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Europe will be busier than ever this fall, especially when temperatures have not yet dropped and seasonal routes are still operational.
Interestingly, while Americans will flock to countries like Italy, France and Spain, other lesser known spots still go unnoticed of most visitors.
In fact, Europe’s most popular destination in the post-restrictions world is not France’s overpriced Côte d’Azur or Spain’s Balearic Islands: Southeast Europe is where she is, or more precisely, THE extremely underrated Balkan Peninsula.
Home to a diverse set of countries, including the increasingly popular sunny hotspots of Albania and Montenegro, which have topped the summer travel charts this year, and many other beautiful off-the-trail locations beaten, there is simply Nowhere more trendy than the “Balkans” right now.
Here are 5 reasons why:
It’s diverse
First of all, the Balkans are probably the most unexpectedly diverse subregion of Europe. With countless ethnic groups residing in the territory, 11 countries that are part of it or totally, and at least 7 languages, not to mention their dialects, it is a melting pot of cultures:
- Slovenia
- Croatia
- Bosnia Herzegovina
- Serbia
- Kosovo
- Montenegro
- Albania
- North Macedonia
- Bulgaria
- Romania
- Greece
- European Türkiye
One of the reasons European countries are so popular with American tourists is how different they can be from each other despite being close neighbors.
In the Balkans, for example, Slavs rub shoulders with Romance language speakers, Albanians, Hellenic peoples and even Turks.
There really is nothing more fascinating than crossing the border between Romania and Bulgaria and seeing the road signs radically change from the Latinized alphabet to Cyrillic, or taking the ferry from modernist Albania to more traditional Greek island of Corfu and admire the sudden and striking architectural changes.
Magnificent beaches
The Western Mediterranean is Europe’s premier fall destination due to its unique blend of ancient heritage and coastal areas. However, a fact little known to Americans is that the Mediterranean is expanding well beyond Contiguous coasts of Spain, France and Italy.
The Balkan Peninsula also has a world-famous sea coastline, bordered by one of its most stunning sections: the Adriatic.
Adriatic beaches are either pebble or a mix of pebble and white sand, and the waters are probably the clearest you’ll find in the Mediterranean, especially on the Dalmatian coast of Croatia, Montenegro or Albania. Southern Riviera.
Besides the Adriatic, the Balkans are the gateway to Europe’s next trendy coastal spot: THE Black Seawhich despite its misleading name, is a warm and beautifully azure pool.
In this article, we’ve covered some of the Black Sea’s most promising holiday destinations, including the ever-trendy Sunny Beach in Bulgaria and the unheralded Eforie Nord in Romania.
The Black Sea beaches are best known for their elongated crescents of golden sand and a not-as-developed resort scene.
Whether it’s the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean that make your heart beat faster or the mysterious Black Sea that piques your intrigue, the Balkans make for the perfect off-season getaway.
Less crowd
Overtourism is back in Europe, but not all European countries are reporting dangerously disruptive levels of tourism in 2023.
In the Balkans, Croatia and Greece have notoriously struggled with overtourism in recent years. Yet the majority of the peninsula’s sovereign states not only are not inundated with visitors, they are. actively promote tourism hoping to catch up with their more famous counterparts.
This is the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country once ravaged by war, which has become a fairly stable and safe tourist destination over the last decade and where locals now live willing to welcome foreigners and cash in their tourist dollars.
Except for the power trio of Croatia, Montenegro and Greece, all other Balkan states remain virtually crowd-free – by Western European standards – offering guests a more relaxed and less stressful vacation than if they had booked a trip to the South West instead.
The locals are friendly
While it is important not to generalize, because kindness is not limited to territorial borders, as one of our writers was able to observe firsthandBalkan conviviality is really hard to competeespecially in Albania or Bosnia-Herzegovina, which are not very touristy.
Whether sharing a drink with inviting locals in central squares or being invited into their family home, she quickly learned that the hospitality of locals knows no bounds.
The level of friendliness of the Balkans is directly linked to the lack of overtourism in the region, as this has been observed to increase anti-tourist attitudes elsewhere in Europe, particularly in extremely popular vacation spots like Italy and Italy. France.
In Bosnia, for example, the premises are excited to see new visitorsa Bosnian providing cooking classes to tourists since 2018, stating that “tourism can offer you hope”, referring to the much-needed influx of tourist dollars and the country’s opening to the outside world.
The Balkans are cheaper
Finally, there is the very affordable nature of the Balkans. We could argue that they are by far the cheapest holiday destinations in all of Europe, as the majority of countries are not part of the European Union or its associated Schengen and Euro zones, and prices at consumption are much lower than those in the West, where prices are too high.
According to BudgetYourTravela travel website where rough estimates of tourist spending are given, visitors must set aside about $45 per day travel to Albania, where accommodation can be extremely affordable – with nightly rates as low as $20 for a room in a mid-range hotel – and where food is fresh, plentiful and inexpensive.
In Kosovo, reportedly one of the cheapest destinations in Europe, the estimated monthly cost for a single person is $449.60, according to a participatory study. Numberwith a cost of living on average 60.4% lower than in the United States
Trendy Montenegro is much more expensive than the Balkan average, with BudgetYourTravel daily costs are estimated at $115 per person, but still below Western Europe’s much higher threshold of $170 and above.
On averagebeachgoers spent $40 on meals for one day and just $17 on local transportation when traveling to the Dalmatian coast of Montenegro.
Learn more about this beautiful part of the world and why it is growing in popularity in this post-crisis era. here.
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This article was originally published on TravelOffPath.com