Due to the mountainous terrain surrounding it, Albania is best accessible by air. There are a large number of low-cost airlines heading here, so air travel tends to be the cheapest.
Overland travel is popular to/from surrounding countries, which many travelers combine with Albania into one trip.
Albania can also be reached by sea, for example from Corfu, Greece or Italy.
By air without a tour operator to Albania
Currently, you can use two international airports when travelling to Albania:
- Tirana TIA airport near the capital and near the coast - a large number of flights from all over Europe go here.
- Kukës KFZ Airport in the foothills of the famous Prokletije Mountains - currently without regular service
Near the Albanian border, you can also use Pristina Airport in Kosovo or Ohrid Airport in northern Macedonia.
The cheapest tickets to Albania (and surrounding countries) are consistently available through low-cost airlines Ryanair and Wizz Air, which have large bases in Tirana.
In frequent promotions, which most often appear about 2-3 months in advance for dates outside the summer, you can buy return tickets around Europe and under 50 eur.
Albania has no air links with neighbouring countries except Athens, Greece, which is operated by Aegean Airlines.
Compare prices for flights to Tirana
By air with a travel agent
The Albanian Riviera along the Adriatic Sea is experiencing a booming development and is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to Croatia or Italy. In Albania you can visit many fully equipped resorts, among the most famous are Vlora, Golem and Durrës.
Travel agencies offer hundreds of tours to Albania, but the prices tend to be slightly more expensive than, for example, Greece or Bulgaria. However, air tours are cheaper than to Croatia or neighbouring Montenegro.
With a tour, you will always fly into the main airport in Tirana. From there, take a secure bus to your destination resort via a tour operator. The shortest journey is to Durrës or Golem (about 45-50 minutes), the longest to the area around Himare and Sarande (about 3 hours).
By car to Albania
If you travel to Albania by your own car, there is no need to arrange any special documents. Most EU cars are not subjected to any detailed checks at the border.
Officially, you need an internationally valid insurance certificate (i.e. Green Card) and a small technical licence to travel to Albania.
Officially, you don't need an international driving licence to drive in Albania and any European licence will do.
International buses to/from Albania
Albania has a fairly frequent bus service to Europe, however there are no internationally known carriers such as Flixbus or Regiojet.
Most services are operated by local Albanian companies, where it can be quite difficult to even find out the timetable, let alone book a ticket online.
There are direct connections to Europe, mainly to Germany and Italy, but they are unusable for Czech and Slovak travellers, both in terms of price and timetable.
Most travellers use international connections to neighbouring countries.
When searching for connections, take popular search engines such as Albania's Gjirafa or international busradar, getbybus or Rome2Rio with a pinch of salt. This is because they only provide very incomplete and outdated information.
For a list of lines running to/from Tirana, see for example the website of the main bus station TEG-Terminali Lindor: tlatirana.net/linjat-nderkombetare.
Albania - Kosovo
These two countries have the closest ties and therefore the most frequent bus connections. Between Tirana and Pristina, with a stop in Prizren, buses or vans (smaller vans) run roughly 1-2 times an hour, with the first service running at around 5:30am and the last at around 8pm.
Most of these buses run according to timetables, i.e. they usually leave on their departure time, not after they fill up, as is common in Albania.
The price of a one-way ticket from Tirana to Prizren or Pristina is 15 eur, return 20 eur. Payment in euros is preferred, but you can also pay in lekë, although the exchange rate is always converted at a disadvantage to you.
You will not reliably find online timetables or even online ticket booking on any website. The carrier with the most frequent connection is Arditi Tours.
However, you can usually just turn up at the bus station in Tirana, Pristina or Prizren and you will be on your way within an hour at the latest.
Tirana - Prizren - Pristina
- Frequency - about once an hour to Pristina, more often to Prizren
- Price - 15 eur one way, 20 eur return
- Travel time - to Prizren 3.5 hours, to Pristina 4.5 hours with border control
Connections to Prizren are more frequent than to Pristina, as some buses to North Macedonia also run through Prizren, as well as vans from Bajram Curri in Albania, where the fastest route is through Kosovo.
Vans via Kosovo to Bajram Curri do not leave from the international bus station, but from the local one in the west of Tirana (see map).
Regular services to Kosovo also run at the same prices as from Tirana from Durrës (about once an hour), Elbasan (1-2 times a day), Shkodër (once a day), Sarandë and Vlorë (every other day).
Vans from Kukës and Bajram Curri
If you arrive at Kukës airport or are in the Prokletije mountains near the Kosovo border, you will not find regular buses.
From Bajram Curri, which is the largest centre in front of the Prokletije mountains, there are frequent vans (=minibuses) to the Kosovar towns of Gjakovë and Prizren, 1-2 times an hour after they fill up. The price is around 1 000 all.
From Kukës there are vans to Prizren about 1x every 2 hours, some of them continue to Pristina, but from Prizren onwards to Pristina there are vans every minute, so even with a transfer you can travel without problems. The price to Prizren is around 10 eur / 1 100 all.
Albania - Northern Macedonia
There are direct buses between Tirana and Skopje about 7-8 times a day, all with fixed schedules. In Albanian, Skopje is spelled Shkup, while Tirana is spelled Tirana in Macedonian.
The price of a one-way ticket for all companies is 20 eur. Some bus companies have no functional website and you can only find out the timetable at the bus station, but two companies work with Flixbus and you can easily buy tickets for 4 connections a day via their website flixbus.com.
- Frequency - about 7-8 times a day to Pristina
- Price - 20 eur one way
- Travel time - 7-8 hours depending on border control
From Tirana directly to Ohrid you can then get 2 times a day with Eurobus, for which tickets can be booked again via flixbus.com.
There is no cross-border transport between towns near the border. From Tirana, or Elbasan, you can take a frequent bus service to Pogradec, where vans run to the village of Tushemisht. From there you have to walk about 2.5 km to the border and then another 1.2 km to the Macedonian town of Sveti Naum, from where a minivan goes to Ohrid about 6 times a day.
From Pogradec you can also take a taxi to the border if you negotiate a decent price under 5 000 all.
Albania - Montenegro
Connections between Albania and Montenegro are not very frequent. Buses from Tirana and Shkodër to Podgorica run about twice a day, with both services continuing via the coastal towns of Budva to Kotor.
Connections are operated by Old Town Travel and Jadran Express, which can be booked through flixbus.com. The price of a one-way ticket from Tirana to Podgorica is 45 eur.
No vans (vans) run between Albania and Montenegro.
Albania - Greece
There are buses from Tirana via Elbasan, Vlora, Berat or Saranda several times a day to Athens, Thessaloniki, Ioannina and other Greek cities.
Ticket prices from Tirana to Athens are around 40 eur, to Thessaloniki around 30 eur.
You can book tickets online with Top-Lines for example (unfortunately only in Albanian or Greek).
The journey to Athens takes about 15,5 hours, and to Thessaloniki 11 hours.
Ferries
Albania can be reached by regular ferries from Greece and Italy.
Corfu - Saranda ferry
There are two shipping companies on the route, both taking about 35 minutes to travel between the Greek island of Corfu and the Albanian Riviera. The ferries run all year round, with each company sailing 1-2 times a day in the winter season and up to 7 times in the summer (up to 14 times a day in total).
Tickets can be purchased locally or booked online via the companies' websites.
- Ionian Seaways: 23,80 eur in high season, 20 eur in low season
- Finikas: 25 eur in high season, 20 eur in low season
Return tickets are not sold at a discount.
For a clear comparison of all shipping companies, we recommend using the directferries.com comparison engine.
Ferry Corfu - Himare
The popular Albanian resort of Himare is only served by a direct ferry from Finikas twice a week. The journey takes 2 and a quarter hours and a one-way ticket costs 55 eur.
Ferries Durrës - Italy
From Durrës, Albania's largest port, you can take a ferry to two Italian cities:
- Bari: several companies sail the route, 3-4 times a day in total, the cruise takes around 9 hours and a one-way ticket costs from 65 EUR, with a car from 150 eur, prices increase according to availability
- Ancona: there is one company on the route, once a day in total, the cruise takes around 19 hours and a one-way ticket costs from 105 eur, with a car from 220 eur, prices increase according to availability
You can compare the prices of the two companies and buy directly, for example, via directferries.com.
Ferries Vlorë - Italy
Also from Vlora you can get a regular boat connection to Italy with A-Ships, namely to Brindisi. It sails once a day and takes less than 6 hours, making it the shortest of all connections between Albania and Italy.
The price for a one-way ticket is 60 eur, or from 130 eur with a car.
International trains to/from Albania
Although there are physical tracks from Albania to Montenegro, there are currently no international trains running to the country and probably won't be anytime soon due to the tragic state of the rail infrastructure.
