LONELY PLANET’S BEST IN TRAVEL6164667836ab08b81b8e-42be7794b013b8d9e301e1d959bc4a76.r3… · melbourne oakland london best in travel lonely planet’s the best trends, destinations,

M E LB O U R N E ✪ OAKL AN D ✪ LO N D O N

BEST IN TRAVELLONELY PLANET’S

THE BEST TRENDS, DESTINATIONS, JOURNEYS & EXPERIENCES FOR THE UPCOMING YEAR

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TOP 10 COUNTRIES 008

TOP 10 REGIONS 050

TOP 10 CITIES 092

TOP TRAVEL LISTS 134

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LONELY PLANET’S TOP 10 COUNTRIES 009

TOP 10 COUNTRIESLONELY PLANET’S

046JAPAN

042SYRIA

034ITALY

030VANUATU

038TANZANIA

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010 BEST IN TRAVEL 2011

LONELY PLANET’S TOP 10 COUNTRIES 2011 »

N O R T HA M E R I C A

A F R I C A

E U R O P E

A S I A

A U S T R A L I A

S O U T HA M E R I C A

ALBANIA

‘The jig is almost up – Albaniawon’t be off the beaten track

for much longer.’

✪ POPULATION 3.6 MILLION

✪ FOREIGN VISITORS PER YEAR AROUND 6 MILLION

✪ CAPITAL TIRANA

✪ LANGUAGE ALBANIAN

✪ MAJOR INDUSTRIES MAJOR EXPORTS ARE CHROMIUM AND CHROME PRODUCTS

✪ UNIT OF CURRENCY LEKË

✪ COST INDEX TIRANA BEER 150 LEKË (US$1.50), MIDRANGE HOTEL DOUBLE 8000 LEKË (US$80), SHORT TAXI RIDE 300 LEKË (US$3), INTERNET ACCESS PER HOUR 100 LEKË (US$1), BOTTLE OF ALBANIAN WINE 600 LEKË (US$6), FERRY TO CORFU, GREECE 2000 LEKË (US$20)

ALBANIA

By Marika McAdam 01



YOU COULDN’T MAKE THIS STUFF UP Picture, if you will, a place where rulers have names like King Zog, Enver Hoxha and Bamir Topi. Now make it the headquarters of the mystical Bektashi Order. Set the scene with coastal cliffs, snow-capped mountains and jungle-wrapped ruins. Cast some female ‘sworn virgins’ to fi ll the roles of men who have been lost in ancient blood feuds. Let the spoken dialects be known as Tosk and Gheg. Make it that daily life is governed by a code of conduct with 1262 instructions including 38 on hospitality towards guests.

It may seem like you’ve just conjured a medieval fantasy novel rather than an up-and-coming travel destination, but this is Albania in all its epic, eclectic glory.

THE LAST OF THE LAST FRONTIERSNot so long ago, when the Balkans were considered an ‘only for the brave’ travel destination, only the bravest of the brave trickled into Albania. Since backpackers started coming to elusive Albania in the 1990s, tales have been told in ‘keep it to yourself’ whispers of azure beaches, confrontingly good cuisine, heritage sites, nightlife, affordable adventures and the possibility of old-style unplanned journeys complete with open-armed locals for whom travellers are still a novelty. Sick to death of being dismissed with blinged-up crime-boss clichés, Albania has announced ‘A New Mediterranean Love’ via its tourist board. The jig is almost up – Albania won’t be off the beaten track for much longer.

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GET TO ALBANIA’S BEAUTIFUL MEDITERRANEAN BEACHES BEFORE THE CROWDS DO



DEFINING EXPERIENCEIf you are a journey-over-destination kind of traveller, take the road (and a sick bag) from Korça to Gjirokastra. The road climbs along the Greek border to the highlands, slices through pine forests along the edge of the Gramoz mountains before crossing the Barmash Pass (1759m) and descending dramatically into the narrow valley of the Vjosa River and up the Drinos valley. Recover down south on the beach at Dhërmi or take the ferry from Saranda across the Ionian sea to the Greek Islands, just because you can.

FINDING SOME FUN IN ALBANIA WON’T BE AN UPHILL BATTLE – TIRANA’S PYRAMID (FORMERLY THE ENVER HOXHA MUSEUM)

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PAVING THE WAY TO THE WESTTraversable roads and terrain cleared of the scourge of landmines are the new black in this part of the world. Albania is working towards the goal of being a landmine-free nation in 2011, and various improvements to infrastructure mean that the so-called ‘roads’ in some parts of the country will hopefully soon cast off their inverted commas.

TIRANA TUNES✪ The annual Tirana International Film Festival is a multiday, multigenre fi lm bonanza attracting fl ickerati from around the world. The ninth festival will be held at the end of 2011.✪ Since the turn of the millennium, the Tirana Jazz Festival, held in June or July every year, has made for smooth and sweaty summers in the Albanian capital.

WHAT’S HOT… / WHAT’S NOT…Many locals will probably admit to having lost their virginity in a concrete bunker left over from last century’s Hoxha era. However, as there are more people who claim to have urinated in these ubiquitous cubicles than there are people who say they have bonked in one of these many bunkers, think twice before you rush to join the Concrete Club.

ALL THE RAGE OR ALL ENRAGED?The 2011 census is set to be a snapshot – albeit a blurred one – of a country that never sits still. Will it cast light on the shadows or stir up divisions and derision? The answer may impact Albania’s aspiration for candidature in the EU in this same year.

RANDOM FACTS✪ Two Nobel Prize winners of ethnic Albanian descent took different paths to greatness. India’s Mother Teresa may have miraculously cured a tumour, while another kind of miracle was performed by America’s Professor Ferid Murad, the inventor of Viagra.✪ Albania is one of the few countries in Europe to have had more Jews after WWII than before.✪ The glass pyramid, which was once a museum to iron-fi sted Hoxha, was designed by the Comrade’s own daughter and son-in-law.

MOST BIZARRE SIGHT ✪ Artifi cially terraced hills – the product of Hoxha’s kooky agricultural brainwave to level hills into fi elds.


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

FRONT COVER IMAGE Steve Kelley/Getty Images TITLE PAGE IMAGE Dallas Stribley/LPI CONTENTS PAGE IMAGE Douglas Steakley/LPI PAGE 7 IMAGE Jean-Bernard Carillet/LPI PAGE 207 IMAGE Margie Politzer/LPI INSIDE BACK COVER IMAGE Margie Politzer/LPI


PUBLISHER Chris Rennie

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Ben Handicott

COMMISSIONING EDITOR & PROJECT MANAGER Bridget Blair

DESIGNERS Samantha Curcio, James Hardy, Jennifer Mullins

LAYOUT DESIGNER Margaret Jung

MANAGING EDITOR Liz Heynes

EDITORS Nigel Chin, Jeanette Wall

IMAGE RESEARCHER Aude Vauconsant

PRE-PRESS PRODUCTION Ryan Evans

PRINT PRODUCTION Graham Imeson, Yvonne Kirk

WRITTEN BY Brett Atkinson, James Bainbridge, Mark Beales, Joe Bindloss, Lucy Burningham, Stuart Butler, Jean-Bernard Carillet, Matthew D Firestone, Bridget Gleeson, Tom Hall, Paula Hardy, Abigail Hole, Catherine Le Nevez, Jessica Lee, Marika McAdam, Carolyn McCarthy, Anja Muti , Brandon Presser, Helen Ranger, Miles Roddis, Dan Savery Raz, Robert Reid, Tim Richards, Rowan Roebig, Regis St Louis, Ryan Ver Berkmoes, Luke Waterson, Karla Zimmerman

THANKS TO Jim Hsu, Carol Jackson, Charity Mackinnon, Kate Morgan, Carlos Solarte, Tony Wheeler

LONELY PLANET’S BEST IN TRAVEL 2011October 2010

PUBLISHED BY Lonely Planet Publications Pty LtdABN 36 005 607 98390 Maribyrnong St, Footscray, Victoria, 3011, Australia

www.lonelyplanet.com

Printed by Toppan Security Printing Pte LtdPrinted in SingaporeLonely Planet’s preferred image source isLonely Planet Images (LPI). www.lonelyplanetimages.com

ISBN 978 1 74220 090 3

© Lonely Planet 2010© Photographers as indicated 2010

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise except brief extracts for the purpose of review, without the written permission of the publisher.

Lonely Planet and the Lonely Planet logo are trademarks of Lonely Planet and are registered in the US patent and Trademark Offi ce and in other countries.

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AUSTRALIA Locked Bag 1, Footscray, Victoria, 3011Phone 03 8379 8000 Fax 03 8379 8111Email [email protected] 150 Linden St, Oakland, CA 94607Phone 510 250 6400 Toll free 800 275 8555 Fax 510 893 8572Email [email protected] 2nd Floor, 186 City Rd, London, ECV1 2NTPhone 020 7106 2100 Fax 020 7106 2101Email [email protected]

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LONELY PLANET’S BEST IN TRAVEL6164667836ab08b81b8e-42be7794b013b8d9e301e1d959bc4a76.r3… · melbourne oakland london best in travel lonely planet’s the best trends, destinations,