Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Tourism in Albania is still in its infancy. Albania was under a communist regime which did not allow tourism to become established for a long time. It is a country of great natural beauty which includes sandy white Mediterranean beaches, rocky mountains, fertile plains, big and small lakes, natural monuments, and remote, pristine areas. Albania has an old history dating to the Illyrian civilization and there are many old ruins and other treasures reflecting the old civilizations. Syri i Kalter (Photo by Marc Morell) Some of the most visited cities include: Berat - the Town of a Thousand Windows Butrint - a UNESCO World Heritage site Durrės - the old port city of Dyrrhachium Gjirokastėr Krujė - home of Skanderbeg, Albania's national hero, and his castle (now a museum dedicated to him) Sarandė Tiranė - the capital Vlorė Some of the problems keeping tourism from flourishing in this beautiful country stem from the political instability. There may still be armed bandits in the remote areas and pollution from illegal construction is ruining some of the most popular areas. There are also allegations that the government officials have been "bribed" in some way by Italian and Greek officials so as not to develop tourism in Albania and thus not intrude in Italian tourism and Greek tourism. See also Geography of Albania List of cities in Albania External Links Ministry of Territorial Planning and Tourism (official site) Article on Albanian tourism Photo Albums: [1] [1] [1] [1] [1] [1] [1] [1] [1] [1] [1] This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.