Today I am going to share my fondest trips and my first ever experienced going on a group tour. Usually, my husband and I are couple travellers where we enjoy our freedom to stop and travel at our own pace. But we were told by friends that it is best to go on a group tour to the Balkans. In my opinion, there’s Pro’s and Con’s with travelling in group tours. I suppose it comes to an individual’s preference. However, for the purpose of my second post. I am going to share some advice. Let’s start with where is the Balkans? According to Britannica, Balkans, also called Balkan Peninsula, easternmost of Europe’s three great southern peninsulas. There is not universal agreement on the region’s components. The Balkans are usually characterized as comprising Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, and Slovenia—with all or part of each of those countries located within the peninsula. The tour that we (my husband and I) took covered the following 5 countries: Albania Montenegro Bosnia & Herzegovina Slovenia Croatia
The best flight route to the Balkans especially since I am based in Malaysia is via Turkish Airlines. Our ex-Kuala Lumpur (layover in Istanbul) to Tirana, Albania. And returning ex-Ljubljana, Slovenia. It was a 10 days / 8 nights tour. Our travel season was right smack during Christmas. I’ve never been celebrating X’mas at home for nearly 5 years now. That’s the only time I get to take time off from work and the only opportunity to travel. Not to mention, living in Asia we love experiencing winter especially during X’mas. Our ritual for every trip, is to ensure that we fulfill our Sunday obligation. I have seen the most beautiful churches and Cathedrals in many countries. It was no different attending X’mas mass in the Balkans.
As I mentioned earlier that this is our first trip travelling with a group (about 25 of us including our guide) TBH, we didn’t know what to expect. However, post the trip we all became very close and parted our ways as friends. Thankfully, the whole group encompassed of the same nationality (i.e Malaysians). The saying goes “Malaysians no matter where we travel if we see or hear another in foreign land we are always together”.
In summary, if I had to make a trip to the Balkans. I will definitely go back again. But I’d definitely make some adjustments. In my opinion, the best countries for sight-seeing, culture, history, shopping (if you’re into that) and f&b.
My top countries to visit are the following:-
- Croatia (especially if you’re a GoT fan please make sure you spend more time in Dubrovnik)
- Slovenia
- Montenegro
To find out further on this trip, you can check out my Instagram