Albanian Thailand "leaves foreigners speechless", but loud music and mass tourism endanger it

2024-08-08 08:30:00, Aktualitet CNA

Albanian Thailand "leaves foreigners speechless", but loud music and

Illustrative photo

Every day, hundreds of tourists travel to the Shala River, boats that sail without stopping as they take tourists to visit or return them from this visit.

Described as the Albanian Thailand a few years ago, the popularity of this tourist destination gradually increased, culminating in the last two years when the numbers of foreigners have also reached a record number.

Passionate about adventure and nature tourism, foreign visitors are almost all interested in visiting this part of the North, including among others points such as Thethi or Valbona, but the popularity seems to have increased the fear of the destruction that this brings to nature. overuse where usually in the photos that are posted there is a high number of sunbeds and complaints about loud music.

"If you expect to find an idyllic place, don't go here.

During the time the tourists are here (11:00 – 15:00) it is completely crowded and extremely noisy (every bar has loud music).

If you stay overnight, things pick up a little after 6pm, until the bar next door decides to throw another party, upsetting ALL THE OTHER ACCOMMODATIONS. The open beach bar thinks it's the only place and selfishly plays music all night.

We haven't slept at all!!!! The next morning it was completely quiet, only the sound of nature ... until the day tourists came, very disappointed" says Maria Katarina F. in a July 14 evaluation of the destination of the Sala River.

The rating for nature is always the highest while the way tourism is managed in this region is given low ratings, something you can also find in videos posted on TikTok.

The tours that are organized towards the Shala River are probably the only ones that unanimously have positive evaluations mainly for the way they are organized, but rather for the panoramic views along the road and the crystal water of the River.

"I would go back there in a heartbeat" comments a tourist in one of the videos on TikTok.

"This place has my heart and the cleanest waters I've ever seen," commented another.

"The road to Koman is not in the best condition, but it can be done by normal car. You can park some distance away in a parking lot, or close to the tunnel entrance on the street (at the risk of a €20 fine).

You'll get beautiful views of the surrounding area during the hour or so you cruise along the river. Then you can spend a few hours in a place with pebble beaches. It is relatively touristic, but not too crowded," says another tourist.

There are constant complaints about the Koman road from tourist operators, who over the years have asked for interventions to improve the transport of tourists, especially organized ones who are interested in visiting this tourist spot./ Monitor