Albania Travel Tips: Everything You Need to Know Before You Go

Is Albania Worth It?

Yesss! Albania totally surprised us in the best way and exceeded our expectations by far. Since Albania isn’t yet well known as a travel destination, it’s one of our favorite off-the-beaten-path countries.

From dream beaches to towering mountains to charming small towns, Albania is incredibly versatile. Find out what there is to see in our guide to the most beautiful sights in Albania.

On top of that, Albania is a genuinely affordable destination. Nice hotel rooms with breakfast cost only about half as much as in Western Europe, and good restaurants are super cheap too — and sooo delicious!

Getting to Albania and Entry Requirements

Albania is not in the EU — but your national ID card is sufficient for entry. We still recommend bringing your passport, as you’ll need to go through customs when you arrive.

At the e-passport gate at the airport in Tirana, we were simply able to scan our passports and walk through.

There are direct flights from many European airports to the capital Tirana. The flight time from most of Western Europe is approximately two hours.

Search for flights to Tirana on Skyscanner

If you want to combine your Albania trip with other destinations in the Balkans, traveling by car is a great option. It’s especially rewarding if you’d like to drive along the coast of Croatia and also want to explore countries like Slovenia or Montenegro along the way.

Getting Around in Albania

The best way to explore Albania is by car. Rental cars are affordable — especially in the off-season — and give you the flexibility to go wherever you want. Since Albania is a fairly compact country, driving times are generally quite short.

We paid only 100 euros for a rental car for five days.

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Keep in mind, though, that Albanians drive pretty aggressively and dangerous maneuvers are not uncommon. Stay alert in traffic. We go into more detail in our article on safety in Albania.

Alternatively, you can also get around by bus. Many towns in Albania, such as Berat or Shkodra, are well connected by bus. You can find routes and buy tickets online at albanianbus.com.

All the towns in Albania are pretty small, so getting around on foot once you’re there is totally easy.

Accommodations in Albania

In Albania, you can find genuinely beautiful places to stay at comparatively low prices.

We mostly stayed at simple but nice hotels or apartments and rarely paid more than 40 euros per night for a double room.

Here are the places we stayed at in Albania:

Durrës: Andor Luxury Hotel & Duplex 9.8 (9/10: beautiful rooms, breakfast included, free parking, about 10 minutes from the beach)Vlorë: Villa Gaudium (9/10: beautiful rooms, breakfast included, free parking, on a cliff with sea views)Ksamil: Amar Seaside (9/10: apartments with kitchen, free parking, on a cliff with sea views)Tirana: Guesthouse Hygge (7/10: rooms with shared bathrooms, quiet location in the center, breakfast included)Shkodra: Hotel Epoka (8/10: basic double rooms, breakfast included, quiet location in the center)Theth: Bujtina Kometa (8/10: basic double rooms, breakfast included, lovely location slightly outside the center)Valbona: Bujtina Arturi (8/10: nice double rooms, breakfast included, good location)

Since our lodging was always fairly budget-friendly, we made small compromises here and there — like a showerhead in the middle of the bathroom, not being right on the beach, or no breakfast included.

If you don’t want to give up full comfort, most towns also have more luxurious hotels and apartments where you’ll pay 80 to 150 euros per night.

What Currency Do You Use in Albania?

The official currency in Albania is the Albanian Lek.

1 euro is roughly 100 Lek — so the conversion is pretty straightforward.

In practice, you can also pay with euros just about everywhere. So if you bring enough euros with you, you don’t necessarily need to withdraw Lek at all.

That said, Albania is more of a cash-based country. In many restaurants and accommodations, you can’t pay by card, so you’ll definitely need cash on hand.

ATMs can be found all over Albania. We often found the fees quite high, though, so we’d recommend arriving with enough cash already.

Internet and Buying a SIM Card in Albania

Since Albania is not in the EU, your home SIM card likely won’t give you internet access there. So you’ll need to either buy a local SIM card on arrival or get an eSIM.

The easiest option is an eSIM — that way you’ll have internet access as soon as you land in Albania. We recommend the provider Saily.

Saily is affordable, super easy to use, and simple to activate. With the code 22places, you’ll even save 10 percent on your eSIM.

Get your Albania eSIM from Saily

For 5 GB, you’ll pay around 11 euros.

Most accommodations in Albania also offer Wi-Fi. It’s not always the fastest, but it’s perfectly fine for a vacation.

Safety in Albania

When it comes to safety, Albania doesn’t exactly have the best reputation in Europe.

Honestly, we can’t really confirm that. Aside from driving, we always felt safe in Albania — and we were traveling as two women.

Every now and then we got a few comments from men, but that was about it. We didn’t experience any theft or anything like that during our time there.

The one real issue was the roads. In Albania, speeding and passing on blind curves are common. We found ourselves in several situations where we thought an accident was about to happen.

In the end, everything was fine — but you really do have to get used to the traffic.

We go into more detail on safety in a separate article.

The Best Time to Visit Albania

The best time to visit Albania depends a little on what you want to do. Personally, we think June and September are the best months for a road trip through Albania.

If you want to go hiking in the Albanian Alps, plan your trip for summer, between June and September. Outside this window, the mountains are covered in snow. The same applies to the popular Peaks of the Balkans Trail.

If a beach vacation is your main goal, we’d suggest May, June, September, or October. The weather is great for swimming and it’s not nearly as hot or crowded as in July and August.

If you want to escape the winter cold, you can also easily visit Albania between November and April. The climate is noticeably milder, and city breaks are a great option during that time of year.

Language and Communication in Albania

The official language of Albania is Albanian.

In tourist areas, hotels, and restaurants, most people also speak English. We occasionally met locals who spoke German as well.

In smaller towns and non-touristy areas, however, English isn’t widely spoken. That said, you can usually get by just fine with hand gestures.

Food and Drink in Albania

We really loved the food in Albania. Albanian cuisine is very meat-heavy — there are delicious grill restaurants around every corner.

But you’ll also find plenty of vegetarian dishes like salads, stuffed peppers, and more. Here are some typical Albanian dishes to look out for:

• Byrek: Flaky pastry pockets, usually filled with spinach or cheese
• Tavë Kosi: Lamb or chicken baked in yogurt — the national dish of Albania
• White cheese: Similar to feta, served as an appetizer, in salads, and on almost every plate in Albania
• Fërgesë: A cold stew with tomatoes, peppers, and cheese
• Speca te Mbushur me Salce Kosi: Stuffed peppers with rice
• Qofte: Lamb meatballs, especially delicious with tomato sauce
• Flia: Layered crepes with cream and sour cream
• Trilece: Milk cake with caramel glaze
• Baklava: Sweet pastry made from phyllo dough

Typical drinks in Albania

• Raki: The most widely consumed spirit in Albania — you’ll be offered it everywhere.
• Dhallë: A refreshing yogurt drink
• Coffee: Albanians drink a lot of espresso as well as Turkish coffee

What Else Do You Need to Know?

Here are a few more Albania travel tips worth knowing before your trip.

Drinking Water in Albania

Tap water in Albania is not safe to drink. Buy bottled water or boil the tap water. In many hotel rooms, we had electric kettles and would boil water in the evening — by the next morning it was cool enough to drink.

Many supermarkets also sell larger water jugs of around 10 liters, which you can use to refill a reusable bottle.

We’d definitely recommend bringing a reusable water bottle to Albania.

Religion in Albania

Just over half of Albania’s population is Muslim, so most towns have mosques. However, most Albanians are not strictly observant Muslims.

There are also many Christians in Albania — most are Orthodox (widely practiced in the south) or Catholic.

Dental Clinics in Albania

This might sound like an unusual thing to include in our Albania travel tips, but the sheer number of dental clinics really stood out to us during our trip.

Albania has a large number of dental clinics where treatments are significantly cheaper than in most of Western Europe.

Many clinics are also specifically set up for international visitors — English is usually spoken without any issues.

So if you’ve been putting off dental work, Albania might be a surprisingly good opportunity to get it done.