At the end of October, I travelled to Albania to attend a friend’s wedding and explore parts of this still widely untouristed country (read my ultimate 5-day itinerary through Albania here). Unfortunately, money, parking and phone services were connected to some stress at the start. That’s why I’ll note some things to prepare in today’s post, so other first-time explorers get a smooth start in Albania.
Cash withdrawal is expensive: bring cash to exchange
Before trying to withdraw cash in Tirana, I wasn’t aware that Albania is one of the rare countries where banks take a fee for cash withdrawals. Even though my German banks don’t charge commissions for cash withdrawal abroad (for example, DKB in Germany offers free worldwide cash withdrawals in foreign currencies), I would have paid between 4 and 7 euros per withdrawal to Albanian ATMs. When you’re travelling on a budget, that quickly sums up. Paying by card is not common in most hotels, restaurants and supermarkets. That’s why you should always bring sufficient cash to Albania.
Luckily, I always carry cash with me when I travel. This time, I had taken just enough. Nevertheless, by the end of my 5-day trip, there was absolutely no cash left and I had to look out for restaurants that accepted card payments.
Parking is scarce: pre-arrange parking for your car
Because I was quite busy before this trip, I forgot to ask specifically for parking at my first hotel. In Tirana, we were lucky enough to find a little free alley where we fit between two cars and didn’t have to pay. But we lost half an hour in the middle of the night for our search and the following walk back to the hotel.
Parking in the center of Tirana is generally very complicated. There’s lots of traffic and only very limited parking space. So either you avoid taking a car or you arrange your parking in advance.
No EU roaming: get an Albanian sim card
You won’t benefit from EU roaming in Albania because Albania is not yet part of the European Union. Accordingly, phone services with foreign providers will be expensive. For example, with my German provider, I would pay 2.27 euro per minute for outbound calls, 99 cents per minute for inbound calls and 49 cents per sms and 0.585 cents per 50 KB of mobile data.
Instead, I recommend you directly purchase an Albanian sim card at the airport. You’ll have different shops and data packages available there.
Finally, it was a wonderful trip, even if I could have been better prepared in terms of money and parking. Hopefully, my short list of recommendations will avoid some other travelers the stress.
Do you have any other recommendations how best to prepare a trip to Albania? Let me know in the comments.
Thanks for sharing these helpful tips. Especially the cash part made me think – I usually take some cash, but always expect I’ll be able to withdraw more somewhere on the way for next to no fee.
And one question, as it’s not EU, did you enter with an ID card or did you bring a passport?
You’ll never be lost in Albania because cash withdrawal is possible, but expensive compared to other countries. For me, this trip was a good reminder to always bring cash, especially if I didn’t prepare everything in detail.
As a German, you can enter Albania with your ID card and stay for up to 90 days, according to the latest info I got in early December. But I also recommend travelling with your biometric passport. Entering and leaving the country was much faster for me through the self-service barriers, as opposed to the entry through the immigration officers.