Durres is an attractive city with a long history on the shores of the Adriatic sea. It has long sandy beaches and a lot of modern hotels were built along the road to the south of the city centre. Hotel Belconti is in the ‘second resort area’ beyond the Nato base.
From the outside Hotel Belconti is a typical 1990s large hotel building with its own private beach. It had been one of the coldest winters for 30 years which had killed the palm trees in the garden by the beach. When we visited these were being removed and replanted by more hardy trees.
I had a big corner room with a balcony on two sides which overlooked the beach and the gardens of the next door hotel. facing south and west it was a sun trap. It was a very pleasant room with a large and very comfortable double bed with good pillows. There wasn’t much space on one side which might be a disadvantage if there were two of you. There was a small flat screen TV and telephone, but no kettle – something which seems to be missing from most hotels in Albania. At least there was a suitcase rack.
The bathroom had a large walk in shower and nice soap and shower gel. It was rather let down by the towels which weren’t very large.
Breakfast was in a large room overlooking the garden and beach. It was self service and took a while to find everything. There was a fairly basic selection of cereals and fruit juice with the usual hot selection of small frankfurter style sausages and scrambled eggs. The plain yogurt was home made and rather lumpy but tasted good, especially with a dollop of damson jam. I stocked up on the cold meats and cheese with tomatoes and cucumber, but avoiding the olives. The puffy deep fried batter triangle was a hit. There was also a selection of sweet stuff but apart from the chocolate sauce filled croissant this was a bit uninspiring. Be warned, the coffee is very strong!
i enjoyed the hotel, but it is a long walk from the centre of Durres, so not a good choice if you are wanting to experience the nightlife of the city. I didn’t have dinner in the restaurant. Those that did said it was a very good meal. There is also only one small lift.
“Website”:http://www.belcontihotel.com/
To find out more about Albania, all my pictures and what we did, go “here.”:http://wasleys.org.uk/eleanor/otherholidays/albania/index.html
