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Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few months, chances are you’ve heard of Europe’s new, and frankly, quite controversial Entry/Exit System (or EES).
It is now designed to detect persons who have overstayed their stay in the Schengen area requires Americans to provide fingerprints and other biometric data upon arrival in Europe, and people are not exactly enthusiastic about that for a whole host of reasons.
Some argue it’s overly intrusive and not really justified, especially since most of the overstayers aren’t Americans flying here for a short vacation anyway. Others are just scratching their heads at the huge mess that Europe’s airports have become.
At least more than normal.
Instead of just walking up to the front and showing a passport, Americans are now instructed to first line up, register at an EES kiosk, enroll in the new system and only then proceed to actual passport control.
From snaking queues in Portugal, where travelers have missed connecting flights despite arriving hours early, to bottlenecks on the road between Bosnia and Croatia, the rollout of EES went anything but smoothly.
If you think things are bad now, wait until you see how crazy things will get in July.
What most travelers don’t realize, however, is that there are still two beautiful beach destinations across the pond where these new restrictions don’t apply. In other words, you can still travel under the old rules:
Montenegro
Montenegro, a small country on the Adriatic Sea, just south of tourist power Croatia, will undoubtedly rise in popularity in the coming months. For starters, it’s still significantly cheaper and less busy than the average Southern European hub:
An overnight stay on the Montenegrin Riviera averages $50 to $120 per night, and if you’ve ever been traumatized by the absolute gong show that places like Dubrovnik and Amalfi have been reduced to, you’ll be happy to hear that small, fairytale towns like Perast or Budva still feel surprisingly peaceful.
Even Kotor, the number one destination in Montenegro, often referred to as a ‘mini-Dubrovnik’, sees fewer crowds, despite the occasional cruise ship making its way into the neighboring bay.
Think cobbled streets, beautiful Romanesque belfries and old stone houses as you usually see in historical dramas. except it hasn’t been ruined by HBO yet.
The fact that the whole of Montenegro is served by only two small airports ensures that it remains fairly quiet. There’s one in Podgorica, the country’s capital, which offers flights from only about 20 European cities, and an even smaller one in Tivat, near the coast, which is busy with summer-only charter flights.
When it comes to safety, Montenegro is currently one of the most stable destinations in Europe.
According to the U.S. Department of State, it is officially a Level 1 destination, meaning Americans are not discouraged from going and are allowed to take normal precautions. Based on the Traveler Safety Index, a majority of visitors reported feeling safe during their visit in recent months:
If you’re flying to Europe in the near future, make sure you check the safety advisories that apply to your specific destination using the Travel Advisory Checker.
What are the rules for visiting Montenegro this summer?
Why are Americans exempt from fingerprinting and all the usual EU mess that comes into Montenegro, you ask? Well, Montenegro is of course not yet a member of the EU!
Although it is on track to become one in 2028, the Adriatic jewel remains outside the Brussels-controlled sphere… for now. This means that US passport holders do not have to worry about EES or providing their biometric data to a foreign government when they land in Montenegro.
All it takes is:
- A valid passport that does not expire within six months of your intended travel dates
- Sometimes proof of the outward or return journey (we usually recommend that you have this at hand)
- …and… you’ve pretty much taken care of that.
Montenegro offers Americans visa-free stays, no mandatory online forms or sneaky hidden fees, and the coolest part? Since it is also not in the Schengen area, it doesn’t matter whether you have been to France, Spain, Italy or Croatia before:
You can put on makeup full 90 days here, regardless of the time you spend elsewhere on the continent.
Albania
Montenegro’s southern neighbor – are we seeing a pattern here? – Albania is known for its beautiful turquoise coastline, white sandy beaches that look more like the Caribbean or the Maldives than Europe itself, ancient cities steeped in history, and… a little rough around the edges.
In a good way. Not the vague kind, more of ‘still finding its feet in Europe’. Maybe plug the holes and tighten things up a bit so they can happily move towards EU integration.
If you fly to Albania now, chances are you’ll land in Tirana, their absolute fever dream of a capital, and probably unlike any European city you’ve been to before.
Think grandiose mosques that could belong in Turkey, vast city parks dotted with man-made lakes, a vast sea of brutalist buildings and the strange concrete giants from the communist era here and there. This may or may not include a towering pyramid, originally built as a monument to the former dictator.
However, once you leave Tirana you will find a very different Albania. In the north it’s all about ruined castles, hiking through the dramatic landscape of the Accursed Mountains and reaching remote mountain villages that rarely see foreign visitors (hi, Theth).
Travel south towards places like Dhërmi and Ksamil, and it’s basically Greece minus the hordes of Instagrammers, nor the high prices.
Well, to be quite honest, Ksamil has attracted quite an international audience in recent years, especially since Albania went viral on social media for its paradise beaches and affordability (you just can’t beat a beachfront stay from $30, know what I’m saying), but it remains arguably less boujee and less flashy than Amalfi or Santorini.
If that’s your vibe, and you don’t mind sharing a little patch of white sand with other Europeans going on a budget vacation, then by all means go for it.
What are the rules for visiting Albania this summer?
And hey, just like Montenegro, Albania is neither in the European Union nor in the Schengen Area, which of course means… Americans don’t have to worry about insanely strict travel rules when they visit! Yep.
Anyway, here’s the actually cool part:
You know that in most countries you can usually only stay for a maximum of 90 days, right? Or in the case of Schengen, for 90 days 29 countries.
It turns out that Albania not only doesn’t care about what’s happening in neighboring European states in terms of tourist visa rules, but it also allows Americans to stay for a full, uninterrupted, sweet vacation. 365 days without applying for a single permit.
Guys, why are you still worrying about Euro summer when you can practically pack your bags and move to Albania for a whole year? No biometric data collection, no fingerprints on arrival and no Schengen days counting nightmare.
Easy requirements don’t mean that zero requirementsBut: make sure you check all the bullet points below.
- If you have a passport that is still valid for 6 months after the planned travel dates, for example if you are staying in Albania for a whole year, you obviously cannot travel with a passport that expires within the next 7 or 8 months
- Have at least one completely blank page
- Bring proof of an outward or return ticket (this is rarely asked, but it’s better to have this in case the border officer is having a bad day)
Before you travel to each country that is not the US of A, be sure to check the entry requirements applicable to your destination to avoid any unpleasant surprises at the airport, such as being denied boarding because you did not get your documentation in order.
