Albania & Croatia’s Adriatic Coast | Best Beaches, Scenic Hikes & Surprises
This is Lisa and I’m Mark and we’re the
Vagabond Dreamers. We’re standing here in the Sosa Valley
near Bovec in Slovenia after having spent a couple of weeks on the beaches
of the Adriatic, which is what we’re going to talk about today. In the background is the mountain that
Mussolini was injured in during World War I, but that’ll be in the next video. This is our third or fourth focusing on
the Balkans and we’re really going to be looking at the great
outdoors. Come back for #4 if you were waiting for
some history. What are we going to talk about today? We’re going to talk about our city
walks, our hikes, and beaches. And I think we’ll start with the
beaches. There’s A disclaimer that I want to make
note of, and that is that I think Mark and I are a little bit beach spoiled. Being raised in Northern Michigan, I
know that I’m beach spoiled, and we’ve traveled through the Caribbean, and
we’ve seen some of the most amazing beaches, especially our recent trip to
the Seychelles. So we’re pretty beach picky. We love all beaches, but the beaches
that we experienced in Albania and Croatia were not the top of our list,
though we did enjoy them a lot. So I’ll start with Albania, where we
went to the beaches of Dhermi and Gjipe and Vlore. So we stayed right in Vlore, and the Vlore
beaches were very populated, tons of beach chairs and really good swimming. As we moved down the coast, though, in the village of Dhermi. The water was a little more clear, a
little more resort style, and we enjoyed that as well. And probably our favorite beach in
Albania was Gjipe Beach. We had a little walk to it, which we’ll
talk about, but also it was set behind some It was in a canyon and there were cliffs
behind us and there were some caves to the side and it was a beautiful pebble
beach and the water was crystal clear and it was really, really lovely. And not super crowded either, as
compared to some of the other ones. So that part was great. And we moved up to Croatia. We were going to go to Dubrovnik, and
then we realized that we had to take a second mortgage on our house to even
enter the city. So we stayed outside of Dubrovnik and
went to a beach called Bellevue, which was really very sweet. It was in a cove right below these giant
cliffs. Kids were jumping from 10 meters or more
into the water. It was rocky beach, a stone pebble
beach. But it was really beautiful and the
backdrop was really stunning. And it was a fun way to get there too.
It was interesting. Right, we, yes. As you’ll see the picture or the video
of us climbing around the fence, which is all blocked off, danger, danger, and
yet everybody does it. So. It’s the only way to get there unless
you are staying at the resort, which backs it, which, you know, if you’re not
going to Dubrovnik, you’re certainly not staying in that resort. All right, so we did some hikes too. This is great outdoors. We did, and the hikes were really,
really cool. So in Albania, we did 3 hikes. The first hike that I’ll talk about was
pretty short, super sweet. It was in the old town of Jeremy, and we
didn’t realize it was going to be a hike. but we really didn’t know what to
expect. So what we found was a church at the
very, very top had amazing views and it was a little bit of work to get there. So that was hike one. We were expecting to find the old town
of Dhermi and there really had been hyped, but we didn’t really find much to
be hyped about. But the church was great. Maybe we just missed it. I don’t know. The hike or the hike we did down to the
beach at Gjipe, which was a great beach, was also a really cool hike. went down to the beach. It was about two kilometers down, I
think. It was a mile down and a mile back. Yeah. And got to see a bunch of bunkers from
the old Albanian Cold War era. Those were really fun to look at. We actually filmed our last video right
in front of one of them. So very scenic, interesting climb down,
a very arduous climb back up after a long day in the sun, but really worth
it. was beautiful. The sights looking down over the water,
the boats and everything was really
sweet. And our last hike in Albania was just
really amazing for so many reasons. So there’s two reasons why we should
have known that this was going to be a difficult hike. Maja Qorrre is tough The first reason was we met some boys
coming off the hike at about 10.30, 11 o’clock in the morning about when we
were going to start it. And one of them literally hit the ground
and kissed it. So was he being dramatic? Probably so, but they had been out on
the trail since 2 in the morning. They did much more of the hike than we
were going to do, but they were out there for like 9 hours. That was warning #1. Warning #2 was immediately the hike
started like this. We just went straight up and we
continued to go straight up for about a mile, mile and a half. I think our first reprieve was at about
a mile and 3/4 and it was rocky and it was switchbacks and it was a lot of
work. In addition, the cloud cover. It was raining and then it was sunny and
then it was raining and then it was cold and it just gave you all of the things. Yeah, sometimes the clouds just came in
right on top of us and obliterated any view of the peaks. But when we got to that spot about a
mile and three quarters, we looked up to see where we were supposed to go. And there she was. There she was. And this is where I tapped out. I knew I was not going to make it to
that peak. And it is one of these things about this
entire trip One of the hardest things for me to do
has been to realize my limitations compared to Lisa’s. Lisa’s training for these big, long
hikes. I am not. She’s far ahead of me in terms of her
conditioning. And I just at that point said, I’m going
to go a couple of miles. That’s it. And I’ll wait for you. And I did. And we do have to respect that about
each other. So we do have a lot of communications
about, okay, do we want to stop together? Do we want the other one to go on? And I feel like we’ve got a good system. So what happened when we got there? So I headed up and it seemed like the
signs which have been all wrong the whole time. The signage was great as far as where to
go. The signage in regard to kilometers was
messed up. So what I thought was a half a mile was
at least another mile to get to the peak and it was a mile of just real, real
strenuous hiking. Did find some mules and a couple of guys
that are coming on down and that was cool. and met a couple more climbers on the
way up. And really, the creme de la creme was
getting to the top and seeing that you actually reached the summit. That for me was, I just didn’t feel like
I could stop before I got to that point. Mark and I were communicating. I told him he wanted to head back down
and I would catch up with him, that that’s what we could do, because it’s
hard to wait for somebody in the middle of a mountain with nothing to do. And that turned out to be somewhat of a
mistake, probably. It hurt the idea of her being so far
behind me because I had my most serious accident of the entire trip. Obviously, I’m fine at the time. Everybody’s fine.
Everybody’s fine. I wasn’t sure. As I was going down, my trekking pole
got caught in a rock and it kind of pole vaulted me down about 20 feet, tumbled
down onto the path below. It was a switchback, which I counted
that as the positive. But I did lay there for about 15 seconds
taking inventory. I thought I had hurt my wrist. But it was just a flesh wound. Just a flesh wound. But I made the mistake of telling her
about it, which made her want to get there fast, even though I assured her I
was fine. And that resulted in… Oh, so many biffs on my butt just biff
after biff after biff. And here’s the thing that I know. When the hike up takes you as long as
the hike down takes you, the hike is hard. Usually we can go faster on the way
down, and I went too fast for conditions, and I just continued to
slip. My hiking poles are trash. I have a new pair now, and we salvaged
Mark’s bent one with my one good one. So we have two great pair of hiking
poles. And we made it to the bottom. So it was a total of a 10 kilometer
slash six mile hike. Took me six hours, took me mark four hours, but it was super
cool. Very well worth it, except for the fall. We moved on to Croatia for our last hike
on this segment, and this was really neat. I was really looking forward to this. There’s these two medieval towns, Mali
Ston and Ston, in Croatia, and they are medieval towns, and they’re
surrounded by these enormous walls. But what’s really cool is you can walk
the top of the wall. And so we walked from the town of Mali
Ston to Ston So many steps. So many steps. And the pictures, these pictures
actually do.
They do. They do do it justice. But it was, I mean, it was sweet. I really enjoyed it. was hard, but it was sweet. Yeah.
And I enjoyed it. We got up there, there’s forts and
castles. And there’s views of a fort and views of
the salt pans down in Ston. And it was truly, truly cool. So that was a couple of hours of really,
really cool hiking. Got to see a lot of stuff, some
artillery, there’s a little museum there. Really fun and a really authentic
medieval town. So then moving on to the cities. We spent some time walking around them. Velour, Albania was highly hyped to us
by several people and that’s why we went there. And the town itself was great. We had a wonderful apartment right in
the middle of things. We could walk to everything, to eat, to
whatever we wanted to do. It was great. We took a boat ride out to this cave on
very rough days of the sea. That was intense. Yeah, it was great. But it was a lot. Nobody move until we enter the cave,
okay? Don’t move until we enter the cave. The waterfront was, every night was just
packed with people, festival music, food, all kinds of stuff. Such good food. They had set up a temporary billiards
pavilion for this tournament that they were doing there. We climbed the Sunset Hill with Kevin,
who was a student from Michigan and his girlfriend, also from Michigan, and got
to climb up there. And we spent a bunch of time talking to
them about our travels. That was a lot of fun. And one of the more interesting things
was there was a giant forest fire behind the hill. In the national park. In the national park. And all day long, on one of the days,
airplanes were coming in and scooping up the seawater to go dump on. Right over the heads of the people in
the water at the beaches. It was super cool. It was fun to watch. So Vlore was exciting. There was no lack of things to do in
that whole process. We left Albania and we headed to
Croatia. And on our way to where we were staying, which is just
outside of Split, we ran into Omis. And we ran into it by the views that we
saw up on the mountain as we were heading in.
And it was incredible. And both Mark and I looked at each other
and said, whoa, we need to stop here and check this out. And we did see boats going down this
river in between the canyons. And so that was on our list of things to
do. And on day 2, Mark rented us a boat. We hopped in and we took a two-hour boat
ride through the canyon to a national park and just had a really enjoyable afternoon. Yeah, great old town, very active, all
kinds of restaurants that we walked through.
That was great. Splint, of course, is super hyped. And we headed there to Diocletian’s
Palace, which basically is the old town. And this one did not meet expectations. It was packed to the gills and not
really that much to see, I didn’t think. It was interesting. It was pretty. It was pretty, but it really did
underscore sometimes that on these trips, the hype isn’t always met. And while I, it was interesting in some
regards to me and to Lisa, it was not a place we would go back to. Yeah, I think we spent about an hour
headed back to our spot and packed up to head to where we are now. But on the way, we ran into just a gem
that wasn’t on our radar at all. So we had read about this seacoast town
called Zadar, and we knew they had something called the Sea Organs. So we wanted to stop and check that out. And they were amazing. So they had built these pipes into the the docks or the yeah of
the seawall and it just made mostly beautiful music it was really really
cool and people just milling around and enjoying that At the same time, Zadar was just amazing
in and of itself. Its old town was huge and just well
done, really inviting, lots of places to look and walk and have your gelato, and
also the waterfront. Just a really a really quaint town. I mean, I think it’s big enough. It had a cruise ship there. But Zadar was off our radar, and it is
worth visiting if you’re in Croatia. Absolutely. They had great artifacts, all collected
ruins from various groups that had dominated this area. And this has been a focus of so much
history. It got leveled in World War II by Allied
bombers. And they’ve really built this thing back
up to be really a special place. Yeah. We wish we’d had at least a night in
Zadar. Yeah, absolutely. So that was it, our trip to the Adriatic
coast, our attempt to get some time on the beaches and to climb it. We met it. We met it.
We met it. We did spend some time in the forest. And we’re, so we’re in Slovenia now. In a few days we’re going to be heading
to Hungary for three days in Budapest, which has been one of my really really important things I wanted to see,
and that will comprise our final video in the Balkans before we head off to
Portugal and end this trip. Yeah, it’s kind of sad. These last few weeks have just really
been warp speed fast. I don’t like it, but really happy we’re
still on it. And today’s our anniversary, so happy
anniversary. Oh, really?
Okay. PDA. We’re going to have to censor this now. Oh yeah. That’s rough. All right. Normally we do a walk away at the end of
the video, but since we’re not walking away, we’re not leaving the Balkans. We’re not walking away. We’ll do that next time. All right. This is Lisa and I’m Mark and we’re the
Vagabond Dreamers. And take a Vagabond dream of Vagabond
fool. I ain’t too proud to beg, but I’m
playing it good. It actually had a summit that you could
reach and the hike was intense. It was, we should have known in the
first 20 feet that it was going to be an intense hike. We have a f*ckin bike!. Wow! That’s pretty cool. Just out of kind of nowhere. Anyway, the Maja tour was
🌊 Adriatic Coast Adventures in Albania & Croatia | Beaches, Hikes & Historic Towns
Join us, Lisa & Mark — The Vagabond Dreamers — as we explore the stunning Adriatic coastline from Albania’s hidden beaches to Croatia’s medieval towns. In this episode of our Balkans travel series, we share breathtaking hikes, unique city walks, and honest reviews of some of the most talked-about spots. Perfect for older travelers looking for culture, scenery, and a touch of adventure.
We’ll take you to Gjipe Beach, hike the challenging Maja Qorrre trail, wander medieval walls in Ston, and discover hidden gems like Zadar’s Sea Organ. You’ll also hear about our travel mishaps, local encounters, and candid thoughts on overhyped destinations like Split.
Whether you’re dreaming of Albania’s Riviera or Croatia’s coastal charm, this guide will give you inspiration — and a few laughs — for your next trip.
⏱ Chapters
0:00 Intro – Vagabond Dreamers in the Balkans
0:43 Albania Beaches – Vlore, Dhermi, & Gjipe Beach
2:01 Croatia Beaches – Dubrovnik’s Bellevue Beach
3:03 Albania Hikes – Dhermi Church, Gjipe Canyon, Maja Qorrre Summit
8:36 Croatia Hikes – Ston & Mali Ston Medieval Walls
9:49 City Walks – Vlore’s Lively Waterfront & Sunset Hill
11:55 Croatia’s Omis – Canyon Boat Ride & Old Town
12:41 Split – Diocletian’s Palace (and why it underwhelmed)
13:28 Zadar – Sea Organ & Old Town Discovery
15:13 Wrap-Up – Final thoughts & next destinations
📍 Highlights
🏖 Crystal-clear waters at Gjipe Beach in Albania
🏔 Challenging climb up Maja Qorrre with dramatic views
🏰 Walking atop the medieval walls between Mali Ston & Ston
🎶 Listening to Zadar’s Sea Organ at sunset
🚤 Scenic boat ride through the Omis canyon
🥾 Honest reviews & tips for older travelers exploring the Balkans
💬 About Us
We’re Lisa & Mark, The Vagabond Dreamers, traveling the world and sharing story-driven travel videos for curious, active, older travelers.
Follow us all the way on our Monster Trip at www.youtube.com/@vagabonds-2025/videos