I recently spent a week in Albania holidaying with a friend. It was interesting and enjoyable. We visited Dürres, Sarandë and Berat. I also visited Dürres for a few days a couple of years ago, so I thought I might share what I learned about hooking up in Albania.

 

Albania is a small country, so you are not exactly spoiled with choice on Grindr and in Sarandë in the South many profiles in your feed are likely to be located on the Greek island of Corfu. 

 

Albanian gay and bi men are very down low, so if you want to increase your chances of hooking up, you should opt for an apartment instead of a hotel. Usual line of questions would be you host? apartment or hotel? Is there a reception? I had two hook-ups during my recent trip and both preferred to come directly to the apartment/room. I am guessing because they didn't want to be seen in public with a foreign man.

 

One hook-up with a cute guy late twenties was very nice with good sex and interesting pillow talk and we exchanged only bodily fluids and contact details. The other was with an early-twenties macho guy. Sex was a bit rushed and the guy was a little too curious about what was in bags and closets in the room. Based on other Grindr-chats I had anticipated that he might expect compensation, so I had 50 euros ready to pay him to leave. 

 

If I had traveled alone I could have probably hooked-up some more, but I am not really sure I would have wanted to based on the not so pleasant experience with second guy. 

 

Traveling in Albania is interesting and affordable, but it is not somewhere I would recommend if sex is your favorite holiday activity.

1 hour ago, FunFifties said:

Sex was a bit rushed and the guy was a little too curious about what was in bags and closets in the room. Based on other Grindr-chats I had anticipated that he might expect compensation, so I had 50 euros ready to pay him to leave. 

 

That makes me insane...so was he expecting money then?

6 hours ago, floridarob said:

That makes me insane...so was he expecting money then?

The subject didnt come up in our Grindr chat, but it turned out he was. After sex, he pretended to take a call from a friend who had had an accident or whatever, so that he had an excuse to ask for money. By then I was very eager to get rid of him, so I happily obliged.

3 hours ago, FunFifties said:

I was very eager to get rid of him

I had a relatively recent similar experience with an escort in Paris. I was pissed off about paying a guy a lot more money that was stated in his Hunqz page, but I was glad when he left without any trouble. There were no threats or anything like that, but there was an air of desperation about him that worried me. 

Edited October 15, 20241 yr by xpaulo
missing word

Last year I met a African guy (probably immigrant) from Grindr in Antalya in Turkey at my Airbnb condo (no reception/security staff, only security cameras at the entrance). No discussion about money but after quick bland/uninspiring sex he demanded 300 EUR. I refused and it quickly turned physical (luckily, no knife or weapon involved), him blocking the bedroom door making it impossible to flee, pushing me to the bed and grabbing small money in my pocket and searching my luggage until he found my passport and money (around 100 E and some Turkish Lira). Somehow it satisfied him and he left the apartment (he didn’t take my passport).

Scared and shaken with bruises (including a nasty hit to the rib from tripping/falling to the floor) I didn’t do more about it; there was no point in reporting it to the Turkish police. Obviously, the guy had blocked me in Grindr. It was my own fault for being careless and not spotting that something was off with this (blk) guy offering to come to my apartment for sex without mentioning payment.

Also a reminder that at some parts of the world you need to be careful about who you hook-up with and invite to your place/apartment. 

9 hours ago, speedoo1 said:

Last year I met a African guy (probably immigrant) from Grindr in Antalya in Turkey at my Airbnb condo (no reception/security staff, only security cameras at the entrance). No discussion about money but after quick bland/uninspiring sex he demanded 300 EUR. I refused and it quickly turned physical (luckily, no knife or weapon involved), him blocking the bedroom door making it impossible to flee, pushing me to the bed and grabbing small money in my pocket and searching my luggage until he found my passport and money (around 100 E and some Turkish Lira). Somehow it satisfied him and he left the apartment (he didn’t take my passport).

Scared and shaken with bruises (including a nasty hit to the rib from tripping/falling to the floor) I didn’t do more about it; there was no point in reporting it to the Turkish police. Obviously, the guy had blocked me in Grindr. It was my own fault for being careless and not spotting that something was off with this (blk) guy offering to come to my apartment for sex without mentioning payment.

Also a reminder that at some parts of the world you need to be careful about who you hook-up with and invite to your place/apartment. 

It's been said before: always meet in a public place before inviting him to where you are staying.  Get a feel for the guy. Once he has set foot in your place, it is hard to remediate a mistake.

 

That way you can also say to the police: I met this guy at Starbucks. He seemed cool so we went to my place to talk about "stamp collecting" and then he assaulted me and robbed me.

There's a guy on Instagram who can give an idea of how hot Albanians can be. He goes by BigBani_ and links to an OF account. Unfortunately, he seems to be as unavailable as any other Albanian. 

On 10/24/2024 at 10:35 PM, KeepItReal said:

It's been said before: always meet in a public place before inviting him to where you are staying. 

If I had to meet up with a stranger coming to my home for any reason, I'd make sure we first meet in a public place where there are CCTV cameras. I'd be sure to point out to him that we had been captured on camera.

Are there no natural ways to meet folks in the cities? Like bars or saunas?

Asking for a friend 😛

On 10/24/2024 at 1:29 AM, speedoo1 said:

 

Also a reminder that at some parts of the world you need to be careful about who you hook-up with and invite to your place/apartment. 

it's why we are grateful for Thailand where everything works well in hook up department and process is soo well organized

6 hours ago, polysome said:

Are there no natural ways to meet folks in the cities? Like bars or saunas?

Asking for a friend 😛

well, there are no gay bars or saunas or beaches in Albania - it's a fascinating country but very conservative, so being discreet is a must.

It is still one of the youngest nations in Europe, so plenty of youth around - but I had luck in Albania on apps only.

(Interestingly enough, I do remember an openly gay bar in neighbouring Kosovo in Prishtina but if memory serves me right there are none in Albania - so Albanians in Kosovo seem a tad more progressive in that regard than Albanians in Tirana)