Joel Balsam
Journalist at Freelance
@LonelyPlanet author and freelance journalist @TIME @NatGeoTravel @AtlasObscura @GlobeandMail @BBC_Travel. Speak: 🇨🇦🇫🇷🇲🇽🇧🇷 he/him
Articles
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3 weeks ago |
afar.com | Joel Balsam
There’s plenty to enjoy in Rio de Janeiro, a seaside city in southeastern Brazil. Photo by Marchello74/Shutterstock There are several reasons why I settled in Rio de Janeiro after traveling for more than a decade. The Brazilian coastal metropolis has world-famous beaches worth singing serenades about—and many musicians have. Its mountains are home to the world’s largest urban rainforest, with waterfalls, fuzzy capuchin monkeys, and plenty of hiking trails.
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4 weeks ago |
lonelyplanet.com | Joel Balsam
Albania has been one of Eastern Europe’s hottest destinations for the last few years, and it’s easy to see why. The Balkan country has marvelous turquoise-water beaches along its Albanian Riviera, well-preserved ancient ruins like Butrint, fascinating “museum” cities such as Berat and Gjirokastër, and delicious food, all for a fraction of the price of nearby Greece and Croatia.
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1 month ago |
lonelyplanet.com | Joel Balsam
Move over Italy, Greece and Croatia – it’s Albania’s time to shine. This southwestern Balkan country has gone viral for ’ bluer-than-blue water – attracting a steady stream of sunseekers every summer. But that’s not all this little country has to offer. Explore Albania’s thriving capital, Tirana, on a bar crawl and go inside its bunker museums – leftovers from its 45-year dictatorship.
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1 month ago |
lonelyplanet.com | Joel Balsam
Albania has been one of the hottest destinations in recent years, and there’s no reason to think it’ll cool down anytime soon. The Balkan country has beautiful beaches with crystalline water (as a matter of fact, one was recently named the bluest in the world), UNESCO heritage towns criss-crossed with enchanting alleyways and underground tunnels, along with awesome hiking in the Accursed Mountains (Albanian Alps), and so much more.
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2 months ago |
lonelyplanet.com | Joel Balsam
Of all the countries I’ve been to (more than 60), the stereotypes I hear about Albania are some of the most outrageous. Some say not to go because it’s unsafe. Others – such as a tourist I overheard on my latest visit while researching the Lonely Planet Western Balkans guidebook – say they pointed to a map and “discovered” Albania. I’ve come to conclude that pretty much everything people say about Albania is wrong. Well, except that .
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RT @HawkeyeOnAir: We went a slightly different direction with this weeks’s Travel With Hawkeye. We discuss travel writer @joelbalsam succes…
Proud to share my first story for @washingtonpost. It's about finally getting out of our family's timeshare, and whether or not timeshares are a scam. https://t.co/hgkHejBRmu
Got personal for @BusinessInsider: https://t.co/Sk2ZJjLnGL
