On a week’s trip that, starting in Shkoder and taking in a spectacular three-hour ferry ride along a reservoir in the midst of soaring mountains, included hiking in the Valbona Valley and around Teth  and Razem and finally a day in Tirana, Arben Kola was our guide.  Hard to think we could have done better. 

Arben was as good at planning our itinerary and organizing every detail - including the horses that took our heavier luggage over the stupendous Valbona pass and highlights such as a wonderful lunch served by two young women at a table under the trees by a remote lone cottage it took us a 400 metre ascent up a gorge to reach - as he was at leading us on the walks, and passing on all the detail about the places we saw and about Albania’s long history and current politics from his astonishing store-house of knowledge. Keeping up was quite a job, but worth it. 

Committed as much to our safety as to our enjoyment of the trip, he was absolutely tireless, and with all that a lot of fun as company. Meeting his lovely wife and toddler son when we got to Tirana, was something we won’t forget. When after we’d got back home Arben sent us all a WhatsApp group message with a long and detailed day-by-day report on our trip, what one of us wrote back was “You’re one in a million!” That’s about the measure of how we ended up feeling about Arben.

I visited the Albanian Alps and Tirana for a week as part of a group. Arben not only changed our original hiking itinerary (so that we saw much more interesting parts of the country) but added in history, scenery and extraordinary places to eat. He sorted out transport at short notice, looked after all our individual needs, was lovely to chat to and perpetually cheerful. No hesitation in recommending Arben!

My wife and I spent 10 days and nights in May 2016 driving throughout Albania on a private tour; we were just reliving the trip when we realized we had never shared with others the most critical component of our travels - Arben Kola!  We'd arranged our tour through Albania2Go and were told "he is an excellent guide," which hardly begins to do him justice!  Our tour covered Tirana, Berat, Vlore, Butrint, Gjirokaster, Korce and Ohird (crossed over into Macedonia), so we spent a lot of time both on sites and in the car with Ben.  There isn't a more knowledgeable and passionate person with whom to experience this wonderful country.  He has a great sense of the history and current state of affairs in Albania and how they intersect, seemingly deep personal connections everywhere we travelled (even small, side-of-the-road, impromtu stops) and a deep desire to leave no request or question unattended or unaddressed.  While our journey was reasonably scripted for our timetable, Ben suggested off-the-path detours that got us views or experiences we would have missed with anyone else.  In the span of a day or two, he began to know us - what we'd like, what we might find of less interest, where and when we'd like to stop to eat - and tailored his suggestions and our daily schedule accordingly.  That is the difference between 'just a guide' and 'a travel guru.'  We highly recommend Ben and look forward to our future return to have him show us Northern Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo.