1. You need a car
If you’re just traveling from city to city within Albania, then the bus system is perfectly fine (albeit a bit slow due to the large distances!) If you’re like us however, and want a faced-paced holiday visiting all the best spots Albania has to offer, you’ll need a car. We suggest contacting local hire-car companies, which can be over 50% cheaper than international car hire websites. Local companies will often let you drop the car off in a different location with little extra cost, and some offer full insurance with zero excess. Radio signal is poor in Albania and our car didn’t have bluetooth, so we suggest taking an auxiliary cable for your phone if you have one.
[Resident tortoise snapped at Karavasta Lagoon, Albania]
2. SIM cards are cheap and worth it
Albania is not a country you want to get lost in. Having internet available whilst driving around the country or hiking into the mountains is invaluable. Some of the hiking trails are even marked on Google Maps, which is useful when signage is poor. We purchased a Vodaphone tourist SIM card for 1500 LEK near the main bus-stop in Shkodër. It included 15GB of internet and allowed us to use hotspot as well. It’s worth noting that Albania isn’t part of the European Union, so an EU-wide SIM card won’t work. Also, you will need your passport to purchase a SIM card.
3. Petrol is expensive
The price of petrol in Albania is over 1.5 times more expensive than in Australia or the United States. Luckily most of the driving is on long stretches of straight road, so one tank in a fuel efficient car gets you quite far.
4. Most places only accept cash
We barely used our credit cards at all in Albania. Even one of our hotels made us pay in cash. It’s important to always have cash on you, and always have money available in your bank account.
[Photo: Karavasta Lagoon]
5. ATM fees are outrageous
In fact, ATM fees in Albania are the worst we’ve ever come across in all our travels. We’re talking $14 USD to withdraw $430 USD. We used a savings card that refunded overseas ATM withdrawal fees, but the alternative would be to take a wad of cash into the country with you. Interestingly there was one bank, Credins Bank near the main bus stop in Shkodër, that didn’t charge us any withdrawal fee.
