Testimonials

Thank you very much for your organization of our trip to Albania in the summer 2019.

We were very pleased with everything. First of all, the sites in Albania, that you had chosen during the first 8 days, where we had booked your mountain hike – plus the 7 extra days you organized on our requests. Also thanks for your help during our stay, it was always possible to contact you and ask about help. Thanks for rearranging our trip, when our flight was delayed and for your patient help with finding a nice chauffeur for driving our car and us to the spot we hooked up at, when we finally arrived in Albania. We liked the way you recommended actual spots to overnight, so we avoided the worst activities related to the growing tourism in Albania. Once again thank you very much for your assistance last summer. Everything in Albania was fantastic, and very authentic: people, food, culture, atmosphere. We had a splendid, unforgettable holiday.

You are welcome to share if you want.

Best regards

Heidi and Kristian

Denmark

We were two female travelers intending a destination that until the last decade or so hasn’t been able to host tourists….and we wanted a mountain hike. Guided vs self-guided (when we both used to hiking and mountains)?. Well we just asked the question of Outdoor Albania and they (altruistically) told us go self guided – safe and feasible…and yes couldn’t agree more. This company was just A1. Excellent communication in English. Quick responses. Contact by mobile possible once on tour…..AND the tour itself….a once in a lifetime. All our transport, accommodation, food and even one luggage transfer (by a well looked after mule in excellent body condition with an experienced older mountaineer/muleteer) all organised. All we did was walk (and eat!!) seeing the most glorious mountains, waterfalls and mountain villages with their grey stone houses/huts. Great accommodation. Great food (usually miles of it). Great hosts. WONDERFUL COUNTRY. Very much hoping to come back. Thank you very much Outdoor Albania for our first, but hopefully not last, taste of Albania.

My fiancé and I have been traveling through the Balkans for about four months now and nothing has topped our trek with Hassan and Outdoor Albania.

The tour was planned out perfectly and our bellies were filled with ridiculously good food (like, so good it was hard to believe) for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Parts of the trail were a little strenuous, but the views made the discomfort disappear. This is a SERIOUSLY beautiful area.

Hassan’s knowledge, motivation, positivity and sense of humor made every hour slip past like we were just taking a leisurely stroll. He jumped at any opportunity to make us a little more comfortable or a little more happy, and I really appreciated that.

I HIGHLY recommend the four-day tour through Valbona, Thethi and the Blue Eye and I’m positive my new friends (who I met on the tour) would agree!

-J. Meinhardt, August 2015

I was put in touch with Outdoor Albania through viaDinarica.org. Did a 5 day hike with them- Theth to Valbona, to Cerem to Doberdol up to the 3 border point and entering Kosovo. We had one night in Prizren and one day in Prishtina at the end.
I had expected the gorgeous views, majestic mountains and a good hike. What came as a bonus was the cultural experience. We met shepherds, the village people, experienced kind hospitality and good sumptuous food. The atmosphere was laid back, gentle, scented with flowers and sparkling with mountain springs. The trail is still ‘undiscovered’ and it felt like discovering a hidden gem. For long parts of the hike we were the only hikers.
Have to put a special word here for our guide Adnan, who seemed to know all the locals and was especially responsible for our cultural experience. He was kind, informative, set a pace that was steady but manageable. We kept on time but had enough space for photographs, endless cups of tea and coffee on the way and lots of sit downs with local mountain people.
I am still in a kind of daze and feeling smug about all the comments I had heard before the trip (i.e. Albania?? What on earth are you going to do there???)

A group of us (friends from Australia, USA and England) went on a week long trip with Outdoor Albania in mid-Sept. Not knowing a lot about Albania or the company, we weren’t really sure what to expect, but we all went in with an open mind and a sense of adventure. What can I say? The trip absolutely exceeded our expectations.

Our guide Gerg was fantastic and very knowledgeable about the area and the trip was extremely well organized. The hotels we stayed at, while basic, were clean and we all felt safe. The food – WOW! every single meal was AMAZING. We didn’t eat a bad dish the entire week.

The kayaking along the coast is stunning. The water is clean and clear and the most amazing color of blue. The towns along the coast are quite basic, some more established than others (Hirame and Saranda are quite large), but all were comfortable and the people were very friendly.

They are a quickly growing country with some typical problems, such as garbage clean up. We often encountered areas where garbage was strewn about. Of course this is an infrastructure problem that will get better in the years to come. My guess is that within 10 years, the Ionian coast of Albania will become a popular yachting designation just like its neighbors Greece and Croatia.

We would all highly recommend this trip if you are in good shape and enjoy kayaking, or just want to try something new. I don’t have a lot of kayaking experience and I felt fine. In all, we kayaked about 65km in 6 days. It’s truly the best way to see this part of the country, and Outdoor Albania is an excellent company to do it with.

– Kezza, september 2016

We had the pleasure of renting kayaks, accommodation and transportation from Outdoor Albania. The knowledge and contacts from Outdoor Albania made it possible for us to establish an unguided trip with a lot of good experiences.

Three days of hiking and three days of paddling. We visited Theth, walked to Valbone and enjoyed stunning Komani Lake in kayak. Contacts from Outdoor Albania gave us the opportunity to stay with local and friendly Albanians, although we were quite prepared for camping. Outdoor Albania was willing to rent us the kayaks and let us travel on our own, which was what we wanted as experienced paddlers.

But the company is used to manage guided trips, so the services for getting local knowledge and maps were not quite in place. Eventually it turned out to be a magnificent and compact experience in a very very beautiful country.

Outdoor Albania made it possible!

– Sven Jens, september 2015