Forget everything you may think you know about the Balkans. Those outdated images of conflict zones and gray communist-era cities? Yugoslavia is now broken up into some beautiful countries attracting tourists from all over. Today’s Balkans are Europe’s most thrilling adventure, and it is mainly due to the mountains, amazing food, new cultures, and the affordability of everything.
The Balkans represent everything modern travelers claim to want but struggle to find elsewhere: authentic cultures untouched by mass tourism, stunning natural beauty without the crowds, rich historical layers that tell Europe’s most fascinating stories, and prices that make luxury experiences accessible to everyone. It’s like discovering Europe before everyone else figured out how incredible it was. There are issues like transportation is a bit different going from the EU to these countries, but for the most part it is a new adventure.
This is adventure travel for people who thought adventure travel meant sacrificing comfort, cultural travel for those who assumed culture came with tourist theater, and budget travel for those who never imagined luxury could be affordable.
Croatia
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Croatia didn’t just master the art of coastal beauty, it perfected it. The Dalmatian Coast offers 3,600 miles of pristine shoreline where crystal-clear Adriatic waters lap against medieval cities that look like they were designed by angels with exceptional taste. Dubrovnik’s walls rise directly from the sea, while Split lets you live inside a Roman emperor’s palace that somehow became a living, breathing city.
But Croatia’s secret weapon isn’t just the coast, it’s the diversity packed into a country smaller than West Virginia. Plitvice Lakes National Park creates landscapes so perfect they look computer-generated, with turquoise lakes connected by waterfalls that cascade through forests so green they hurt your eyes. The food is amazing with Black Risotto, and some of the best seafood around. Meanwhile, Istrian hill towns serve truffles and wine that rival anything in Italy, at prices that make extended culinary adventures financially feasible.
Croatia is bucket list item for many people, especially after watching Game of Thrones and wanting to see King’s Landing. The country is like the cheaper and more beautiful version of Italy. The coast line alone brings people from far and wide.
Serbia
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Serbia proves that the best European experiences happen where tourists haven’t yet figured out what they’re missing. Belgrade pulses with an energy that makes Berlin look sleepy, underground clubs in abandoned buildings, kafanas (traditional taverns) where locals sing until dawn, and a nightlife scene so legendary that people fly in just for the weekend.
But Serbia’s real treasures lie beyond the capital. Medieval monasteries cling to cliffsides in landscapes that inspired Byzantine artists, while Novi Sad provides Danube River charm with a music festival scene that attracts hundreds of thousands of international visitors who somehow keep this secret from spreading widely.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
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Bosnia tells Europe’s most complex story through landscapes and cities that have witnessed everything from Ottoman grandeur to Austro-Hungarian elegance to the more recent conflicts that most travelers think define the region. Sarajevo combines mosque minarets with Catholic churches and Orthodox temples within blocks of each other, creating religious diversity that predates modern tolerance movements by centuries.
Mostar’s famous bridge, rebuilt after wartime destruction, symbolizes renewal and reconciliation in ways that make UNESCO designations feel inadequate. Meanwhile, the countryside offers whitewater rafting on the Neretva River, mountain hiking that rivals the Alps, and traditional villages where ancient ways of life continue authentically rather than as tourist attractions.
Montenegro
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Montenegro proves that good things come in small packages, this country roughly the size of Connecticut contains fjord-like coastlines, alpine lakes, and medieval towns that create visual drama comparable to Norway, Switzerland, or New Zealand. The Bay of Kotor winds inland like a Mediterranean fjord, while the old town of Kotor creates one of Europe’s most perfectly preserved medieval settings.
Durmitor National Park offers hiking through landscapes where glacial lakes reflect mountain peaks that rise directly from emerald meadows. The Tara River Canyon, Europe’s deepest, provides whitewater rafting experiences through pristine wilderness that feels completely untouched by modern development.
North Macedonia
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North Macedonia offers historical depth that spans millennia, from ancient Macedonian kingdoms to Ottoman architecture to Yugoslav-era monuments that create unique cultural layers. Ohrid, one of Europe’s oldest lakeside settlements, features Byzantine churches and medieval fortifications overlooking a lake so clear and pristine it’s protected as both a UNESCO World Heritage site and biosphere reserve.
The country’s position at the crossroads of European and Asian trade routes created architectural and culinary fusion that exists nowhere else. Traditional restaurants serve dishes that blend Turkish, Greek, and Slavic influences, while wine regions produce varieties from indigenous grapes that predate most European wine traditions.
Albania
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Albania represents Europe’s final undiscovered frontier, a country where dramatic mountains meet pristine coastlines, where Ottoman architecture coexists with communist-era monuments, and where traditional mountain villages preserve ways of life that have largely disappeared elsewhere in Europe.
The Albanian Riviera offers Mediterranean coastlines that rival anything in Greece or Italy, but without the infrastructure development that has transformed other European coastal destinations. Traditional stone villages in the Albanian Alps preserve mountain cultures where hospitality traditions create authentic cultural exchanges rather than commercial tourist interactions.
Whitewater Rafting on the Tara River
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The Tara River cuts through Montenegro and Bosnia, creating Europe’s deepest canyon and some of its most spectacular whitewater rafting. Multi-day rafting trips take you through pristine wilderness where the only sounds are rushing water and birds, while overnight camping on riverbanks provides star-filled skies unpolluted by urban light.
The rafting ranges from gentle family-friendly floats to serious whitewater challenges, with local guides who grew up on these rivers providing both safety expertise and cultural insights about traditional river communities that few tourists ever encounter.
Hiking the Via Dinarica
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The Via Dinarica trail connects the Dinaric Alps across Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Albania, creating one of Europe’s most spectacular and least crowded long-distance hiking opportunities. The trail passes through national parks, traditional villages, and mountain landscapes that showcase the region’s incredible biodiversity and cultural diversity.
Multi-day sections can be hiked independently or with local guides who provide insights into mountain traditions, wild edible plants, and historical sites that aren’t marked on any tourist maps. Mountain huts and traditional guesthouses provide accommodation that ranges from basic to surprisingly comfortable.
Wine Regions Nobody Talks About
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The Balkans produce wines from grape varieties that predate most European wine traditions, creating tasting experiences that feel like discovering entirely new categories of wine. Croatian Istria produces whites that rival Burgundy, while North Macedonia’s Tikvesh region creates reds from indigenous grapes that taste unlike anything in mainstream wine markets. The olive oil is also amazing in Croatia as well. If you ever there, drop by one of their market to pick up a few bottles to take home.
Small family wineries offer tastings and tours that provide intimate cultural experiences where wine becomes a pathway to understanding regional history, agricultural traditions, and family stories that span generations. Many winemakers speak multiple languages and welcome international visitors eager to learn about wine traditions that remain largely unknown outside the region.
Living History Everywhere
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The Balkans provide tangible connections to European history that goes far beyond museum exhibits. Roman ruins dot the landscape, medieval monasteries preserve Byzantine art traditions, Ottoman architecture creates unique urban environments, and recent historical events remain part of living memory for local residents willing to share their experiences.
This historical depth creates travel experiences that educate through direct encounter rather than academic study. Walking through Sarajevo means experiencing religious diversity, wartime resilience, and cultural fusion in ways that make history personal rather than abstract.
The history in this region is outstanding. From the Medieval times, to Byzantine empire, Ottoman Empire, Dubrovnik had its own empire, there is so much history to discover. You may not be into history, but knowing and learning a bit more can help you to understand cultures and people.
The Bottom Line: Europe’s Best-Kept Secret
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The Balkans represent the Europe that existed before mass tourism, package tours, and Instagram optimization transformed travel destinations into theme parks. That is the negative part of Communism and anti capitalistic economies, but now the Balkans are hopping. This is where you’ll find medieval cities that function as living communities rather than museums, where natural wonders remain accessible rather than overcrowded, and where cultural experiences feel authentic rather than commercialized.
Pack your sense of adventure, bring your curiosity about complex histories and diverse cultures, and prepare to discover why the Balkans might just be Europe’s most rewarding travel destination. You’ll return home with stories that no one else has, experiences that transformed your understanding of European culture, and a desperate desire to return as soon as possible.
The Balkans aren’t just your next big adventure, they’re the adventure that will make you question why you ever traveled anywhere else in Europe.
Pontins Holiday Park in Prestatyn, Wales, was a thriving tourism hotspot with its own private beach, swimming pools and playground – but now the “filthy hellhole” lies completely dormant
Overgrown, run-down and left to rot(Image: Daily Post Wales)
Generations of families across Britain created cherished memories at Pontins Holiday Park in Prestatyn, Wales.
Once a bustling tourist destination boasting its own private beach, swimming pools and children’s play area – the site now stands as a derelict eyesore, bearing no resemblance to its glory days.
After operating for over five decades since opening in 1971, the resort shut its doors for good in November 2023, leaving locals wondering what would happen next.
Whispers have circulated about potential transformation into a fresh tourist venture, or possibly demolition to make way for residential development, yet no concrete plans have materialised, leaving the site to decay.
Images have surfaced through the years, revealing a neglected and crumbling location with deteriorating structures scattered across the grounds, reports the Mirror.
What it looks like now(Image: David Powell)
The announcement of the park’s sudden closure devastated the surrounding community. Britannia Hotels, Pontins’ parent company, had simultaneously ceased operations at both the Welsh location and its Camber Sands facility in East Sussex.
Residents shared their thoughts with North Wales Live earlier this year about their hopes for the site’s future, with Pete Davis, who runs a cleaning company that previously serviced Pontins, commenting: “It ought to be used for something. I think it should be a holiday camp again. The council could issue a compulsory purchase order (to help that happen).”
A fellow local agreed: “It’s empty and I’d rather it was a holiday camp again. We moved here in 1973 and it was never any trouble to us.
“I don’t want it knocked down for more houses as I don’t feel there are enough doctors’ surgeries and schools, not enough infrastructure to support them.”
Pontins in Prestatyn has been closed down since November 2023(Image: Daily Post Wales)
However, a grandmother-grandson pair described it as “decrepit” and an “eyesore”, stating: “It’s quite decrepit and an eyesore for the local community. Something needs to be done. It should be reborn as a holiday camp or used for modern apartments.
“Something needs to be doing to it otherwise it’s going to become a drug den or a place for flytippers.”
Local residents aren’t the only ones calling for transformation at the derelict holiday park, with Prestatyn’s Mayor, Cllr Adrian West, declaring: “I want to see the site brought back into some form of productive use again.
“For it just to be lying idle is doing nobody any good. I would not want it used for some sort of industry, given that it’s right next to the waterfront.”
A shadow of its former self(Image: Daily Post Wales)
He explained how Pontins Prestatyn could be crucial to revitalising the town centre, boosting visitor numbers which would significantly benefit local retailers, whilst also creating fresh job prospects across the region.
Yet not everyone mourns the closure of the park following more than five decades in business, with one Tripadvisor reviewer confessing: “Thank god this rancid filthy cesspit has shutdown. Awful, worn out and really dirty. and it needed knocking down years ago.”
A second visitor added: “As time has gone by all the rooms are filled with mold, vomit, worse than a dog kennel. It looks like a garbage dump,” whilst another admitted: “There are no words to describe how awful this place is. A prison cell would be preferable to the chalet.
“The areas outside are overgrown, potholes in the car park, pavements cracked and overgrown. Concrete on stairs broken, support for stairs rotten, nails sticking out.”
There are many good reasons to guzzle down a Japanese hotpot. First of all: it’s delicious. But fatigue from having kayaked in 32C temperatures through mangrove forests is rarely one of them.
That’s Okinawa for you. It’s Japan’s most southerly prefecture and the only one with a sub-tropical climate. This island chain, often called the Hawaii of Japan, is perhaps the only place where you can start your day, as I did, with a traditional Japanese onsen experience, continue it with a snorkel excursion among coral reefs, and end it with a steaming bowl of shabu-shabu.
The flight from Tokyo to Okinawa (both the name of the archipelago and of its main island) took about two-and-a-half hours. I’d booked both legs with Japanese airline ANA, so the transfer from my London–Tokyo flight to the domestic flight was very smooth, although you do still have to take your hold luggage through customs in Tokyo.
Writer Marianna Hunt explored the clear waters of the Okinawa archipelago in Japan (Getty Images/iStockphoto)
My plane touched down in Naha, the capital. The city is the gateway to the Kerama Islands and one of the best diving and snorkelling spots in Asia. While the ocean was a beautiful shade of turquoise, most of the city is a sprawling industrial port or mesh of high rise buildings. The loveliest bits of Okinawa’s main island are the beaches in the centre and the north, which is where I was headed.
I hopped on a group snorkelling tour of Kerama with snorkelling company Marine House Seasir (from ¥4,000 or £20 per adult for a half day). Within half an hour’s boat ride we were all gasping at the clear ocean. In parts you can see 40 or 50 metres deep and the water is a crystallised aquamarine colour so distinctive it has its own name: Kerama blue.
The area is known for its whale sharks, manta rays, sea turtles and even breeding humpback whales (the latter can be seen from December to March). Sadly none decided to come and play while I was there but we did see plenty of clownfish and rainbow parrotfish. The pristine lagoons fringed with coral reefs could have come straight out of a travel brochure for the Maldives.
Back on dry land, I began the one-hour drive up north to Hoshinya Okinawa, my hotel. Okinawa has almost no public transport so I relied on taxis during this trip. However, as I learned, the Japanese are impeccably polite behind the wheel and drive on the same side as in the UK so next time I’d consider hiring a car.
Hoshinoya Okinawa offers superlative ocean views from the rooms (Hoshinoya Okinawa)
Hoshinya continued the Maldivian vibe. The palatial suites come with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the sea for sunset snaps and access to a private beach. But there’s a deeper cultural side you don’t get in most high-end beach resorts, including a nightly performance of traditional Okinawan art. That evening I was treated to a bout of haunting singing and sanshin (a kind of ancient local banjo).
You can also row out to sea before breakfast with some local fisherman in a sabani (Okinawan wood boat) to hear about the local coral or take a lesson in karate, whose deepest origins lie right on this island.
However all this luxury doesn’t come cheap, with prices starting from ¥170,000 (£852) per night. At the other end of the scale, you can get a very comfortable double room at Ryukyu Onsen Senagajima Hotel for ¥24,000 (£120), including access to the hotel’s onsen spa and a slap-up Japanese breakfast.
But Hoshinoya’s appeal also came from its location – on the west side of the island near some of its best white sand beaches, like Nirai Beach (where you might see nesting sea turtles) and Zanpa Beach (more popular, with banana boat rides and snorkelling).
The surrounding Nakagami region is brimming with things to see and do, including the Southeast Botanical Gardens (one of the largest in Japan) and the famous artisan pottery workshops of Yomitan village.
The Southeast Botanical Gardens is one of the largest in Japan (Okinawa Convention＆Visitors Bureau)
The next day I decided to ditch the barefoot luxury and experience Okinawa’s wilder side, with a kayak excursion through the mangrove forests (from ¥10,150 or £51 per person). Around an hour’s taxi drive north of Hoshinoya is a stunning inland sea called Haneji , where Nik Brogan, originally from South Devon, has been leading kayak tours on the island for the past seven years and, as I learned, he has an encyclopedic knowledge of the local flora and fauna.
He pointed out sea ospreys and egrets as we paddled through the mudflats of an inland sea flanked by thick walls of untamed jungle.
It was deliciously peaceful. Just the chatter of a ruddy kingfisher for a soundtrack, and so far from the frenetic pace and sensory overload you imagine when you think of Tokyo or other parts of mainland Japan.
But that’s because Okinawa is not really Japan. Not historically at least. For 450 years it was a separate kingdom called Ryukyu, with its own language, cuisine and crafts. Once Japan formally took over in the 1870s, the local language and culture were suppressed.
The Kerama Islands are found in Keramashoto National Park, southwest of Okinawa, Japan, and are a famously good spot for diving (Getty Images)
Less than 100 years later, the islands were severely impacted by the Second World War. The Battle of Okinawa is regarded as one of the bloodiest Pacific skirmishes of the conflict, leaving the island in ash and under US military control for 27 years.
This difficult history gave Okinawa cultural legacies you won’t find anywhere else in Japan. All around the island, there are restaurants serving dishes like taco rice (a Tex-Mex-Japanese fusion invented locally to cater to American soldiers’ palates), and onigiri (rice balls) stuffed with Spam.
“Spam has become a staple on Okinawa since the US military gave it out to starving families after the war,” Junko Yokoo of Japan Guide Junko, a local tour company, explained.
The traditional Ryukyu cuisine is also being revived. The pork that I had piled into my shabu-shabu post-kayaking was a local speciality, agu, famous for its sweet marbled fat. The pig breed almost went extinct during the war but is now being rehabilitated.
“We feel different from people on the mainland,” Keito Shimabukuro from the Okinawa tourist board told me. “We are more relaxed. Over there, everyone is so busy rushing around.”
Most people I spoke to couldn’t believe Okinawa was the first place I’d ever visited in Japan. But I still got everything I wanted from a trip to the country: superb food presented as artistic masterpieces, uber-clean accommodation (and those famous Toto toilets), flawlessly polite service, and plenty of enriching history and culture. Plus the added bonus of getting to gaze at some of the world’s most beautiful beaches as I kayaked, snorkelled and swam.
With all that calorie burning, you’re going to need to throw some more of that delicious agu pork belly in your shabu-shabu.
I assume other parents of small children must do it too. While on holiday where a baby monitor won’t stretch the required distance from hotel bedroom to hotel bar, I instead video call my husband’s phone on Whatsapp, leave his phone in the room facing the cot and take my (muted) phone with us to keep an eye on the sprog. Does that make us awful parents?
On night two at the Ritz-Carlton Abama in Tenerife, we have the baby-monitor Whatsapp call in place. Our son, Reggie, is asleep after a taxing day of sandcastle building and ice-cream eating and our margaritas have just arrived. After months of London life, I’d forgotten starry nights could look so good.
Then my husband, Geordie, looks down at the phone and sees a tattooed arm (which definitely doesn’t belong to our two-year-old) moving across the screen of the phone left in the bedroom. Someone else is in our hotel room. Geordie hurtles off. A few frantic minutes later, I find him trying to get his heart rate back to normal. It turns out that a cleaner had been putting some Lindt chocolates beside our bed. Various lessons can be learnt here but, for starters, if you are going to leave a toddler unattended in your hotel room, first put the “Do not disturb” sign on the door and sacrifice the chocs.
Tenerife is a great option for young families
Laura Pullman and her husband, Geordie, with their son, Reggie
Slack parenting methods aside, this holiday was chosen largely with Reggie in mind: a buckets and spades break with no time difference, a short (ish) flight and (practically) guaranteed good weather. In mid-March not many places tick those boxes besides Tenerife, which is perhaps why our friends who’re also in the young family phase keep going there. It’s a four-hour flight, on the same time zone as the UK and, if you stay in the more touristy southern part of the island, the sun is likely to have his hat on. In my mind this time of life is precious. With no children of school age yet, we can avoid overly expensive flights (we paid £763 for three return flights from Gatwick) and the crowds that come in the school holidays.
The Ritz-Carlton Abama’s swimming pools are mostly empty outside of school holidays
JOE CHUA AGDEPPA
The hotel’s multiple pools are largely empty, the oceanfront tables at breakfast are free and Abama beach is busy but not overly so. A small train takes you down the resort’s hillside to the beach cove. On our first day, we meet a German father with his three-year-old daughter who are riding the train up and down for the morning without ever getting off. It’s funny how the goalposts of a successful holiday change once children come along.
We spend three days at the Ritz-Carlton bouncing between the pools, the playground and the beach where Reggie meets Ronnie, a British toddler friend. Gangster twins in their UPF 50+ swimsuits.
I tag out of parenting for a few hours to escape to the spa. Ingrid the masseuse gives me the Earth, Wind and Fire treatment, the massage for people who feel like they must earn a massage. To begin, you receive a gentle sandpapering with lava sand poured over your body and exfoliated off. Warning: do not get sunburnt before this treatment. Then comes the indulgent bit, the massage with hot stones, hot hands and hot towels.
Hunting lizards on a hike
A 20-minute drive north up the coast is Santiago del Teide, where we walk the Chinyero trail (named after the looming volcano) among the pink-blossomed almond trees and wild flowers. The hike is rebranded as a “Lizard Hunt” for the toddler, which keeps spirits high for the two-hour loop up the rocky terrain, across farm plots and vineyards and, at one point, through some beehives. (The buzzing builds, I close my mouth, get Reggie on my shoulders and run.) We get briefly lost, end up in a valley of cacti and have to turn back on ourselves just as the midday heat is picking up. “A fun little detour,” says Geordie, the chief map-reader.
The cliffs of Los Gigantes tower 800m above black-sand beaches
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Back in the car for another 20 minutes to the coast to Los Gigantes to see the 800m towering cliffs and black-sand beaches below. With tired legs, we reach the trail’s head to get a proper cliff view before turning back for chocolate chip cookies and coffees at Huggin a Mug café. Definitely a trail to do without little ones.
A change of hotel — and scene
One of the pools at Iberostar Selection Anthelia, which offers daily exercise classes
Halfway through we change hotels and head 20 minutes’ drive south to the more bustling Costa Adeje to stay at Iberostar Selection Anthelia, another mammoth hotel suited to young families. While Reggie has discos and activities in the kids’ area, I join in with the daily exercise class led by twinkly-eyed Mario in the main (thankfully heated) pool. “Beautiful”, “lovely”, yells Mario from the pool’s edge as about twenty hotel guests ranging from their twenties to their seventies jump around happily with foam noodles.
As Tenerife first-timers, the island’s most famous attraction, Mount Teide, also Spain’s highest peak (3,715m), feels like a must. Up early one morning, after a drive-by at the buffet (pancakes, custard pastries, cakes, hot chocolates for the two-year-old; “we’re on holiday”, we tell ourselves), we drive for an hour of sharp bends, descending fog and the current favourite song, Colonel Hathi’s March (“hup, two, three, four”), from The Jungle Book, on repeat. “It’s definitely brightening up”; “there’s blue sky over there”, we say as the landscape changes from lush pines to lunar rock formations. We’re not hiking up the volcano but have bought two online tickets for the 9.10am cable car to take us up to a height of 3,555m in a matter of minutes instead.
Except, on arrival, we learn that the cable car is closed for the morning because there are winds of 80mph at the top and, besides, only children aged three and up are allowed. (We’d wrongly assumed that you couldn’t buy tickets online for two-year-olds because they go free.)
The aristocratic northern town of La Orotava receives few British visitors
Brightly coloured houses in the aristocratic town of La Orotava
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Ah well. We’re at least higher than the clouds now and the sky is blue so we pivot and instead go for a walk in the Teide National Park clambering up the towering rocks and pocked Star Trek-esque terrain. “Lizard Hunt” round two.
Then we’re back down the volcano (“hup, two, three, four”) to La Orotava, an aristocratic town in the north which has far more beautiful architecture and far fewer British tourists. It’s raining (stay south with the Brits if you want the sun) so after a soggy stroll among the gardens we duck into the Club Social Liceo Taoro for dulce de leche biscuits and more hot chocolates. Wet weather plus toddler doesn’t equal calm and enjoyable exploration of architecture, which is how we find ourselves at the lunchtime parrot show at Loro Parque, the island’s zoo.
Back to the beach
En route back south, we first head off the main road to find one of the island’s guachinche, a traditional family-run restaurant. Nestled in a banana plantation is El Rincon de Edu, unassuming but reassuringly full of locals, where we squabble over who gets the most papas arrugadas: small salt-flecked baked potatoes that you dip in red or green mojo sauces. After befriending the restaurant’s cats, Reggie totters outside to find his pudding: two ripe bananas plucked from the tree.
Costa Adeje’s seafront has mini-golf and soft play
Adventuring achieved, we spend the final day on Costa Adeje’s seafront promenade. Reggie plays mini-golf, tears around the beachside soft play (Adventure Land) and negotiates multiple ice creams. I’m at peace with the changed goalposts of what makes a satisfying break. Avoid the tourist-stuffed Playa de las Americas in the south of the town and instead walk north to the quieter Playa del Duque. This end is more pink bougainvillea, less Burger King. Just in time, we learn a good lesson: if you book a 6.15pm table at SeaSoul (one of the Iberostar hotel’s four restaurants) you’ll be eating locally caught grilled octopus and fat, juicy prawns on the oceanfront as the sun sets. Plus, you can bring your child and dodge any Whatsapp baby monitor debacles. A win. Laura Pullman was a guest of Ritz-Carlton Tenerife, Abama, which has B&B doubles from £240 (ritzcarlton.com) and Iberostar Selection Anthelia, which has all-inclusive doubles from £213 (iberostar.com). Fly to Tenerife
