Albania – Prices for Accommodation, Food, and Transport

Today, I want to show you just how cheaply you can travel through Albania by reviewing the costs we incurred during our four-day stay there.

But before anything else, I invite you to read our travel guide for Albania—a guide that covers everything you need to know before going on vacation.

Albania – Prices for Accommodation, Food, and Transport

With 41 countries visited, over 150 cities across 4 continents, Albania is by far the cheapest country we've been to. Financially speaking, it’s much more affordable than Egypt, Morocco, Cuba, or even Greece.

It’s probably (I say probably because we haven’t visited the other Balkan countries yet) the most affordable vacation destination in Europe. Besides the low prices, Albania also offers fantastic landscapes, dreamy beaches, UNESCO sites, and friendly people.

Below, I'll present the expenses we had during our four days in Albania, and at the end, I'll leave it up to you to decide if Albania is truly a budget-friendly vacation destination.

Transportation in Albania

If you don't plan on bringing your own car or renting one, that's perfectly fine. Public transport in Albania may not be as well-developed as in other countries, but it's not that complicated or impractical either.

We managed, and I'm sure you will too. As I mentioned in previous articles, traveling by public transport is not only an experience but also super cheap. For example, a bus ride in Tirana costs 40 LEK.

For intercity transportation, you’ll pay just as little. The bus ride from Tirana to Durres cost us 150 LEK, and the trip from Tirana to Berat (if we hadn’t rented a car) would have cost 300 LEK.

Renting a car doesn’t require a fortune either. We rented a car from Alamo at the airport for 24 hours, which cost us 24 euros. It was extremely convenient because our flight was quite early, and a taxi would have cost 15-20 euros. With the car, we easily reached Berat for a day trip.

Regarding transport costs, here are a few other expenses:

Airport transfer (taxi): 15 euros – This seemed a bit much, but buses run only once an hour, and we had just missed one.
Airport transfer by bus: 300 LEK per person.
Gasoline: Our car consumed less than 10 liters of gas for 260 km, and a liter of fuel costs between 145 and 160 LEK. We paid around 1,350 LEK.
Taxi in Durres: We used it only twice, and each trip cost us 5-6 euros for a distance of 4 km.

In general, taxis seemed quite expensive compared to other prices in Albania.

Accommodation in Tirana and Durres

When we left home, we set a budget of 40 euros per night, without knowing that we would end up paying even less. As we've been accustomed to since last year, we booked our accommodation in Albania last minute, on the day we arrived. We split our time as follows: 3 nights in Tirana and 2 in Durres.

Although the hotels had three stars, they were far from perfect—we have to admit that! All the hotels excelled in cleanliness, staff, and location, but not in soundproofing, which is extremely important to us.

Regarding prices, for 4 nights of accommodation, we spent 116 euros for two people, and the hotels we chose were:

Areela Boutique Hotel Tirana: 30 euros/night/double room.
VH Belmond Hotel Durres: 22 euros/night/double room, including breakfast.
Hotel Vila e Arte City Center Tirana: 32 euros/night/double room (we stayed here for 2 nights).

Food and Restaurants

Albanian food isn’t sensational, but it’s far from the worst. Due to its geographical position, Albanian cuisine includes dishes with Greek, Italian, Balkan, and even Turkish influences.

Traditional Albanian foods include cheese pies called byrek, spinach pies, seafood and fish in the Sarande-Vlore area, the ubiquitous gyros, and grilled meats like pljeskavica, mici, and spicy sausages. Generally speaking, you won't go hungry in Albania!

We ate everything from freshly grilled street food in Tirana (oh, how amazing that street smelled!) to bean stews, gyros every single day, seafood, and "fancy" beef tenderloin.

As for desserts—because you know how important they are—we were advised to try the trilece cake, a super sweet treat made with three types of milk, which we searched for all over the city on our last night.

Food prices are exactly what you'd expect: VERY LOW! A meal for two, including a main course and drinks, cost us between 3.5 euros (for fast food) and 18 euros (at a more sophisticated restaurant by the sea).

Internet

You probably already know that roaming charges are high in countries outside the European Union. To avoid receiving a huge bill, you need to turn off mobile data as soon as you leave EE.

Once in Albania, at the airport or your first stop, you can easily buy an internet SIM card. We got one from Vodafone at Tirana Airport, with 3 GB of data and some national minutes and SMS, for 12 euros.

How Much Did Our Vacation in Albania Cost?

I'd like to end this article with a brief summary of our vacation expenses in Albania (for two people) in May 2021:

Flight Milan – Tirana – Milan: 80 euros.
4 nights of accommodation: 116 euros.
Airport transfers: 20 euros.
Transportation (buses, taxis, gasoline, and rental car): 52.72 euros.
Food (approximate): 50 euros.
Other expenses (internet, shopping, haircut): 30 euros.

In total, we spent approximately 350 euros for 5 days for two people.

If you're still looking for an affordable summer destination, Albania is our recommendation.

I promise you'll have a fabulous time, see some wonderful places, discover a fascinating country, and enjoy turquoise waters and palm trees. The beaches of Albania are waiting for you with open arms!