Albania

View other editions of Albania.
View books by Gillian Gloyer.

Outdated Information! - Rated
I bought this book before my 3 week trip to Romania, Macedonia and Albania in June 2007 as we would be spending 7 days travelling round Albania and we felt that we needed a seperate guide (other than our Lonely Planet Eastern Europe guide) but I needn't have bothered getting it.
The book states that it was reprinted with amendments in April 2007 - so why did the author not bother to amend all the pricing information on the hotels since 2005?
For example Hotel Delfini in Saranda was stated in the guide as 12 euros for a double room and on that basis we decided to stay there. But when we arrived we were told that in fact it was 30 euros a night instead!

This is not really acceptable for an established guide such as Bradt - it's pure laziness.
Other information hasn't been updated either, such as information about things being built "due to finish in 2005"???

For a rapidly changing country such as Albania it is really important that travellers are given up to date information otherwise you might as well go to the library and get a really old travel guide for the country!

The guide is written in quite a stuffy manner (perhaps I am used to the acerbic wit of the Lonely Planet writers) and although it does give you a comprehensive breakdown of all the different regions in Albania in order to select the places of interest on your trip; there are also very strange ommissions such as Dhermiu on the coast.

Dhermiu is an absolutely stunning, unspoilt stretch of coast on the Albanian Riviera, untouched by western tourism and I would consider a must-see of all the places on the Ionian Coast. But there's hardly a mention in the guide of Dhermiu(unlike the LP guide that goes into great depth)They didn't even mark it on the map in the inlay of the book...incredible.

The writer could also have emphasised the fact that tourist and travel information is virtually non-existent in Albania and we had to heavily rely on information provided by the locals (some of whom simply guessed what time the buses depart)

This guide was a disappointment so if you want to travel in Albania; I suggest that the 2007 version of the Eastern Europe Lonely Planet guide (or an updated version of the Western Balkans book as there was some misinformation printed in that aswell)will eqiup you with all the relevant information.

The Only Practical Guide to Albania! - Rated
If you want to travel around Albania and do more than just hit the few most visited highlights, this is no doubt the book to take.

It is the only English-language guide devoted to Albania alone, and it offers a good coverage of the places and things to see, fairly up to date details of transport and accomodation options, decent maps of both regions and individual towns or cities, as well as well-written background information on culture and history. All the stuff you would expect from good practical guidebooks like the better-known Lonely Planet series (whose coverage of Albania is dismal!).
It is also fairly balanced in covering both budget and upmarket places to stay, something other books often fail at.

So why only 4 stars?
Well, some of the maps would need to be more accurate - they sometimes showed places on the wrong street or corner. Also, in a few cases, practical details were missing, with the existence of accomodation being mentioned, but not the usual details on how much it cost. Same goes for transport info.
Finally, and most mystifyingly, the author has chosen to use non-standard place names ("definite", conjugated forms) even though she herself admits this form is not what you will see in Albania on maps, destination signs of buses or road-signs!

However these shortcomings are well outweighed by all the useful info in the book. If you are planning to tour this little-visited country independently, don't leave home without a copy!