Albania?

[ASC1951]

Do any of you good people have any experience of cycling in Albania? I wasn't thinking full-on touring, more of a base plus long day rides - on a road bike, presumably with 25 or even 28s rather than the 23s I use at home.

And how about getting there? Scheduled flights are far too expensive, so I was thinking of flying to Corfu (i.e. cheap charter from LBIA or MAN), then taking the short ferry ride. Is that feasible?

 

[sabian92]

Having seen the Top Gear where they go to Albania, some roads will be good and some will be like riding on the moon. I wouldn't use 23s or even 25s, I'd stick to 28s.

That being said - I've never been to Albania so i might be completely wrong.

 

[Yellow7]

Hey ASC1951 Should you go i'll be looking forward to your findings, my next tour will take me through there after the ferry from Italy. When you thinking of going there?

Mark wallisonwheels

 

[Doseone]

Sounds like it should be a fantastic trip, am very envious.

Probably not a lot of help to you but I was around the Albanian border in the late 80's. It was a bit like the wild west, and nobody spoke any English, not that we particularly expected them to, and infrastructure was poor. Might be very different now.

In terms of getting there we had hitched and bussed and trained from the North. You could get a package flight to one of the holiday destinations on the Adriatic Coast (maybe Dubrovnik) and public transport to the Montenegro/ Albania border from there?

Good luck, should be brilliant.

 

[ASC1951]

Hey ASC1951 Should you go i'll be looking forward to your findings, my next tour will take me through there after the ferry from Italy. When you thinking of going there?

Nothing planned, I'm afraid. I was looking around for something that would be a change from the Algarve, the Canaries, the Costas, Mallorca, Southern France or th'Alps. All good cycling places, but after twenty years or so they are getting a bit familiar.

Now that I've retired I have unlimited time but not unlimited funds, so I was looking for places to go in Eastern Europe which would be reasonably easy and reasonably cheap to get to. When I was a carefree schoolchild I once lashed out £20 (this was 1966) on a three day return train journey to Athens and it would be interesting to see what had happened to the Balkans in the meantime.

Another project from my youth was to fly to Finland, pedal to somewhere like Bodrum in western Turkey and fly back. I reckon you can take a fairly direct route and still get through 17 countries. Unfortunately my affordability/capability graphs crossed a few years ago....

 

[JC4LAB]

http://www.explore.co.uk/holidays/details/cycling-tour-of-albania
Prefer DIY but done Morrocco and Poland with these guys.and it was ok..Maybe not daily enough miles.for some..Albania looks fair value...

 

[ASC1951]

...Maybe not daily enough miles.for some..Albania looks fair value...

The distances would be a bit light for me, even at my age, and I'm not sure I'd want to tour on the chunky Giant hardtails that they provide - but their route and book list are useful.

But now that I have the idea lodged in my noddle....

 

[JC4LAB]

Downside of a group like this is its all too easy and you miss out on your own individual interaction with the locals and diary writing adventure. and buzz you get from DIY .+ at nights theres tends to be a group binge meal ..But the guides are top notch. and theres plenty to easily miss...There are other different companies catering to different abilities.to glean ideas from if you dont want to join them .http://iridealbania.com/index.html

 

[raybo]

Here is a bit of information about bike touring in Albania: http://forum.ctc.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=24000

 

[Johngibsta]

Did you cycle Albania in the end? If so how did it go..Im planning on doing this in November

 

[frank9755]

I went there in 2010. It was lovely. Quiet roads (away from the main coast drag), good scenery, interesting towns and cities, friendly people. Cheap beer.
I was there in June and it was hot. November will be a bit cooler though.