other travellers booking this holiday?
We booked a private tour to meet our availability and specifications for where we would like to visit. Although we had an excellent driver(and general guide) the itinerary involved some long drives on roads that are challenging. Despite this, we visited some wonderful places of historical, cultural and scenic iinterst.3. Did you feel that your holiday benefited local people, reduced environmental impacts or supported conservation?
We used accommodation that benefited local people and ate locally sourced food & drink all of which were excellent. Adverse comments on the use of plastic bottles have been made before and the best solution seems to refill from large bottles. Two of the party were allocated a local guide for the Theth to Valbona walk but felt he did not provide a satisfactory service since he went ahead of the party and then told them to go ahead whilst he finished his drink.4. Finally, how would you rate your holiday overall?
Excellent introduction to a fascinating country and its people.Read the operator's response here:
Hello Bob,
Our tour operator team thank you very much for choosing us to organize the tour to Albania and we are very grateful for you taking the time to leave the nice review.
- Will take care in the future to optimize the stages of the itineraries, though it is quite a challenge, because of the highly mountainous part of the country.
- We are trying to include as much as we can local mountain guides, but need to work harder with them in order to be more conscious to the needs of the travellers. Thank you for pointing it out.
Wish you could visit us again, for the south eastern part of the country,
Best Regards to your family as well
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