Bike Tour Reviews UNESCO Sites Of Albania
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Guided from EUR € 1390
Self guided from EUR € 990
Description:
The highlights of this magical bike tour include three UNESCO sites, snow-capped mountains, inviting beaches on the Albanian Riviera, a genuine, untouched subsistence culture, and exceptionally friendly local people. Some say that visiting Albania is as…
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★★★★★ James S 4 days agoGreat trip
Great trip. Scenery is amazing. From high mountains to the sea! Most roads were low traffic (except in towns). The last day had a bit more traffic on the climb but wasn’t too bad. (When the tunnel opens there will be less automobile traffic)There is definitely a lot of climbing (some steep - 10%). So consider an e-bike unless you’re an avid cyclist. Food was good. No problems as a vegetarian. Hotels were good. No problems (a couple were really luxurious).
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2025
- How many tours have you completed?
- 4
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Faith M 4 days ago
Albania is gorgeous!
What a surprise to see the natural beauty of Albania by bicycle. We rode below snow capped peaks; through farmland; and along the Adriatic Coast. All of it was stunning. The riding was challenging and interesting without being too demanding. The bikes were very comfortable .Our guide was wonderful. He kept our bikes in tip top condition and kept his eye out for each one of us while riding. He shared his knowledge of Albania with us, and daily he recommended the best coffee and lunch stops. (We had an unguided trip). There was a variety of hotel styles and amenities, from basic to luxury.
- What was the date of your tour?
- April 2025
- How many tours have you completed?
- Two
- 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
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★★★★★ Raystrach 4 months ago
Superb Bike Touring
This bike tour was a great introduction to Albania and it highlighted the rugged beauty of the country and the warmth and friendliness of the people. The tour had a great balance of challenging terrain and beautiful rolling countryside. If you are not so keen on the challenge, e-bikes are available, so there is no excuse not to take this tour.
Some people questioned why we would go to Albania, fearing we might not be safe, but that was never an issue during the entire tour. We never felt anything but warmth and hospitality from the locals who would often wave and offer support as they drove by in their cars. That was a first.
We selected the guided tour(we normally go self guided) as it included all meals and we are glad we did. The food was great almost without exception and our guide Arjan ensured we got plenty of variety over the duration of the tour. He also managed the group brilliantly, allowing a little freedom in the individual pace of different sub groups, so that everyone could go at their own pace depending on how they felt on the day. We were lucky to have him.
The quality of the accommodation was a little uneven, but that was to be expected when a tour like this takes you to all parts of the country, from major towns to relatively remote provincial areas. All accommodation providers were doing their very best to give us an authentic Albanian experience. We got a good sense of the real Albania.
If you take the decision to take this tour, you will not regret it. It was up there with the best tours we ever done.
- What was the date of your tour?
- October 2023
- How many tours have you completed?
- 12
- 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
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BikeTours.com staff reply from bozena_kusovac December 24, 2024
Hi Ray,
Thank you for sharing such a detailed and thoughtful review! We're thrilled to hear that you enjoyed the balance of challenging terrain and beautiful countryside, as well as the warmth and hospitality of the Albanian people. It's wonderful that Arjan and the guided tour experience exceeded your expectations, especially with the variety of food and flexibility in pacing. We’re glad you felt safe and welcomed throughout the journey, and that you embraced the authentic charm of the accommodations. Your feedback truly captures the spirit of this tour—thank you for taking the time to share it!
Bozena
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★★★★★ Lori Doering 6 months ago
Incredible experience!
Loved exploring Albania on bike! Our guide, Matao, was amazing! He went above and beyond day after day. The Albanian countryside, cities, people and food far exceeded any and all expe.
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★★★★★ Beth W. 6 months ago
Great experience!
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
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★★★★★ Terry Aittama 6 months ago
Trip of a lifetime!
The UNESCO bike trip is definitely ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ for organization, bike route, accommodations, food, guide, and van driver/support. Albania is a beautiful country, still relatively untouched by tourism. Our guide Mateo and van driver Roxjens are the best. Mateo is very organized, communicates clearly about the day’s agenda, and has a good sense of humor. We had a luggage delay and Mateo went above and beyond to get our suitcases to us in the most timely manner possible. Roxjens is helpful, ambitious and always had a smile on his face. He changed my flat tire and had me back on the road in record time! The food is delicious and plentiful. There is a fun variety of accommodations, all very comfortable. Highly recommend this bike tour!
- What was the date of your tour?
- October 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- My first!
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Siobhan Knox 6 months ago
Best Guided Tour Ever!
UNESCO Sites of Albania was the best guided tour I have ever done. Not only did the food and scenery exceed their reputations, the accommodations and bikes were excellent. More importantly, our guide and driver/mechanic were extremely efficient, knowledgeable, helpful, and cheerful—they left us wanting for nothing! I highly recommend it.
- What was the date of your tour?
- October 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 13
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Bradford Pickett 6 months ago
A Great bike ride
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.
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★★★★★ Maureen Lander 6 months ago
Albania is Beautiful!
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.
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★★★★★ john turco 6 months ago
beyond expectations
our guide Mateo and his assistant Rojxan were amazing. Tour was like a fine tuned watch.
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★★★★★ Vicki Jones 6 months ago
Awesome trip!
Perfect way to experience Albania! The itinerary was a good mix of city and countryside. The scenery was beautiful and the people were super nice. The length of time on the bikes each day was perfect- starting out slow and ending with a bang. We were glad that we got e-bikes. We got a little exercise but able to enjoy every minute. The food was great- always fresh and local. Our guide Mateo was very attentive, informative and helpful. His fluent English made things easy. Roxhens, the van driver
was always attentive, making sure we had plenty of water and charged batteries. This was our first guided bike trip and we highly recommend to anyone wanting to experience Albania!- What was the date of your tour?
- October 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 6
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat easier
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ David Loukras 6 months ago
Great trip highly recommended
What a great way to see Albania. Each day brought new sights, history and great roads. Perfect weather in mid-October. Accommodations were clean and well equipped. Food was nutritious, traditional, plentiful and delicious. Bikes were good for most with a couple of small breakdowns for some. Most were on e-bikes and there was always enough batteries for everyone everyday. Great guiding to ensure everyone knew where to go, but not so much to burden the flow of the ride. Most of the roads were exceptional twisty winding roads with minimal amount of “highway” with truck traffic. Views of the mountains and Ionian Sea were breathtaking. We downloaded the map files provided and uploaded them to Komoot so we always knew where we were and where we were going.
- What was the date of your tour?
- Oct 7 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- This was my first guided bike tour. I will do more.
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- First-time bike tourists, Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Kathy Dudley 6 months ago
Eye opening tour
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
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★★★★★ Tom Gihring 6 months ago
Wonderful views riding through this mountainous landscape
One of the best value cycle tours to be found. First class meals provided, including fresh prepared local dishes. Guides take good care of the bikes and give daily briefings before each ride. Wish there were more cycle paths to relieve riders from dealing with motor traffic.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- 8
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ Rhonda Peckham 6 months ago
Sampler of Albania's beauty
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
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★★★★★ Mary Patno 6 months ago
Great Bike Tour
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
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★★★★★ shelley spivack 6 months ago
An Amazing Adventure
All I can say is WOW!
But actually I will say a bit more.The scenery, the food, the people, the guides and of course the climbs- all made for an amazing 8 day journey in Albania.
Our guide Arjan was simply the best! He quickly got to know all 19 riders and made sure that we were comfortable with our bikes, rooms, etc His encouragement kept me going on those long and arduous climbs. Our driver and bike mechanic was a whizz on the road and with bike tools.
I loved the variety of places in which we stayed- from farmstays to luxury seaside hotels.
And the food- this is one of the only bike tours I have been on where every meal was provided. And it wasn't just peanut butter sandwiches. We were treated to a wide array of Albanian dishes - including lots of veggies, cheeses and freshly caught fish.
I am 70 and chose a road bike. While it was incredibly difficult at times, I am glad I stuck with my own pedal power. However, e-bikes are a fantastic option and unless you are a proficient climber, I would highly recommend an e-bike.
We had an incredible group of riders from around the world- from Australia to the US with numerous European countries in between.
The value of this tour was amazing. I give the tour company a lot of credit for providing a fantastic tour at a reasonable price.
The only recommendation I would have is to either limit the group to a smaller number or add an additional guide or helper.
Thanks for am amazing adventure!- What was the date of your tour?
- September -October 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- at least 20
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- Somewhat harder
- Who is this tour suitable for?
- Solo travelers
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
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★★★★★ wendy poppen 7 months ago
Seeing Albania On two wheels
This was a most amazing tour… Filled with so many different areas and fantastic food! Both of our guides (Driver and rider) were very knowledgeable and fun.
The only comment I would make is for a group of 19 I feel there should've been two people on bikes, one in front one and back and also one driver.
Other than that, I would suggest this trip to anyone wanting to see the authentic Albania.
Wendy -
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★★★★★ Natalie Cleary 7 months ago
Well organised tour
A great way to visit the country of Albania. Unless you're a very strong cyclist, e-bikes are a necessity. Huge mountains and idyllic coastline with monuments inbetween. Very well organised and only one of the hotels was sub-standard. Twenty riders made this a perfect group size.
- What was the date of your tour?
- September 2024
- How many tours have you completed?
- Six
- Difficulty (actual vs. expected)?
- As expected
- Do you recommend this tour?
- Yes
