Albania is the perfect country to visit as a budget traveller. The local food is great, the public buses are affordable and there’s a lot of beautiful places to see. So if you’re planning a trip to Albania, here’s our ultimate budget guide on everything you need to know!
Albania is one of the most affordable countries in Europe! We tracked all of our Albania travel costs on TravelSpend (a budget-tracking app)! It was the easiest way to keep track of everything we spent, especially as we used a lot of cash in Albania.
Our travel style is between basic and moderate. We’re not luxurious travellers at all, but you can still enjoy Albania luxuriously! We also travelled in peak season which means some of our accommodations might be a little higher than usual. We mainly noticed this at the beach destinations.
Overall, you won’t struggle to stick to a budget in Albania, as long as you know how to travel on a budget. Choose public transport over car hire, eat the local food and enjoy Albania’s inexpensive activities.
In our Albania budget guide, we’ll share how much we spent on our 2.5-week trip to Albania with a few tips along the way.
This post may contain affiliate links. We will receive a small commission if you make a purchase using these links, at no additional cost to you.
Albania Travel Costs & Budget Guide
Before we jump into the breakdown of costs for each category, we want to share the total spend of our trip! This total doesn’t include flights or pre-travel expenses such as travel insurance, visas or clothes. As we’re from the UK we didn’t need a visa to enter Albania.
Overall spend – £1,285.02 (£642.51 per person)
Daily Average – £71.39 (£35.70 per person)
£1,285.02 is the total for 2 people spending 18 days in Albania.
We feel pretty happy with our Albania travel costs and managed to do everything we planned! The prices are similar to other Balkan countries, apart from Greece and Croatia. It’s a little more expensive than Southeast Asia but cheaper than the UK and Japan.
Our Albania Budget Breakdown
We’ve separated this Albania budget guide into categories such as accommodation, food and transport. Here’s all of our Albania travel costs!
Accommodation in Albania on a budget
We spent £474.56 (£237.28 per person) which is 37% of our total cost. Accommodation was our highest expense when travelling Albania on a budget. We paid for 17 nights’ worth of accommodation and varied different prices. The most expensive places were Sarande (beach destination) and Theth (mountains)
- Shkoder Hostel – Private Room – 2 nights – €63 (€33 per night)
- Valbone Guesthouse – 1 night – €32 per night
- Theth Guesthouse – 2 nights – €90 (€45 per night)
- Tirana Apartment – 3 nights – €77 (€26 per night)
- Berat Guesthouse – 2 nights – €69 (€35 per night)
- Gjirokaster Hostel – Private room – 2 nights – €57 (€29 per night)
- Sarande Apartment – 5 nights – €200 (€40 per night)
If you’re travelling Albania on a budget expect to spend around £30 a night for two people in a private room. £10-15 a night if you’re travelling solo. Our average nightly spend was £28 a night, but we stayed in a mix of hostels, guesthouses and apartments.
Where to stay in Shkoder on a budget: Mi Casa es Tu Casa (Shkodra Backpackers Hostel) – One of the best and most affordable hostels in Shkoder with friendly staff and bike rentals – Find on Booking.com here!
Where to stay in Valbone on a budget: Bujtina Albjoni – As Valbone is a small mountain town, there isn’t a huge variety, but this guesthouse was a good price with free breakfast (not great options for vegans though). We also paid €5 for a drive to the hiking point – Find on Booking.com here!
Where to stay in Theth on a budget: Rrashkadoli Guesthouse – A great place to stay just outside of Theth Village. They offer cheap food, dorm rooms and private rooms – Find it on Booking.com here
Where to stay in Tirana on a budget: Lovely One-Bedroom Studio in Tirana – The perfect little apartment for a stay in Tirana. We felt at home here and saved extra money cooking our own meals. This was one of our cheapest accommodations during our Albania trip – Find on Booking.com here!
Where to stay in Berat on a budget: Ariabaci Guesthouse – A very affordable stay in Berat! It’s slightly uphill but this meant that we had great views – Find it on Booking.com here.
Where to stay in Gjirokaster on a budget: Friends Hostel – A family-run hostel with private rooms, we cooked pasta for dinner here and saved money by chilling on their beautiful terrace instead of a restaurant for the night – Find it here on Booking.com!
Where to stay in Sarande on a budget: Vila Marina apartments – Although Sarande accommodation wasn’t budget-friendly for us, (compared to the rest of Albania), it was still a great price compared to Western Europe! We had a full kitchen and cooked a lot – Find it here on Booking.com!
Albania Travel Costs at Restaurants
Truthfully, we ate at restaurants for around 75% of our trip and this is due to local food being affordable! We spent £295.42 (£147.71 per person) on restaurants during our 2.5-week Albania trip, which is about 23% of our budget.
This price also includes tipping which is between 5-10% on most meals. We didn’t feel the need to tip at every restaurant depending on the style and service but it is something to consider when dining in Albania.
Our most expensive dinner was at Albania’s only vegan restaurant, Green Life, costing €33 (2 mains, 1 drink, 1 dessert). €33 is considered expensive in Albania, whilst in London that price is very normal. Check out our vegan in Albania guide!
One of our cheapest meals in Albania was a Gyro each in Sarande costing €8.40 (2 gyros). A gyro is not as filling as a full restaurant-style meal, but it’s a great on-the-go lunch.
Traditional Albanian food on average costs 500 lek per dish (€5). Here’s a few examples of our final bill at restaurants around Albania. Shkoder – €19, Valbone – €15.50, Theth – €17.50, Blue Eye – €12, Shkoder – €12, Berat – €16.50 and Berat – €14.
Most of these meals were three main dishes shared between two with a drink. Here’s a few more of our dining-out travel costs in Albania:
- 2 Icecream scoops in Shkoder – €2
- 4 Icecream scoops in Tirana – €5.60
- 2 Falafel Wraps in Triana – €9
- 2 Pizza’s in Theth – €14
- Breakfast in Shkoder (smoothie bowls) – €10.70
- Burek (Albanian Pastry)- €1.20
- Soda (coke) – €0.80
- Grilled Corn (street food)- €1
We’re not big coffee or alcohol drinkers, so our budget is slightly lower due to mainly drinking water and soda. Although we probably make up for it in vegan snacks and some more convenient vegan food like plant-based milk in Albania. It’s quite pricey.
The best way to stick to a budget in Albania is to eat traditional food and try some local specialities! We mainly ate stuffed peppers, stuffed eggplant, potatoes and vegetables.
We have a full guide on how to spend 2 days in Shkoder before the mountains!
Transportation Costs in Albania
One of the most important factors of travelling is the transport! We saved a lot of money by taking public transport instead of hiring a car, especially as we travelled during peak season.
Our total transport costs were £215.32 (£107.66 per person) which was 17% of our Albania travel budget.
We’ve heard that it can cost from €40 a day to rent a car which would have cost over €600 (plus fuel) for our trip. As much as we love the freedom of travelling by car, we really wanted to backpack Albania and catch the local transport. We rented a scooter twice as it was cheaper than booking a tour. Check out car rentals on Discover Cars in advance!
Here’s all of our travel costs in Albania for transport:
Cross-Country Buses in Albania:
- Tirana Airport – Shkoder (Minivan) – €10 each
- Shkoder – Valbone -(2 Minivans and 1 ferry) – €26 each
- Theth – Shkoder (Minivan) – €12 each
- Shkoder – Tirana (Bus) – €5 each
- Tirana – Berat Bus – €5 each
- Berat – Gjirokaster Bus – €10 each
- Gjirokaster – Sarande – €4 each
Local Travel Costs in Albania:
- Guesthouse Taxi to Hike Starting Point – €5
- Blue Eye Minibus Return – €10 each (€5 each way per person)
- Local Tirana Bus – €0.40 each journey (total of €1.60)
- Tirana to Kruje Return – €2 each journey (total of €8)
- Berat Local Bus Return – €0.30 each journey (total of €1.20)
Scooter Rental Travel Costs in Albania:
- Scooter Rental (Berat) 1 day – €15
- Scooter Fuel – €8
- Scooter Rental (Sarande) 2 days – €40
- Scooter Fuel – €13
The travel costs in Albania increase each year, so although these figures are current now, you may want to use our transport travel costs as a guide. A lot of prices have increased compared to the photos on Google Maps.
Fuel is quite pricey in Albania, especially compared to the UK which is considered expensive. On the few days we rented a scooter, we drove around for a couple of hours, so we would estimate €8 a day for fuel and maybe €15 for a car.
Buses in Albania are an experience! We travelled in the 35°C heat of July and the buses do not have air con. It was a pretty sweaty ride, but it wasn’t too uncomfortable. They’re such an affordable way to get around, we would definitely travel by bus again.
Check out our 2 day Berat itinerary if you’re planning a visit to the historic city!
Activities in Albania on a budget
Our total spend for activities in Albania on a budget was £132.05 (£66.03 per person), which was 10% of our travel costs. Most activities are inexpensive or free around the country, especially in the mountains! As we tracked all of our Albania travel costs, here’s all the activities we paid for:
- Shkoder Museum Tickets – €2 each
- Shkoder Castle Tickets – €4 each
- 2 Bicycle Rentals – €6 each
- Theth Tower – €1.50 each
- Bunker Art Museum – €9 each
- Gjirokaster Castle Tickets – €4 each
- Gjirokaster Cold War Tunnel Tickets – €2 each
- Sunbed Jale Beach – €20
- Butrint National Park – €10 each
- Sarande Boat Trip – €30 each
As soon as we visited the Albanian Riviera, the prices started getting higher for activities!
Boat Trips in Sarande, Ksamil or Himare range from €20 – €60 if you want a large boat, small boat or private boat. We paid €30 for a small boat that included snorkelling gear! Check out our Sarande Travel Guide!
Sunbeds in the south can also vary in price, but usually, they’re €10 for a pair of beds and an umbrella. We paid €20 for a cabana-style bed at the front of the beach as it was SO hot.
Museums are usually quite affordable in Albania, although Bunk Art 2 in Tirana was a little pricey.
Cost of Groceries in Albania on a budget
We spent £114.43 (£57.22 per person) on groceries in Albania which was 9% of our travel costs. Even though we knew restaurants in Albania were affordable, we also wanted to cook our own food. We made sure that some of our accommodations had kitchen access and bought a few ingredients at each destination.
A portion of our budget went on fruit and snacks in between meals! We only had breakfast at a restaurant once, so we bought bread, fruit, oats or cereal for breakfast.
- 4 Bananas – €1.50
- Peanut Butter, Pasta, Sauce, Drinks – €7.91
- Porridge Packets – €2.40
- Fruit, Watermelon, Nectarines & Bananas – €4.20
- 1L Water – €1
- 3 Peaches – €0.34
- Pasta, Snacks & Drinks – €5.86
- Rice Cakes & Avocado – €2.78
- Bag of Crisps – €0.67
- Dinner Ingredients & Drinks – €5.98
➤ Visiting the capital of Albania? Check out our Tirana Travel Guide!
Other Travel Costs in Albania
We spent £32.68 on general items in Albania like our sim card, luggage storage and some food for animals. This only came to 2.5% of our travel costs.
Sim Card: €25 (Vodafone 40GB 21 Days) – We bought a Vodafone sim card at the airport and shared it together throughout our Albania trip. Most of the time we had wifi in our accommodation. You can also buy an E-sim online for a cheaper price, but you’ll get less data.
Bag Storage: €6 (Shkoder Hostel 3 nights) – Our hostel in Shkoder looked after our bags for 3 nights whilst we were hiking in Valbone and Theth. It was €1 per person, per night.
Miscellaneous: €2 – Random shopping
Food for Animals: €4.40 – We spent €1.20 on dog food, and €3.40 on two cat food packets.
We didn’t do any shopping in Albania, other than a €1 fridge magnet, but this is where we would have included it! You can find lovely souvenirs in Kruje or Gjirokaster and modern goods in Tirana!
➤ Check out our Gjirokaster itinerary to plan your trip!
Exchange Fees
Annoyingly, Albanian Banks charge a fee for foreign cards. So if you’re planning on using an ATM to get money out in Albania, you’ll have to add at least €5. After testing most of the Albanian banks, we found that ABI Bank had the lowest fees at 500 lek (€5).
Other banks can charge anywhere from 650 lek at Credins to 1190 lek at OTP. We spent a whopping £20.56 on ATM fees which is the last 1.5% of our Albania budget.
A way to get around this extra expense is to bring euros in cash for the whole of your trip or bring your own currency (Pounds or US Dollars) to exchange at a booth.
Need travel insurance? Check out SafetyWing – Find out more here!
Breakdown of our Travel Costs in Albania
Our own currency is the British pound, so we’ve written our breakdown in pounds. However as Albania use Lek and Euro, we’ve used euros as a reference throughout this budget guide. 100 Lek is equal to €1, but this exchange rate can change!
Currently, £1 is €1.18 and $1.31, but you can use XE Currency Converter to compare to your own currency. Our breakdown is for 2 people spending 18 days in Albania on a budget.
- Accommodation – £474.56 (€561.83 / $623.04)
- Restaurants – £295.42 (€349.75 / $387.86)
- Transportation – £215.32 (€254.92 / $282.69)
- Activities – £132.05 (€156.33 / $173.36
- Groceries – £114.43 (€135.47 / $150.23)
- General – £32.68 (€38.69 / $42.91)
- Exchange Fees – £20.56 (€24.34 / $26.99)
Overall spend – £1,285.02 / €1521.34 / $1687.49 (£642.51 per person)
Daily Average – £71.39 / €84.52 / $93.75 (£35.70 per person)
Overall, we’re happy with our Albania travel costs and wouldn’t change a thing! There’s a few ways we could have saved extra money like less dining out and bringing cash instead of using an ATM.
Pre Travel Expenses for Albania
For full transparency on how much our Albania trip cost, we wanted to include some pre travel expenses that aren’t included in our Albanian Budget Total.
Flights: This can vary depending on where you’re coming from and what time of year you fly! We flew with Ryan Air from the UK into Tirana and took a ferry over to Corfu to fly home with EasyJet, but it was August! (Use Skyscanner and book directly on the airline website). Here’s our pre-travel expenses on flights:
UK – Tirana Flight: £57.58 (for 2 people including 2 cabin baggage
Sarande – Corfu Ferry: €44 for 2 tickets
Corfu – UK Flight: €230.96 for 2 people including 2 cabin baggage
Travel Insurance: This is an important cost of travelling! SafetyWing is a great nomad insurance if you’re travelling for a month or more, otherwise, we use Compare the Market to browse for options.
Transport Costs getting to the airport: We usually take a local bus to the airport in our home city, but you may need to pay for parking or grab a taxi. This price will add to your total travel costs!
Other: From suncream to clothes, shoes, luggage, toiletries, vaccinations and visas for some countries. You may have quite a few purchases to make before visiting Albania. Some things may be cheaper in your home country (like suncream)!
➤ Get your Albanian E-sim in advance here!
How to travel Albania on a budget
Eat Local – Albanian food is incredible, even for vegans and vegetarians! We lived off stuffed peppers, stuffed eggplants, potatoes and vegetables! It was some of the tastiest traditional food we’ve had in Europe!
Cook your own meals – Although Albanian food is affordable compared to other countries in Europe, we recommend cooking your own meals from time to time to save extra money! Grab some bread, cheese, yoghurt, cereal and pasta so you can cook on the road and have meals at your accommodation.
Avoid Luxury Hotels – Albania is filled with lovely guesthouses for a reasonable price, you won’t need to stay at luxury hotels here! Plus it will feel more authentic staying in Albanian houses!
Get Breakfast Included – A few places in Albania give you free breakfast which can really help with travel costs when you’re on the go! Sadly there’s not great options for vegans.
Choose Transport VS Car Hire – The buses in Albania are fast, and reliable and will take you everywhere on our 2 week Albania itinerary. We saved around €500 by using public transport instead of hiring a car. Although we did travel during July when car hire is the most expensive.
Travel during the Shoulder Seasons – We recommend travelling during May to June or September to October if you want to save extra money in Albania! We had to pay more for our Sarande accommodation as we travelled there in August!
Choose the Acitivies you really want to do – Acitivies in Albania are quite affordable, but they can add up! Do some planning beforehand and choose the activities that interest you the most!
We’ve also created a guide on how to save up for travelling! Check it out if you want to save some extra €€€ for your trip.
Budget Guide for Albania
After travelling Albania for 2.5 weeks, we saw all types of prices around the country! So here’s an average of the cost of travel in Albania (prices will vary depending on the location).
- Local bus: 40 lek in Tirana / 30 lek in Berat
- Long Distance bus: 400 – 1000 lek
- Hostel dorm: 800 – 1,500 lek depending on the location
- Double room: 2,500 – 4,000 lek depending on the location
- Local Food: average 400 lek per dish
- Western Food: 400 – 800 lek
- Coffee / Juice: 150 – 250 lek
- Museums: 200 – 900 lek
- Data Package: 2100 lek with Vodafone or get an E-Sim online!
Is it easy to travel Albania on a budget?
As Albania is one of the cheapest countries in Europe, it’s definitely easy to travel on a budget. You can see from our Albania travel costs that accommodation, transport and dining out is very inexpensive!
If you spend more time on the beaches, you may spend more as it’s the most popular area of the country. But overall, we definitely think Albania is a budget-friendly destination for any traveller – especially compared to other European countries!
That’s the end of our Albania travel costs and budget guide! We also have a Morocco Budget Guide, South Korea Budget Guide and Japan Budget Guide! Check out our other Albania travel guides to plan your trip!
- How to Save Money for Travelling
- 2 Day Berat Itinerary
- Best Things To Do in Theth
- 1 day Gjirokaster Itinerary
- Top Things To Do in Shkoder
- 2 day Tirana Itinerary
- 2 Week Albania Itinerary
- Best Things To Do in Krujë
- Things to do in Sarande, Albania
- Vegan in Albania Guide
LIKE THIS POST? PIN IT FOR LATER & SHARE IT WITH OTHERS!
