Hinoki Travels invites you to journey with us on a small group trip to Southern Albania, where we will explore the region's varied cultures, food & agriculture, and vast landscapes.

On each Hinoki trip, we explore a theme of that connects to well-being. Each trip is intended to spark your creative thinking, while we experience new ways of taking care of ourselves and our communities--taking inspiration from the local cultures who host us. In Albania, we will explore our theme of Provenance.

Provenance describes the origin of something, and often refers to the flavor of a food and how its qualities stem from the soil it was nurtured in. In the globalized era, Albania is a place where the flavor of its food cannot be replicated outside of the region. Realizing this gives us an opportunity to explore our own relationship to the lands on which we rely, and to what lengths we are willing to go to protect them.

If there are three things that we want you to bring home with you from this trip, they are:

- The complexities of the Albanian people and their culture

- The abundance of their land & the quality of the food they produce

(which they will very generously share with you.)

- The wildness of their mountains & rivers, and how Albanians are protecting them

We will be hosted by local farmers, food producers, shepherds, local guides & small business owners. We'll stay overnight in guest houses in villages, sample the local food & wine (including an indigenous grape native to Albania), raft a wild river, and hike through the vast diversity of Southern Albania's landscape. In Albania, there are even spiritual practices that you won't find elsewhere. We'll explore that, too.

Most importantly, this trip will support the efforts of Albanian citizens who are dedicated to protecting the Vjosa River--Europe's last wild-flowing river. By declaring it a National Park, Albania will be able to protect this precious waterway forever. Hinoki is contributing 5% of your trip fee to funds that will support EcoAlbania, who is organizing efforts to protect the Vjosa. Keeping the Vjosa wild and un-dammed will protect the entire ecosystem that depends on this waterway, including the people who live alongside it. You can learn more about this project here.

We also encourage you to view our Albania journal post here to learn more about our past travels in the country.

Note: this trip is limited to travelers who are 18 years of age or older.

Please review our Booking Terms & Conditions, found on our website under FAQ's here.