A day trip to Pristina
Summary
If in the Western Balkans, its tempting to see Kosovo and plan your route to pass through Europe’s newest country and one that evokes strong memories of the Yugoslav Wars. If doing so, aim for the old town of Prizren rather than the capital of Pristina, which I think is one of those cities where you really need a local to bring it to life for you
That being said, it can be included as part of a 2-3 week itinerary of the Western Balkans which are a seriously underrated part of Europe and represent one of the best 2-3 week trips you can do in this part of the world. Stunning castles and old towns, and some of the best coastline in the world all compactly housed within 8 countries. For the 2-3 week itinerary for the highlights and general tips for this part of the world, see this travel entry and where Kosovo fits in –3 week trip around the Balkans States
Experiences nearby
The below map shows experiences nearby with a colour that reflect the Overall Score of those experiences
Other European Capital Trips
Score Detail
Background - how many times have you asked someone what a travel experience was like and the response was "amazing" or "awesome"? That response is nice to know, but it makes it hard to differentiate that experience compared to others. That is exactly what these scores are trying to do - differentiate the experience by giving a score out of 10 based on 6 categories and then giving an overall experience score
This overall experience score is calculated by: take the highest of the "Culture" or "Nature" score (1-10) + "Fun factor" (1-10) + "Avoiding the crowds" (1-10) + highest of the "Unique" or "World Famous score" (1-10). Then convert into a score out of 100
Extra detail - the logic being that I find all of the 6 individual scores important, but I don't want to mark an experience down just because it doesn't cover both "Culture" and "Nature", or because it isn't both "World Famous" and "Unique". Take the examples of Safari in The Serengeti and walking through Rome - they both appeal at opposite ends of the nature / culture spectrum, and you can have a fantastic time without needing to appeal to both sides. So, their overall scores aren't penalized for their lack of one or the other, and I've done the same for "World Famous" vs "Unique". But . . . I do think that the "Fun factor" of an experience is important, irrelevant of other factors, and so is "Avoiding the Crowds" (or where there are crowds that add to the experience). So, both of these scores are standalone