albania and montenegro suggested drivers

going on cruise with stops in sarande, albania and kotor, montenegro and cannot find any info on private cars and english speaking drivers for private tours..any suggestions?

We just returned from Kotor Montenegro. It is a fun place to walk around and enjoy the town. No need to rent a taxi. We hiked up the hill behind the city to visit St Ivans Fortress. Great views.

We just returned from a similar cruise and walking around Kotor (which is beautiful scenery) is great if you can walk up and down hills and stairways. Sarande is one ugly city, not much English spoken as far as I could see. Countryside is green and hilly and picturesque if you can overlook the trash and plastic bags on all the trees and bushes. The only thing to see are the ruins at Butrint which are interesting. We took the ship tour and the guide was excellent. Some people who took other tours hated them. There is absolutely no shopping or reason to tour the city itself., IMHO.

We are stopping in Kotor on our cruise and I have read on this site that

a trip to Budva is something we should look into doing. I have been in

touch with a taxi/driving company at terrae-car@cg.yu as they do this type of thing. I was referred to them by Visit Montenegro.

Sondi

I just returned from the Athens to Venice cruise and used private tour guides in several ports including Sarande, Albania. I wouldn't suggest trying to do Sarande via cab on your own as the poverty and poor infastructure is extreme. For a tour of Butrint I contacted a travel agency in Tirana (sales@albania-holidays.com) that provided us with a reliable guide and taxi for our time in port. I must advise you that we paid in full (u.s. dollars) to the travel agent at the time of booking. If you want to deal directly with the guide Luisi (knowledgable and personable) he can be contacted at (financer22002@yahoo.com). We also had private drivers/tours in Kusadasi/Ephesus and Crete/Knossos/Heraklion.

If you have questions then please post them to this board.

We just returned from a similar cruise and walking around Kotor (which is beautiful scenery) is great if you can walk up and down hills and stairways. Sarande is one ugly city, not much English spoken as far as I could see. Countryside is green and hilly and picturesque if you can overlook the trash and plastic bags on all the trees and bushes. The only thing to see are the ruins at Butrint which are interesting. We took the ship tour and the guide was excellent. Some people who took other tours hated them. There is absolutely no shopping or reason to tour the city itself., IMHO.

I was going to do a ships tour from Corfu - to Sarande. The ruins sound really interesting. I wonder what the food is like?

When our ship docked in Corfu a few years ago we went over to Sarande, Albania on our own via the hydrofoil. We hung around the town for a few hours and then went back. If your ship is docking here, this would be one good place to buy the ship's tour to Butrint and not try to do it on your own. The town itself had no post cards for sale, no souvenirs, no nothing. Maybe they do now. We just sat on some steps and had an ice cream cone and a Coke; nothing else to do.

What cruise ship is docking at Sarande now?

BobK/Orlando

I just returned from the Athens to Venice cruise and used private tour guides in several ports including Sarande, Albania. I wouldn't suggest trying to do Sarande via cab on your own as the poverty and poor infastructure is extreme. For a tour of Butrint I contacted a travel agency in Tirana (sales@albania-holidays.com) that provided us with a reliable guide and taxi for our time in port. I must advise you that we paid in full (u.s. dollars) to the travel agent at the time of booking. If you want to deal directly with the guide Luisi (knowledgable and personable) he can be contacted at (financer22002@yahoo.com). We also had private drivers/tours in Kusadasi/Ephesus and Crete/Knossos/Heraklion.

If you have questions then please post them to this board.

I sent an email to Luisi asking for availability. However I would like to know how long you used his services and how much you paid although I realize you paid the agency and he got a cut or vice versa but I need to know what is reasonable. What was your itinerary? Thank you so much for all your help.

I sent an email to Luisi asking for availability. However I would like to know how long you used his services and how much you paid although I realize you paid the agency and he got a cut or vice versa but I need to know what is reasonable. What was your itinerary? Thank you so much for all your help.

Considering that Kate21 posted her information about 7 years ago (and hasn't posted here since 2008), I think it's pretty likely she will not respond.

Luis Seiti is an excellent guide whom I highly recommend for any time you spend in Albania. Back in 2008, we had an afternoon in Saranda and he took us over to wonderful Butrint.

We returned to Albania last September, this time for a full day at Durres port near the main city of Tirana, and we took a ship's tour because I thought Luis would not travel that far for a tour. But he was leading one of our ship's tours! He remembered us, and we spent some time together at the end of the day.

I believe that email address in kate21's post above for him still is good, but he also can be contacted via facebook.

His charges are very reasonable. Check him out!

I have been in contact with Luis about a 4-5 hour tour. He is quoting prices of €160 (4 hours) to €208 (5 hours) which includes admission to Butrint. This is for 2 people - not a taxi of up to 4 people!

The longer trip includes a visit to the Blue Eye Spring. These prices seem very high for the area. He seems to be collecting double the price of admission to Butrint (based on what I found to be the admission price on their website). I'd like to use him, but those prices are quite high.

Does anyone have any other recommendations for an English speaking driver?