National Geographic: Albania among the most popular destinations for 2018

Albania was one of the most developing destinations for the summer 2017 and will be among the most wanted for the next holiday.

National Geographic has also included Albania among the best destinations of 2018, along with countries such as Jordan, Tanzania, Switzerland, Cambodia and Madagascar, writes in an article Italian travel agency “Vacanze in Albania”.

National Geographic recommends holidays in Albania, especially adventure seekers, who are looking for an active holiday, away from massive tourism, but rich in authentic experiences, in contact with the country's nature and culture. To reveal the cities of Berat and Gjirokastra, the Greco-Roman amphitheaters, the beaches, and especially the undiscovered landscapes of the country as alpine peaks, green fields, water fields, and fauna.

Why Choose Albania

The country is a center of wealth- In a no larger area than that of Brettane, Albania has a mosaic of peoples and traditions, mountains, lakes and two seas, big cities and remote regions, religions that cohabit in harmony and beautiful Mediterranean landscapes.

Closed to tourists about 50 years in the early '90s, Albania offers a heterogeneous view of coastal and mountainous tourism and has attracted more and more foreign tourists in the past ten years. And exactly from tourists it's called “a new Mediterranean love” and “Europe's last secret secret secret secretion”.

Albania is still an unexplored country of National Geographic invites tourists to explore the country's natural heritage, to sink into relatively untamed waters. Flooded waters, ship ruins and rare caves are some of the relatively intact treasures that divers expect in Albania. Decades of isolation under communist dictator Enver Hoxha have limited development and have unwittingly preserved the underwater cultural heritage, especially off the south coast.

The destination for adventure travel ? Albania is focusing increasingly on adventure travel. The latest initiative on this line was last May, when an escursionist trip was launched to the Natural Reserve of the Karaburun Peninsula, an ancient military base accessible only on foot or by ship. By crossing the peninsula in a small boat, you can reach a tiny bay, perfect for underwater immersion near a cave of 600 m2.

Last May, authorities opened Saban Island in southern Albania. It was a military base used by Italians until World War II, before it became the country's most secret base under Communism, when it was fortified with bunkers and tunnels designed to withstand a possible nuclear attack that the Albanian Communist elite feared. The small uninhabited island of 5,7 km2 and the Karabun Peninsula offer explorers the remains of sunken Greek, Roman, and World War II ships, rich underwater wildlife, steep rocks, and giant caves, ancient mariners' inscriptions on the beach, and breathtaking views.

It is not the first time this country is named on travel lists as one of the destinations not to be lost. National Geographic has also praised Albania as one of the top ten countries worth the most, and has recommended the Valbonne Valley in northern Albania as one of the largest spaces in the world.

The ATTA Association (The Travel Avenue Trade Association) has included Albania as one of the top adventure travel destinations for 2017 along with Cuba and Portugal. While French public broadcaster France 2 has called Albania “The Balkan Perla”.