Forget the Dolomites – I found Europe’s wildest mountain escape with £1 beers and barely any tourists

Any guesses? (Picture: Sadie Whitelocks)

When I send photos from my latest hiking adventure to a friend, his reply is immediate: ‘Are you in the Dolomites?’

It’s an easy mistake to make. The pictures show jagged peaks, sweeping valleys and brilliant blue skies, exactly the kind of scenery you’d expect to find in northern Italy.

But there’s one giveaway that I’m somewhere else: there’s barely another tourist.

I’m actually in Albania, deep in the Albanian Alps, also known as the Accursed Mountains – and there isn’t a gondola, Aperol terrace or self...