Based on 56 experiences
Ahdrielle
Australia
I really liked this city, it was very vibrant and lively. Great food for good prices, friendly people. I arrived at 7:30pm and had to walk to my hostel from the bus stop which I would usually be a little worried about in the dark, but there were many young people walking around and I saw young women walking on their own and felt very safe. Do the free walking tour! It was extremely interesting and very informative. Our guide was very passionate and excited to share a bit of the history of Tiranë and also places for food and drink. House of Leaves was also very interesting. The city park is nice (although the lake is very swampy). The mosque is really beautiful to see as well.
Posted: September 3, 2024Experienced: July, 2024Natasha
Australia
Albania is an amazing country! So much great hiking, amazing people and hospitality, and great food! I lived in gjirkaster for 2 months and cannot recommend it enough. Please stay at stone city hostel if you go there, it is by far one of the best hostels I have ever been to and was so lucky to work there. The coast is also amazing. Himare and dhermi and even sarande. Tirana is a fascinating city with super cool cafe culture. The buses make it very easy to get around but i also hitch hiked and it was easy and safe to do so.
Posted: August 5, 2024Experienced: July, 2024Guljahon
United Arab Emirates
Amazing and safe country. We fell in love with nature and beauty of the country, the peacefulness of people of different religions living together. We used public transport around the country , and felt totally safe as a single mom traveling with 4 year old boy.
Posted: July 17, 2024Experienced: July, 2024Ece
Netherlands
Tirana, Berat, Gjirokaster, Sarande Lili’s restaurant in Berat is a must! Sweetest person serving home cooked meals in a tiny garden. We had the best eggplant dishes ever. We felt safe but again we were 3 women traveling together. People were very helpful, multiple times people went out of their ways to help us out. Also it helps a lot to learn some basic Albanian words, people were very welcoming.
Posted: June 25, 2024Remy
Belgium
Hitchhiking around, felt very safe. The Albanian people are amazing, super generous and the hostels were very homy, looking like your grandma house haha I would definitely recommend travelling there and tasting the Albanian cuisine.
Posted: June 14, 2024Experienced: June, 2024Me and my mom were traveling Albania for one week, we came by a plane to Tirana, rented a car and traveled along the coastline down all the way to Greece and then came back up to Tirana inland. During the whole week here we didn't feel unsafe or threatened, people were very friendly and helpful. The only negative experience was with the person in the rental company kiosk, who we believe ripped us off, but that's a story for another day. In the cities in the evening mostly men were outside, but they didn't seem dangerous. Overall experience was very good and we felt safe.
Posted: June 3, 2024Experienced: April, 2024I absolutely loved Albania!! The country is beautiful and the people there are all so kind and lovely and more than willing to help you with anything. It is a very cheap country (I paid like €12/15 for a night in a hostel on average). Also the food is cheap, although I must say it was a bit difficult finding vegetarian food while eating out. I travelled solo and there is no country where I felt more safe than Albania while traveling as a solo woman!!
Posted: May 31, 2024I felt very safe in Albania. Everywhere I went. I even hitchhiked, which was something I had never done alone in any other countries before! I recommend Tirana, Gjirokastër, Blue Eye, Ksamil, Butrint National Park. I would love to go back and visit more of the country. I found locals to be very nice, helpful and welcoming.
Posted: April 22, 2024Experienced: February, 2024I was a bit intimidated to go to Albania because people told me it was not safe, but I’m so glad I went anyway! Tirana was the first spot I ever solo travelled and I fell in love! It’s a really fascinating city and the people are so nice and happy to have you there as a tourist! I stayed at the Milingona City Center Hostel and loved it! Very pretty and chill! I walked to and from there at night and early morning alone and always felt safe!
Posted: April 3, 2024Hi everyone. Visiting Tirana has been a nice experience. It took only three days to visit it all and I felt quite safe, but I didn't go out during the night though. This is a feeling visiting around during the day time. There is a lot of history and it is a city worth if you like modern history.
Posted: March 30, 2024Experienced: February, 2024Based on 3 experiences
Based on 3 experiences
I walk at night in Tirana, and it is pretty safe, there have been catcalling before but it has minimised, men tend to catcall foreigners but its a small minority and they don’t really act on it. Central area is very safe.
Posted: August 3, 2024Tirana is a safe place overall in my experience. What I’m mostly negatively experiencing is verbal harassment by older men and (un)fortunately nothing outside “common”. They would make comments about my appearance and ask me out. I was never touched inappropriately or physically assaulted. Ive walked outside in different hours of the day, from 6am to 2am.
Posted: July 6, 2024based on 56 experiences
Albania is such a fantastic destination for backpackers. It has the Northern Alps which offers hiking routes such as Valbone to Theth. The blue eye is also located near Theth. Such a wonderful place offering crystal clear and freezing water. Down south there is the beach town on Himare (my favourite). Sarande also offers beaches but it is a port city good for partying. Berat in the centre is a fantastic old town lots of history and a great fort to hike up to
Posted: July 19, 2024Experienced: May, 2024JustineKaat
France
Shkoder is a very small city. People there are not used to many tourists (yet), especially in April. So we encountered some weird look, especially as a queer couple. Life is very cheap. The city center is not worth exploring more than 1 day in my opinion but the surroundings are nice (Shkoder's lake, Mesi Bridge, the castle for sunset).
Posted: June 18, 2024Experienced: March, 2024