We had a sea view with a balcony.
The beach is very close, through a pedestrian crossing, sandy, with sunbeds and umbrellas.
The pool is on the top floor but very small.
Towels are issued on a deposit of 5 € per pair.
The food is the same every day, you choose for yourself.
For breakfast - buffet. For dinner, the restaurant offers a choice of: soup (3 types), main course (fish, chicken, or pasta with seafood), salad and dessert or fruit.
Around a huge number of restaurants, pizzerias and bars. There are shops.
When choosing a hotel, I always use the data of tour operators' websites, reviews of tourists from various sources. I look through all possible photos, evaluate the tour taking into account the informational ratings of the hotel. I always approach this issue very responsibly, I don’t want to let down not only myself, but also other accompanying persons. I think that the choice of the hotel itself and its position (on the map) is at least 70% of the organization and success of your holiday and its results.
The Sky Up flight (used the services of this carrier 8-10 times before) for the first time passed in both directions without delays in departure, even with a decrease of 15 minutes in the declared flight time. The meeting party of Aler Travel, girls from Ukraine and Belarus, are very pleasant and conducted cognitive programs in both directions of the transfer. The claimed transfer time of 4 hours from Tirana Airport to Vlore hotels was actually even less, with a stopover of 15 minutes, it took no more than 2 hours and 30 minutes, after the flight this is very important.
Now about the hotel there were some inaccuracies in the description:
1. The hotel positions itself as the 1st line. Permissible. The beach of the hotel is not far, 150 meters, across the embankment of Vlora. But, the hotel has an L-shape, one side of it looks at the mountains, the opposite side from the sea, and the second one goes onto the road directed towards the sea perpendicularly. Another building of the same L-shape and similar configuration of 8 floors is attached to the hotel, but it is closer to the sea, overlooking the road and overlooking the sea itself.
2. The sites of two tour operators have data that all rooms are standard hotel, have safes and balconies. This is not true at all. For example, room 403 faces the courtyard, four walls can be seen from the window. Similarly, about 4 interior rooms of each floor (there are rooms on the following floors 2.4-7) do not have balconies, and the view of the inner (gray) courtyard will not please any tourist. There is only one safe in the hotel, only the manager who accepts your documents and money in a package has access to it. It does not provide you with any document. The safe does not have separate chambers and cells for individual storage, it is simply one and common. The guarantee of storage and return raised some doubts in me. It should also be noted that access to the safe and your documents will not always be available. When there is no responsible person, receptionists (who work around the clock) simply do not have one. It's not very convenient. I personally had to spend 6 hours of my rest time to move from room 403 to room 512 with a balcony and an additional 3 hours (until 23-00) they brought me to my room and secured an individual safe. In this part, the attitude of the Regina hotel chain towards tourists is not clear, is it really a problem to install safes in the rooms, the cost of which is 75-90 Euros, moreover, the site information will be brought into line.
Everything else in and out of the hotel was perfectly normal.
1. Beach. Adriatic sea, sand. Equipped with sunbeds and umbrellas, for hotel guests free of charge, for strangers 500 lek. When leaving the beach, there is a shower and the opportunity to rinse your feet from the sand. Water on the Internet indicated +24.5, in fact it was +26.5, which was very pleasing. About 150 m from the shore, the depth is no more than 1.5 meters, then it will be deeper. Many vacationers with children. As a rule, the sea is calm, there are a few waves and the water unfortunately loses its transparency. There is always a caretaker who keeps order and cleans the beach.
2. Nutrition. There isn't much of it, really, but it's all very tasty. Breakfast and dinner buffet. Lunch waiter service. Every day from Dorado or Sea Bass fish dishes. Pasta and pilaf with seafood. The meat stew is just amazing. Meat in the form of chops from the ham and ribs of pork has always been hard and not tasty. Similar cooking is in cafes near the hotel and even in the mountains, when we had lunch on an excursion.
3. Location of the hotel. The best for Vlora is not possible to imagine at all. Closer to the port part and the city center, the beaches are more dirty. And closer to the center, in general, there is no beach strip of sand, in the presence of a large number of hotels, it is not entirely clear where their own beaches are. Our hotel is located right on the embankment, the length of which is 5-6 km. If you walk along the promenade from the hotel to the left, you can get through the tunnel to the beaches of the Ionian Sea, about 2-2.5 km. At the moment, the embankment is being reconstructed and it is not possible to walk on foot, there are no sidewalks. Near the hotel there are many markets (all non-GMO), cafes and restaurants. Everywhere very tasty desserts, ice cream. The pricing policy of food products is the same as in Ukraine, imported alcoholic drinks (especially Italian ones) are even cheaper. Ready-made restaurant-type meals are even cheaper than in Ukraine. Examples: pasta with seafood 500-700 lek, beef steak 600-700 lek, salads (Greek style) 150-200 lek, Margherita pizza - 400 lek, beer 200 lek. Given the exchange rate of 1 dollar - 100 lek, 1 euro - 120 lek. It turns out very acceptable.
4. Administration, waiters and cleaning. Everyone in the hotel is very friendly and try to resolve any issue that has arisen. At the entrance to the hotel there is a kind of porter (youth) who welcomes and opens the doors. Everyone is always very grateful for tips. We left $ 1 for cleaning, not a single misunderstanding, everything is clean and tidy. In general, it is worth paying attention to the fact that the country has not yet been spoiled by tourists and everyone is very friendly.
5. Excursions from Aler Travel, those that were me:
First, the cost is 50 euros. Departure from the hotel. Stop for coffee. Stop at the observation deck, the opportunity to go down to the beach by parachute (+60 euros). Llagora beach (Ionian Sea, pebbles) for an hour and a half. The town of Dhermi and a visit to the Temple of the Fallen Angel. On the way back, the opportunity to buy sage honey 500 lek, local tea Male 100 lek, cold-pressed olive oil 1 liter 800 lek. And other. Lunch included in the price.
Second, the cost is 55 euros. Departure from the hotel to the port. On high-speed boats for 10-14 people a trip to the island of Sazan. Abandoned military base on the island. Beautiful views and landscapes. Visiting the Cave and the possibility of swimming in it (water +16). Transfer to the beach of the Calabourne peninsula. Lunch is taken with you. On the beach you can relax on the wild (free of charge on towels), or 1000 lek for an umbrella + 2 deck chairs. Beer is expensive 500 lek. Drive back to port and hotel.
These excursions were superbly accompanied by the guide Irena. The information is very informative, wise, a lot of useful tips and history, from ancient Rome to this day.
EPILOGUE: despite some misunderstanding during the check-in at the hotel, which were settled, I have no complaints at all about the hotel, the operators accompanying the tour, or the rest in Albania itself. Everything went great. I think to visit Albania again, perhaps more than once. I will even advise my friends, given this year's prices for Turkey, Croatia, Montenegro.
Settlement happened at lightning speed.
We were given a room with a great view of the mountains.
Room for three people, pleased with the fact that the room has a third full bed, you can sleep.
The rooms are spacious, with balconies, there are clothes dryers on the balconies, as well as tables and chairs.
The rooms are cleaned every day (towels are changed, all accessories are delivered). Change of bed linen every 2 days. Cleaning was done quietly when we were not at the hotel.
The bathroom has all the accessories up to disposable toothbrushes, etc. etc. , in general, everything that our tourists like to bring as a souvenir).
There is a kettle, cups, glasses, air conditioning, TV.
Very good Wi-Fi throughout the hotel, also free of charge.
The highlight of this hotel is the rooftop pool.
The breakfasts are good, the food is constantly delivered, their own pastries, very tasty coffee. You won't leave hungry, good quality food.
The beach is across the road. Sun loungers, umbrellas and towels for free.
Good bun at the reception - you can take towels for the beach and for the pool for free.
The hotel is new, 2017.
The rooms are clean and the furniture is new.
The staff is very polite and responsive. He speaks English, but will understand Russian if necessary.
I recommend the hotel, it is located at the beginning of the Lungo Mare promenade, all the infrastructure is nearby, our room overlooked the mountains, it was quiet. Shops, cafes, restaurants - everything is at hand.
By the way, we somehow went to dinner, as we took the hotel for breakfast, ordered from the menu, the prices are average, like throughout Vlora, but they can even cook to order whatever you want; )
Breakfast is monotonous, but good (there is plenty to choose from). Dinners are simply amazing. Meat, chicken, seafood or fish (there was only dorado) - take as much as you like. Often there were seafood: pasta with shrimp, mussels. Lots of different fruits and vegetables. Drinks are free. Wifi is excellent. The rooms get without problems.
There were always enough sunbeds on the beach (maybe because we were in September). The city itself is clean, well-groomed, a beautiful promenade where you can walk in the evenings. Sea of restaurants and cafes with delicious coffee and inexpensive food.
The entrance to the sea is long and shallow. Suitable for families with children. The sea is clean and it is impossible to drown in it. I have made a discovery. Just try to go at least to a shallow depth and not move your arms or legs - you will just hang in the water and not drown. Check it out!! ! My husband is afraid to swim with me, I told him, he checked and was stunned)))
Excursions are more expensive than in any other countries. My husband and I took a car (35 euros per day) and traveled half the country in 2.5 days, seeing the most interesting things. We recommend Berat - a city of a thousand windows with a castle-city on a mountain, Gjirokastu - with a castle on a mountain and Lagora Nature Reserve (we walked there in a real cloud because it is high above sea level).
Go - you won't regret it!
Daily cleaning. Meals - breakfast for 4, dinner for 10. I won't sign everything. I advise you to go!!! !