Albania Bike Tour Reviews
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★★★★★ Julia Bouchard October 8, 2023Beautiful countryside
· Balkan Treasures
The countries we visited were awesome. The local tour operator left a lot to be desired. Before leaving the US we tried multiple times to download the gps routes onto our phones. Biketours.com stated they do not support the app we were supposed to use…..when we arrived in Trebinje our first day, none of us were able to see the routes…after phone calls with local operator, he walked us through using an app with his username and password-less than ideal. We eventually had the routes on our phones,but no way to mount phone on handlebars. Eventually we got one phone holder that immediately dropped the phone while spinning around!
Initially I was given a bike that was way too small. Tour operator wanted me to use it for the first day which had the longest climb of the week. Eventually he did supply a proper fitting bike that night. We never had anyone to check the bikes with us….
Many of the hotels were quite nice but when we were transferred to Stari Bar, the hotel owner said we did not have reservations. He gave us awful rooms, over the kitchen noisey, sink that didn’t drain…..husband got food poisoning from the restaurant. Albania was disappointing because the lake was so dirty and riding in the city was dangerous The Balkans are awesome but the local tour operator was not up to the standard I expected and received on previous bike tours.com trips- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 3
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Families with teens
- Countries included in this tour?
- Croatia, Albania, Montenegro
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★★★★★ Kenneth (Doug) Mering October 2, 2023
Good trip but issues
· Balkan Treasures
Trouble with maps provided. Map did always start and stop at lodging location. Not always clear on th route on the map. Did not always feel safe on the road. Scenery was great. Enjoyed it but may not do another biketours trip without a lot more research on the routes safety.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Croatia, Albania, Montenegro
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★★★★★ WSTraveler October 22, 2019An Unusual Experience Not to Be Repeated
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
The sag driver was great despite limited English in that he was always available to help in any way possible. The tour guide was good and worked very hard but was not good at listening to understand problems with the bikes and was at times totally dismissive. The difficulty of the ride was enormously underrated and BIkeTours was evasive about providing advanced information. The road conditions were in areas extremely poor and the advertised grades were just lies. BikeTours advertised the trip as a max of 16 riders, although there were 20, considered a small group by the guide. Again, less than honest disclosure.
The experience of the country was worth the trip. It was a fun collection of international participants. The accommodations were varied but appropriate to the locale and part of the fun. Food was good and the guide worked to arrange options for dietary restrictions. The sag support was excellent and eager to support the riders. The guide did a good job of keeping the group together and providing navigation guidance despite lack of any cue sheets or gps routes.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept 23 - Oct 2
- How many tours have you completed?
- lots
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Much harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Beth W. October 31, 2024
Great experience!
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
This was my first bike tour and time spent in Albania! Overall great experience with a wonderful group. Our guide and driver kept us on point each day to see the beautiful Albanian countryside including mountains and beaches. The food was healthy and good. Several of the routes were on busy roads with narrow shoulders for cyclists. The daily rides were challenging with a lot of rolling hills and climbing. Would be smart to highly consider an e-bike. Albania has a lot of opportunity to welcome tourism post-communism.
- What was the date of your tour?
- October 2022
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ David19 September 29, 2018
A vigorous adventure
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
This is an excellent tour for anyone who wants to do a lot of climbing far from the beaten tourist path with the leadership of an excellent, superbly organized cyclist.
On the other hand, it is not a great way to get to know a lot about Albanian culture or history. Even though we went to some sites of great historical and cultural significance, we didn't have much time there, and promises that we would have a guided tour were not always kept. I'd have liked to have had a rest day in Gjirokaster; it has a lot of history to explore.
This tour has lots of climbs, some of them quite steep. The bikes provided by the operator didn't have low enough gears, so most tour members walked some of the climbs. The tour operator has told me he has recognized this problem and has already ordered more suitable bikes for 2019.
The food was excellent in both quality and quantity, with very few exceptions. Most eating was family style. There were vegetarian options.
Our group was large--22 participants, six more than advertised--but so well organized that meals moved briskly.
All 22 of us regrouped several times each day on the road. This, plus the attentiveness of the guide and the sag driver, made it almost impossible to get lost, but it also meant the faster riders often waited for the laggards to arrive.
I liked the other riders. I think few whiners choose tours in the mountains of Albania.- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept. 13, 2018
- How many tours have you completed?
- More than ten.
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Mark Mering October 6, 2023
Nice trip through the Balkans
· Balkan Treasures
Very beautiful country. Nice people in all of the countries we visited. Hotels were nice. Too many transfers . Some of the roads had no shoulders and a lot of traffic and were not fun to ride on .
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 2
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- No
- Countries included in this tour?
- Croatia, Albania, Montenegro
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★★★★★ Kathy Dudley October 23, 2024
Eye opening tour
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
Biking through Albania was certainly an eye opening experience. Observing the development of the country following so many years of communism was eye opening for us. Riding through villages with donkeys and wheelbarrows onto major highways with tourist buses was quite a juxtaposition. The country is beautiful yet full of trash. The people were warm amd welcoming and made the trip a wonderful experience. Our guide amd driver were fun and efficient. We would recommend better bike repair equipment or back up bikes and a first aid kit. It would be nice to have tours with e-bikes separate from those with manual bikes to decrease the waiting and the pressure of those riding manual bikes to keep up.
- What was the date of your tour?
- October 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Bradford Pickett October 28, 2024
A Great bike ride
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
You might add an extra day in the middle of the ride for some R & R. But it was a great bike ride. The end of the tourist season everybody in Albania was a little tired. Or may that is the Albanian way. The hotels were ok we had scratching all night in the country when we stayed at the log cabins.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Lady Di October 9, 2019
Interesting trip
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
We had a wonderful international group with ages from early 40es to one man turning 78 on the trip. Learning about the history of Albania was very interesting and cycling to sites from BC era was fascinating. It was like someone turned the clock back in time. We stayed in a wide variety of places and all okay with several being very unique in a good way. Food was very good but watch out for the wine in small towns as it’s homemade and not very good but the beer was good. Bikes were okay and front shocks very appreciated. If in doubt get an ebike. Our leader,Ted, and the sag/bike driver were very skilled at leading us and taking card of the bikes.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 23-October 1st.
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Rhonda Peckham October 22, 2024
Sampler of Albania's beauty
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
The tour itself was well organized and lodging overall was pleasant and comfortable. While instructions and direction for the ride were made clear by the guide, the UNESCO sites were not explained as to their significance and designation. Understandably, the guide appeared fatigued and distracted with this the last tour of the year for him. Technical support for and repair for some of the equipment seemed to be an issue. One safety concern noted from the trip: Medical supplies and first aid skills that would adequately address injuries related to cycling seemed to be lacking and was a cause for concern in the event of an emergency.
- What was the date of your tour?
- October 2024
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Mary Patno October 17, 2024
Great Bike Tour
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
The bike tour brought us to places I would never have visited, so it was a great way to see Albania up close and personal. The hotels were a mixed bag and you never knew what to expect. Being a single I tended to get shorted; a room that smelled badly of wood smoke and not clean, another with no windows (and we were at the beach), another I had to share b/c of a shortage of rooms. Not entirely what I was expecting. However, the meals were great and healthy. Our guide was excellent and offered much history about Albania. The support guy was fantastic too, always at the ready when needed. I would recommend this trip, just don’t expect frills.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Sept-Oct
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers, Families with teens
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ MB 1 month ago
Albania welcomes you!
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
This was an enjoyable ride with some absolutely gorgeous mountain ranges and coastlines. There are no bike baths on this ride except for the first day. The rest of the time you are on roads with varying degrees of vehicle traffic. Rarely a car in sight in the country but they are constant along the coast and towns. Accommodations were relatively modest but clean. If you are looking for 4 star hotels and amenities it won't be on this trip. Every lodge had a continental breakfast, some were definitely better than others. The visit to the monastery of St. Naum was worth the extra ride the first day. 2nd day ride to Korçë was decent not overwhelming. However, thanks to a tip from Lilliana at the Hotel we had dinner at a delicious steak house called "Repulika". Off a little side street with not so great signage. Best meal of the whole trip. The best part of the day 3 ride to Sotire was the last 3 or 4 mile climb up into the forest. The cabins were a treat and being way out in the country was delightful. The ride to Permet was when the mountains came into full view. Beautiful ride. Would recommend riding to the Stone Bridge to check out the thermal pools which are about 4 miles past the lodging. The word thermal is a misnomer. If you have time, take a long walk past the bridge up through the canyon to get away from the crowd around the bridge. The ride to Gjirokaster was manageable and relatively car free. However when getting closer to town the vehicle traffic increased. Gjirokaster is a pretty touristy enclave. The castle is worth the visit if only for the views. Sarande & Himare were beautiful seaside towns. Sarande was larger and had more bustle to it. If you are planning a layover day you can take a day ferry over to Corfu. We prefered Himare, but the city center was a short bike ride from the hotel. All in all I would recommend this trip. It had a great range of topography from farmlands to forest to mountains to coastlines. I would highly recommend an ebike unless you are in superior shape. No fun pedaling with your head down for hours on end. Do your work outs at home. You're on vacation! Go now because in 10 years this will be a very different country
- What was the date of your tour?
- September
- How many tours have you completed?
- 9
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
-
★★★★★ Maureen Lander October 28, 2024
Albania is Beautiful!
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
As far as the biking in Albania, I'd give five-star, A-plus all the way. Beautiful scenery, nice roads with twists and turns to keep things interesting. Lots of uphill -- negated by e-bike -- but rewarded with fun, exhilarating downhills that went on forever and ever. Our fellow bikers were the best, interesting, fun people from all over. It was a true experience being in a country that's emerging from decades and decades of communist rule. They have a ways to go, I'd say, as far as customer service/attitude about tourists, but it looks like they're trying.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Colin Mable October 8, 2024
UNESCO Sites Albania Bike Tour
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
The Tour was very good. The Tour guide was excellent. Spoke perfect English and was very informative with sites along the way. His Assistant who followed us from behind was also excellent. The electric bikes were Giant in good condition and we had no problems and travelled 450km on the roads of Albania. My only issue was the meals at some locations were a bit light on and we felt hungry after the meals. It would have been good to supply some snacks along the rides each day. I was very glad I did the ride with an electric bike as there were lots of very big hills to travel through Albania. The electric bikes made the ride very enjoyable and gave you opportunity to observe the scenery rather than pushing hard to get up the hills.
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
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★★★★★ Nadine Janssens 2 months ago
Beautiful nature
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
Very nice scenery
Hotels at the coast were nice
We recomment the trip for nature not for gastronomy
Breakfast was difficult to eat- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2025
- How many tours have you completed?
- 40
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
-
★★★★★ Guy Levy September 11, 2023
Great trip with some annoying snags
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
We were a group of 8 members who did a self guided tour with e-bikes. the route of the tour exposed us to Albania's beautiful landscape, heritage and lovely and warm people. The route is quite challenging due to the mountainous terrain and we were glad that we chose to use e-bikes. All in all we really loved it. Yet, we encountered a few troublesome matters that with due attention can be solved.(i) we had numerous problems with the e-bikes, mostly related to chain falling w/o any reason, back cog-wheel that became loose etc., that ended with replacing two of our bikes and a number cases where on road assistance was required. We understood from comments made by the local agents that these had been common problems with the type of bikes we had been given, hence either bike maintenance needs improvement or a different bike brand should be used. (ii) A much greater portion of the tour then described in the website was on main roads with heavy traffic, which we felt made cycling not very safe and certainly not relaxing/enjoyable. (iii) The maps provided together with the e-files of the routes were not always consistent with actual conditions. A more frequent adaptation, of especially the e-routes, to actual roads conditions seems in order. (iv) the hotels provided could be somewhat upgraded. In many cases they were not up to a par with 3 star hotels in Europe (this had been our 9th cycling tour in Europe so we do have some experience).
- What was the date of your tour?
- August-September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 9
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
-
★★★★★ Patricia ONeill September 24, 2023
Albania September 2023
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
Good guides and routes. Somewhat unsatisfactory accommodations because on Day 5 and Day 9, there were not enough reserved hotel rooms, so 2 x I and another solo traveler had to share a room [and bathroom] because the hotel had given 1 of our rooms away. One night was tolerable, but not really acceptable 2 x. It was a large group with the majority of people on e-bikes but we spent a lot of time [sometimes almost an hour] waiting for the non-e bikers [no fault of theirs]. This put pressure on the non-e bikers, guide, and meant that we arrived at the hotels later than expected, with less downtime to enjoy the destination. Our guide was very good, but our group would have enjoyed more cultural and historical conversations since this was billed as the UNESCO tour.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
-
★★★★★ David Hodgson October 17, 2023
Challenging cycling
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
Physically challenging; 14 of 18 folks on our tour used an e-bike and were glad they made that choice. The guide was excellent and I would recommend the guided package rather than self guided, especially as the meals were included. Excellent scenery. We traveled in mid-September and the weather was comfortable, not too hot. The bikes were of good quality compared to those provided on other European bike tours.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 10
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
-
★★★★★ Stephanie H May 25, 2024
Such a beautiful country!
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
We had wonderful support from our guide and our driver. The food was delicious and it was a treat to experience the amazing terrain and sights. The hills could be strenuous at times and the diesel fumes unpleasant.
- What was the date of your tour?
- May 2024
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
-
★★★★★ Jeffrey S. 5 months ago
Albania Adventure
· UNESCO Sites of Albania
I'll start off by saying that overall I had a great trip. However, there were several things that were a disappointment. Starting with the good-the route, the scenery, and the group of people I was with were wonderful. The bad-the guide and the total number of people on the trip. The guide gave virtually no instructions when we first got our bikes. He spent a fair amount of time in the van rather than biking. He spent more time with his "assistant" (who was clearly his girlfriend) than he spent with guests. Except for in one city, he offered virtually no insight into the Albanian culture of the areas we visited. As for the number of people, there were 20 of us on the guided tour and there were another 8 people on the self-guided tour. The self-guided people stayed in the same hotels as us and that caused, on several occasions for the group of 20 to be split up into different hotels. One night in particular, our group was not only split up into two hotels, but I stayed in a separate house (hardly a hotel-more like a hostel) by myself. It was a very uncomfortable night. Had there been fewer than 28 people in total (guided plus self guided) on the trip, this would not have likely happened. Notwithstanding the above, I had a very good time but I chalk it up to the 19 other travelers in my guided group and the beautiful countryside we saw. One last thing-if you are not a seasoned cyclist-use an e-bike on this trip. Some of the hills are killers.
- What was the date of your tour?
- June 2025
- How many tours have you completed?
- 1
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
- Countries included in this tour?
- Albania
