7-8 day roadtrip around Albania (800-900€ total cost)
Albania, located in the Balkan Peninsula, is a country rich in history, culture, and natural beauty. It offers diverse landscapes, from the rugged Albanian Alps to pristine beaches along the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. Despite its small size, Albania is geographically diverse, with mountains, rivers, lakes, and national parks that attract outdoor enthusiasts and sun-seekers alike. The country's heritage is reflected in its ancient ruins, medieval castles, and vibrant traditions. As Albania modernizes, it continues to draw travelers with its unspoiled landscapes, rich culture, and warm hospitality.
Getting to Albania
We flew directly into the capital of Tirana, Tirana National Airport. Since we flew from our home country of Malta, we had a connection flight in Catania, Sicily. If you are anywhere in EU, most flights to Albania would connect you through Italy. We visited in the first week of June in 2024 and our return flights with a backpack costed us 101.50€ per person. In our opinion, June was a good month to visit as it avoids the high temperatures the country reaches later on during the summer months and anywhere we went was not that crowded with tourists.
Alternatively, you can fly to Corfu and get a ferry to Ksamil, the heart of the Albanian Riviera. If you choose this option you would need to alter the sequence of this itinerary to start at Ksamil, but it is still doable.
Getting around Albania
After doing a quick search of transportation options around Albania, you would easily realize that a rental car is the way to go. Public transport is not that efficient and reliable and either way you would not be able to go all around Albania in one week using public transport. If you had more than a week, it might be doable to follow this itinerary at a slower pace.
This is why we opted for a rental car, likewise to most of our other travels. We rented our car from www.discovercars.com. This is our go to website for car rentals and we always had a good service. A car rental for all 7 days with automatic transmission costed us a total of 349.76€. A refundable security deposit of 800€ was also held on our credit card for the duration of the rental and refunded within about a week or so. It should be noted that gas in Albania is not on the cheaper end and prices fluctuate. Sometimes we even noted that gas stations facing each other on opposite ends of the same street sell gas at completely different prices. So keep an eye out for the prices and re-fuel as soon as you see a convenient price. To do this, make sure to not leave re-fueling up until your gas meter is too low. Another tip to keep in mind is to look for gas stations before heading out for long trips as some destinations particularly in the north such as Theth National Park are completely void of any gas stations so its wise to think ahead! Take it from us who ended up driving the narrow and unpaved roads of Theth on neutral transmission whenever possible in the hope of making it to the only gas station that the large area offers.
