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Albania is skyrocketing to the top of people’s Europe bucket lists at the moment, and with its reputation as one of the cheapest countries in Europe, it’s no surprise!
But is Albania really that cheap? How much will your trip to Albania cost? And what are the realistic prices you can expect to pay once you get to Albania for things like accommodation, food and activities?
In this blog post, I’m going to cover everything you need to know about the cost of travel in Albania, including up-to-date prices, to help you work out how much money you will need to take to Albania. At the end of this post, I’ll also provide a suggested daily travel budget for Albania.
Before we get started, though, I just wanted to point out that when I say “cheap” in this post I definitely don’t mean bad quality. In fact, Albania is one of the best countries I’ve been to when it comes to getting bang for your buck.
The cost of living in Albania is very low, which translates to low prices for travellers from the UK, US and Western Europe. There are so many other reasons to visit this wonderful country besides the low prices, though!
With that said, then, let’s get started!
Where I’ve Been In Albania
Albania is a fairly small country, but despite this, costs vary quite a bit depending on where you’re visiting. In general, though, Albania is very cheap for tourists and offers excellent value for money!
I visited Albania in September, which is the shoulder season. There’s a fairly short peak season on the Albanian Riviera, which lasts from July to August, and these are the months when you’ll find the highest prices. Shoulder season in Albania offers great value as the weather is (usually) still great but the crazy summer crowding and prices are gone.
I spent two weeks in Albania, visiting the following destinations:
Gjirokaster (mountains)
Himare (coast)
Berat (mountains)
Tirana (capital city)
I was pretty happy with these destinations as I feel that I managed to get a good taste of the different areas of Albania. However, there is one notable destination missing here – the Theth to Valbona hike.
I unfortunately couldn’t get to northern Albania due to unseasonal storms during the end of my trip, but I’m already planning a return trip to do this hike!
Obviously, I haven’t travelled across the whole of Albania, and I still have a lot of exploring to do. That said, though, I feel like the destinations I did visit offer a great sample in terms of prices and costs in Albania.
Top tip: The currency of Albania is the Albanian Lek (LEK), but I have listed most of the prices in this post in both LEk and Euros to keep everything simple.
Price of Accommodation in Albania
You’ll be surprised by just how affordable accommodation in Albania is. Standards are generally good, and there are a wide range of hostels across the country – perfect for those travelling on a super tight budget!
You can get a top-quality, fully-furnished and renovated apartment in the centre of Tirana for just €40 per night. A double room in a budget hotel will cost around €30 per night! A private double room in a hostel will cost you around €28 per night, and a dorm bed will cost around €12.
Something worth bearing in mind is that if you’ve never stayed in a hostel before, or are worried you’re too old to stay in one, Albania is the perfect place to try it out.
At every hostel I stayed at in Albania there was a wide range of people staying there – from 18 year old backpackers to retired couples! Hostel culture in Albania is far more inclusive and it’s socially acceptable for people of all ages to stay at hostels.
Just double check there’s no age policy at the hostel before you book and you’re good to go!
My Recommendations for Budget Accommodation in Albania:
Here are the places I stayed at in Albania, along with how much I paid for them:
Gjirokaster: Gjirokaster was my first stop in Albania and, since I left my booking fairly last minute, many options were sold out. I ended up staying in a dorm at this family-run hostel for €9 per night. It was very clean, quiet and well-located. It also has a few private rooms which look lovely. This is perfect for you if you want a quiet stay. However, there was no social atmosphere. If I return to Gjirokaster I’ll book in advance so I can stay at this top-rated hostel.
Himare: So… I stayed at this popular hostel in Himare for €13.80 per night, but for the life of me I can’t work out why the ratings for this are so high… The place was pretty dirty, with flies all over the kitchen, but the main gripe I had was that the water for the shower barely worked, and one night we were actually left without any water or electricity, so we all had to sit in the dark! I don’t recommend it… I have heard pretty good things about this hostel instead.
Berat: I stayed at this lovely hostel in Berat and couldn’t recommend it highly enough! The dorm bed was the comfiest I have ever slept in, the owner was AWESOME and the building is so quaint and cute! I paid €11 per night.
Tirana: I had been travelling Albania solo up until this point, but my boyfriend flew out to meet me in Tirana, so we chose to stay in an apartment. We stayed in this wonderful apartment which I can’t fault at all! I wish we could have stayed there for a month! We paid €48 per night, but split between the two of us that worked out at €24 each – incredible value!
The average daily cost of my accommodation in Albania was €15.
Cost of Food and Drink in Albania
The cost of food and drink in Albania for tourists is very low. Unfortunately, there isn’t a huge range of cuisines or drinks available in Albania, but Albanian food in general is pretty yummy so you’ll definitely have enough variety for a couple of weeks.
Breakfast
Most hostels in Albania offer free breakfast, so I recommend picking somewhere that offers this to save yourself some money! If your accommodation doesn’t offer free breakfast, though, you’ll be pretty limited. Byrek (flaky filo pastry typically stuffed with spinach and cheese) is the most popular breakfast. A byrek costs around 150 LEK (€1.50).
You can also find croissants at most places, which cost around 150 LEK (€1.50)
It’s not common to find specialty coffee such as lattes and flat whites outside of the capital city, Tirana, but you’re usually able to find cappuccinos for around 150 LEK (€1.50). An espresso or black coffee can cost you as little as 50 LEK (€0.45)!
Lunch and Dinner
Albanian food overall is hearty, heavy and very filling – but you’re able to find lighter options too! Since Albania shares a border with Greece, you’ll find a few Greek dishes such as Tzatziki dip or Greek salad on almost every menu across the country.
I didn’t notice a huge variation of the prices of lunch and dinner across Albania with the exception of Himare. Since coastal Albania is so popular with tourists almost everything costs more here – especially food and drink. That said, though, you’ll find the country’s best seafood on the coast.
Here are some examples of what I paid for different dishes in Albania:
- Ferges with bread (cottage cheese, pepper and eggplant dish) – 400 LEK (€3.50)
- Bean soup – 300 LEK (€2.65)
- Stuffed peppers – 250 LEK (€2.20)
- Meat and cheese casserole – 480 LEK (€4.25)
- Doner kebab – 200 LEK (€1.75)
- Mushroom pasta at an Italian restaurant – 600 LEK (€5.25)
Cost of Drinks in Albania
When it comes to drinking, Albania is very affordable. I imagine it’s just a few years until stag and hen (bachelor and bachelorette) parties start coming here, since Albania is sooooo cheap for drinking!
Beer is probably the most common alcoholic drink in Albania, and you can find it everywhere. The most common and popular brand of beer is probably Korce, which is also very affordable, but it’s hardly something worth writing home about. Other local options include Peja and Tirana.
Albania also produces wine, and you can even go on wine tours from places like Berat. I only tried wine a few times in Albania but it’s certainly… different… to what I’m used to. It’s very popular with Albanians, though, so you should definitely give it a try!
Obviously the cost of beer and wine in Albania is way lower in the supermarket than at a bar or restaurant, but there’s not a huge price difference. I doubt you’ll have to worry about how much you’re spending when you go out to drink in Albania!
Here are some examples of what I paid for different drinks in Albania:
- 330ml bottle of Peja beer at a restaurant – 150 LEK (€1.30)
- 500ml bottle of Korce beer at a bar – 200 LEK (€1.75)
- Bottle of mid-range wine at supermarket – 750 LEK (€6.55)
Price of Activities in Albania
Most things to do in Albania are very cheap – from boat tours, to museums, to walking tours. Museums outside of Tirana typically cost just 100-200 LEK to enter (€0.85 – €1.75). That said, though, the museums outside of Tirana generally aren’t worth writing home about.
The more expensive museums are those in Tirana, but boy are they worth the extra money! Bunk Art (500 LEK – €4.35), Bunk Art 2 (500 LEK – €4.35) and the House of Leaves Museum (700 LEK – €6.15) are essential stops on your Tirana itinerary.
The cost of outdoor activities in Albania can vary quite a lot. It’s worth just going ahead and booking them though, and not worrying about the cost, because Albania’s nature is out-of-this-world!
A full-day tour of the Osum Canyon from Berat, including lunch, cost me 5000 LEK (€44), and a beach-hopping boat tour from Himare cost me 2500 LEK (€22). As you can see, even the more “expensive” activities in Albania have very reasonable prices.
Price of Transportation in Albania
I can only describe public transportation in Albania as organised chaos. It makes no sense, seems to follow no rhyme or reason, but works surprisingly well!
Unless you’re planning to hire a car, which is not something I would personally do (Albanians drive like maniacs and the mountaintop roads are very narrow and windy!) you’ll be using the public buses, also called furgons, to get around.
You can read my full post on how to use Albania’s buses for more information, but in terms of prices, it’s safe to say that bus travel in Albania is very cheap.
I paid between 400 (€3.50) and 700 (€6.15) LEK per intercity journey in Albania, with the shortest journey still taking 90 minutes. As you can see, then, the cost of your ticket is very good value when you consider the distances covered!
Once you’ve arrived at your destination you’ll only rarely need to use local transportation, since towns in Albania are so walkable. Exceptions are Tirana and Berat, where you’ll need to catch a city bus from the bus station to the city centre. These buses cost just 40 LEK each way (€0.35).
The bus from Tirana airport to the city centre costs 300 LEK (€2.60) each way.
Flights to Albania
Flights to Tirana (the only international airport in Albania) can be surprisingly cheap if you’re flying from another country in Europe. That’s because a few budget airlines, such as Wizz Air and Easyjet, fly there directly. From London, return flights to Tirana cost around €60.
However, if you’re flying to Albania from further afield you’ll have to first fly to one of Europe’s main transport hubs before catching a connecting flight. New York is usually the cheapest place to fly from in the US, and you can get return flights (with a layover in Rome) for around $600.
Cost of Travel Insurance for Albania
If you have even a single brain cell, then travelling without travel insurance is absolutely out of the question! It’s a necessity no matter where you’re travelling to, and although Albania is a safe place to visit, bad luck can happen to anybody.
Of course, I can’t force you to buy travel insurance, but I’ve heard of far too many people who skip paying the small price of travel insurance and instead end up with a hospital bill worth thousands of Euros when they accidentally get injured on their trip.
Travel insurance will also cover you if your flight is delayed or cancelled, if any of your devices are lost or damaged, or if the airline loses your luggage, which happens alarmingly frequently!
For my readers I recommend SafetyWing. This is probably the most popular insurance in the world for backpackers and adventurous travellers. It also covers a ton of fun activities so you can go hiking or mountain climbing with no worries.
Click here to get a quote from SafetyWing!
Average Travel Insurance cost = €30 for 1 month (€1 per day!).
Daily Budget for Travelling in Albania
Phew… I know there has been a lot of information in this post, so let’s bring it all together to calculate a realistic daily budget for travelling in Albania:
- Budget hotel room shared with travel partner = €15 each
- Byrek and coffee at a bakery = €3
- Lunch and dinner at traditional restaurants (not including drinks) = €8.50
- Four beers at a bar or restaurant (hey, I’m not judging!) = €7
- Entry to a big museum, and a few free attractions = €5
Total average travel cost for one day in Albania = €38.50
Obviously this budget takes the mid-range option, so it’s possible to spend far less in Albania if you need to.
At a push, you could bring your spending down to around €25 per day by staying in hostel dorms, cooking your own food, limiting your drinking and visiting only very cheap and free attractions.
But honestly, why would you? There’s really no need to rough it in Albania just to save a couple of LEK when it is so cheap to travel there to start with! Albania is not a wealthy country, and your tourist money will go a long way to helping the tourism industry develop here.
Is Albania Expensive?
As you can see, Albania is the complete opposite of expensive. It’s one of the most affordable places I’ve ever visited, and I’m pretty sure Albania is the cheapest country I’ve ever been to in Europe!
Albania is not an expensive country to visit for tourists from Western Europe, the USA and Australia, which is where most of my lovely readers are based.
I hope this guide has helped you to work out the realistic cost of travel in Albania. Hopefully you now have some clarity on how much you’ll need to budget for a trip to Albania. As you can see, prices across the board are very low, and for these prices you still get amazing quality.
So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to book your trip to Albania!
FAQs about Prices in Albania
Still have questions? No worries, here are the answers to the most frequently asked questions about the cost of travel in Albania:
How much is a meal in Albania?
A main meal (lunch or dinner) in a restaurant in Albania costs, on average, around 450 LEK (€4).
How much is a coffee in Albania?
Cappuccinos in Albania cost around 150 LEK (€1.50), and an espresso typically costs around 75 LEK (€0.65), but can be as little as 50 LEK (€0.45)! Coffees such as flat whites or lattes are not common in Albania outside of the capital city, and it is very rare to find soy, oat, or almond milk at a coffee shop in Albania.
Is Albania cheaper than Greece?
Yes! Albania is much cheaper than Greece. I arrived in Albania straight from Greece, and my daily spending instantly dropped by about 60%! Therefore, in my experience, Albania is around 60% cheaper to travel to than Greece.
Is Albania cheaper than Croatia?
Albania is cheaper to travel to than Croatia, although prices on the Albanian Riviera are creeping closer to those of coastal Croatia in recent years.