Albania travel guides

The shoulder season (May/June and September/October) are the sweet spot for fewer crowds and better value.

Peak summer (July/August) bring sweltering heat, tourist overload and wayyy inflated prices, and in the cooler months lots of tourism businesses shut up shop completely, especially along the coast.

The Albanian Riviera is the most popular tourist destination, with a spectacular coastline that rivals anywhere else in the Med, though it’s certainly feeling the pressures of heavy tourism and rapid development. I didn’t rate Sarande and Ksamil (especially as a solo female traveller in Albania) but Himare was much more chill and I’ve heard great things about Dhërmi too.

Gjirokaster, the Butrint Ruins and Berat are like a step back in time, Tirana is a weird and wonderful capital city with a brilliant food scene, and Shkoder is a charming cultural city up north that acts as the gateway to the epic Albanian Alps and Komani Lake.

Buses connect major tourist spots but they run on “Albania time” and the system is pretty old school, with paper tickets, schedules that might change without notice, drivers that smoke with the windows up, you get the picture. You can book some tourist routes through the Gjirafa Travel website, but it doesn’t show all bus companies so if the times don’t work for you there might be other options that you can book at the station.

Furgons (unscheduled minibuses) are used for regional connections, they run when they’re full and you have to tell the driver where you want to get off.

Renting a car gives you much more freedom, but some Albanian roads are not great (especially rural) and driving rules seem to be more like guidelines that most people don’t follow, so if you’re hiring a vehicle make sure you get comprehensive insurance and just take it easy.

It reeeeally depends on where and when you’re going.

Northern Albania, Tirana and the cultural spots like Berat and Gjirokaster still offer excellent value for accommodation, food and activities, on par with other tourist spots around the developing Balkan countries.

The Albanian Riviera on the other hand has had insane price rises in the past couple of years thanks to the huge increase in visitors, when I visited in September 2024 prices were similar to the smaller islands in Greece and Croatia. You might see people mentioning €20 hotel rooms, €7 restaurant meals and €2 cocktails, but this was absolutely not my experience. Locals in Sarande and Ksamil told me prices have been increasing as much as 50-100% year on year.

Himare is cheaper, Dhermi is still pricey but the standard of accommodation is higher so you get better value, and avoiding July and August will be your best bet to make your money go further on the coast.

Albania has low violent crime rates and petty crime is less common than most European countries, but the main safety concerns here are infrastructure-related. Public healthcare is underfunded, aggressive driving is the norm even on windy, pothole-y roads, and safety regulations for boating trips or adventure activities might not meet the standards you’d see in more developed countries.

Comprehensive travel insurance is an absolute essential.

As a solo female traveller I felt totally safe in most places, however I did have multiple uncomfortable situations with persistent creepy men in Sarande and Ksamil, and I’d never go back there solo. Himare, Gjirokaster, Tirana and Shkoder were very comfortable for me though, so this issue does seem to be concentrated on the ultra-touristy party towns of the Riviera.

If you’ve seen Albania content on TikTok or Instagram calling is “Europe’s best-kept secret” or “the Maldives of the Mediterranean”, that ship has well and truly sailed.

Albania’s tourism numbers have exploded in recent years, jumping from around 3.7 million in 2014 to 11.7 million just a decade later in 2024, and in 2025 they expect arrivals to hit a record 15 million mark. To put that in context, Albania has a population of about 2.8 million, so international visitors will outnumber locals by more than 5 to 1.

The inconvenient truth is that infrastructure simply can’t keep up, and this level of growth is unsustainable. Main beaches are packed with sun loungers, there’s abandoned construction projects along the entire coastline, waste management systems struggle in busy season and price rises have effectively barred typical locals from being able to holiday at their own beaches.

I’m not saying don’t go to Albania, that would be wildly hypocritical of me, but as travellers we have a responsibility to tread lightly and visit thoughtfully. Choose shoulder months over peak summer, avoid adding to the chaotic crowds of the party towns, and just don’t expect the bargain destination you might have seen portrayed on social media.

Decent WiFi isn’t a given in many hotels and apartments in Albania, so you’ll definitely want your own access to mobile data.

Local SIMs are pretty cheap, you can get a Vodafone tourist SIM for €26 for 40GB with 21 days’ validity (€0.65/GB).

I prefer to use eSIMs these days though, it saves having to change physical SIMs and it lets me keep my usual number live to receive important calls and authentication texts. The best Albania eSIM deals I found are through MobiMatter, they have 25GB for €19 (€0.76/GB) or 15GB for €13.50 (€0.9/GB), and Albania is also included in their best Europe eSIM package which is 60GB, 60 days for €47.50 (€0.79/GB).

💸 Use code FINDINGALEXX to get extra cashback on your first MobiMatter eSIM

Here are the best Albania eSIM deals from the major eSIM providers so you can compare prices: Airalo has 20GB for €43.50 (€2.18/GB), Maya has 20GB for €28.99 (€1.45/GB), Saily has 20GB for €31 (€1.55/GB) and Holafly charges €33.90 for 7 days of unlimited data (€4.84/day).

All prices valid as of 1 August 2025.