Getting to a country is half the work, getting around it is the other half. Figuring out the transportation system in a new country can be daunting, and it gets even harder when there is a language barrier, which many would have in Albania unless they speak Albanian or Italian. Have no fear though, below you can find some of the most valuable and practical information about the latest news regarding mass transit in Albania!
Leaving the Airport
Unless you are driving into the country, or using a ferry to cross over the Adriatic, you will most likely fly to Tirana International Airport Nene Tereza, as the only other International Airport in Kukes is hardly connected to the majority of Europe, let alone the world. Unfortunately, although the name suggests that the airport is in Tirana, that is not really the case. It is found in a small town called Rinas, within the Durrës County. It is somewhat closer to Tirana than it is to Durrës proper so perhaps that is why it was named as Tirana International Airport instead. What all this really means for a regular tourist without an intention to rent a car at the airport is that they must make their way out of this small town into a proper one, to have some real options to move around the country.
When I flew there on June of 2022, there were direct bus services to Tirana, Durrës, Fier, and Vlorë, though I have heard rumours of some other options being available every now and then as well, such as to Shkodër and Sarandë. What I would suggest is to keep checking the website I put below to see what the latest offerings are, though I must argue that price wise this website itself was not up to date when I used it for my travels, so do keep that in mind. For example, the bus to Vlorë which we used on day one costed us 1200 leks per person, not 1000 as the website once claimed. However, for a general information, the it should work fine. In case of not finding the right bus to your desired destination, simple go to Tirana and then get to its bus station, about which you can read more about just below!
Airport Shuttles for Tirana International Airport Nene Tereza
Moving Around the Country
Those that know me know that I have a “thing” against cars. Sure, they may be convenient and all in certain countries and cities, but for those that move around a lot, or plan to move around, they often are a liability. Not to mention the gas prices… In short, this is not the piece of text you want to read if you want to learn more about cars, traffic, renting a car etc. in Albania. If the public transport is up to speed in a country, I am a happy man. Now mass transit in Albania is not the best, but it sure is up to the task.
What you really need to keep in mind is this, there are very little trustworthy sources about it on the internet in English, and I am not even sure if the situation is much better in Albanian. You really must go the extra mile and ask around locals whenever you want to move somewhere, as they seem to have all the necessary knowledge for that sort of stuff. I personally would not know where all the buses that leave my local area go to in Istanbul, but somehow all the Albanians I talked to know all such routes and timetables without much issue. Obviously, simply referring you to the locals would not be much of a help, so here are a few things to note if you wish to travel around Albania using its rather extensive but mysterious bus and furgon system. Oh, and by the way, furgons are just minibuses, being quite ubiquitous around many Balkan, Slavic, Caucasian, and Middle Eastern countries though often with different local names.
- There are two very important bus terminals in Tirana, one for domestic travellers and the other for international ones. The international one is found just behind “Asllan Rusi Sports Palace,” near the city centre. There you can find buses leaving as far away as Belgium, and as near as Montenegro. I did not really use it myself, though it seems to offer some decent prices for those that wish to extend their journeys across the Balkans. The domestic one is known as “South and North Albania Bus Terminal” and it is the one that you will end up using a lot, especially if you want to use Tirana as a base for daytrips around the country, which is quite feasible for most destinations within the country, barring its extreme south. You can take buses to pretty much anywhere in the country from here and in most cases the fee should not be more than 1200 leks. For Krujë it was 200 leks, Berat set us back by 500 leks, and for Vlorë we ended up paying 600 leks per person in June of 2022.
- Do keep in mind that many websites on this issue are not up to date! You may see a lot of people out there mentioning three separate bus terminals for different parts of the country. This is not the case anymore as is told above. There is one, big, new, domestic bus terminal called South and North Albania Bus Terminal, situated on the road that leads to Durrës, some six kilometres away from the city centre.
- You must make sure to look at the current timetables for buses and furgons as it may change seasonally and without much warning. It is also important to simply ask your driver when the last bus/furgon will be from your destination if you want to plan a daytrip. It was very unfortunate to hear that from certain places, such as Krujë and Berat, latest returning options could be as early as 3pm, which hardly leaves one enough time to see the most important sights of both these magnificent cities. I am not entirely sure why this is the case, though my theory is that the local hotels and hostels may ask for such an arrangement to benefit from more “accidental” traffic their way from unfortunate day-trippers. It just makes sense; however sad it may be. If there were buses to Berat from 6am to midnight for example, to and from, I am not entirely sure if anyone that stayed in Tirana would spend a night there, as then they could easily see all that Berat has to offer in a single day and be done with it. In any case, these arrangements are all subject to change, so make sure to check in with your locals and your friendly driver for when the last furgon or bus leaves the terminal to go back “home.”
- In almost all cases, you pay on your way out of a furgon rather than when you get in. This may or may not come as a surprise to you depending on which part of the world you are coming from. In Turkey, or in Russia, and to be fair in most parts of the world, what I was used to was simply paying upfront and then getting off as I wanted. However, in Albania, quite a few times, drivers seemed surprised that I wanted to pay early on. Later, I realised that most were just paying as they departed, which is quite bizarre given the fact that such transactions often meant that we would wait somewhere along the road a bit more than usual, but it is what it is. Keep it in mind and do not be surprised if no money is requested of you when you first enter the minibus, they are not free, you just may have to wait a bit before paying for it.
Timetable for Buses/Furgons Leaving Tirana
Moving Around Tirana
Moving around the capital of Albania is a hassle-free experience. Almost everything that most tourists would be interested in are already found within walking distance of the centre, around where most tourists would stay. There is simply nowhere that is “so far away” that you must use a bus or a taxi, except for two, or perhaps three destinations depending on your personal preference. Let us go through these places one by one!
Bunk’Art 1
This is an exception to the rule when it comes to “must visit” spots in Tirana, being somewhat distant to the city centre. Many would suggest you rent a car to go there, or hail a cab, or get on a bus. If you want to do that, then simply follow the link provided below for all the related information, perfectly put together by Dajti Ekspres, a highly touristic cable car that lifts its customers up to the mountains surrounding the capital. Its base station is pretty much next to Bunk’Art 1 so getting there means finding both. Now that this is done, I must issue a fair warning to all my readers. Taking the bus to Bunk’Art 1 if you stay near the centre means wasting a wonderful walk up to the mountains, during which you can see the city around you change with every single step you take. The glamour and order of the city centre proper will slowly leave its place to more “communist” parts of the capital, which in time will leave their spots to many educational facilities and some industries along the way, with all of them in turn being replaced by rather luxurious cafes and housing projects once you get near your desired destination. Walk this path! Walk it! It was one of the best mornings walks I have ever had in a long time, and the five-kilometre journey barely makes you ascend 80 meters, meaning that the inclination is not too much to deal with. You will see many different facets of life in Albania, witness more affluent and less fortunate parts of the city, see every day Albanians moving around within their own neighbourhoods, and enjoy the best views of the mountains to the East as you come closer to Bunk’Art 1. I cannot recommend this enough to any serious travellers who wants to see what Tirana truly offers, beyond its touristy and quirky centre full of already famous attractions.
How to Reach Bunk’Art 1 (The Boring Way)
South and North Albania Bus Terminal
This relatively new bus terminal is around six kilometres away from the city centre, and if you intend to use it with your luggage and all, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it is a bit far away. Besides, the road that leads to it is hardly covered with trees, unlike most other roads found in Tirana, meaning that walking it in summer is quite rough on one’s body. The way to get there by bus is simple though. Either find a bus that says “Terminali” on it and use it to get there or find one that writes “Instituti” on its pixelated front screen. This latter bus leaves from the bus stop that is found just behind the National History Museum and costs 40 leks for a one-way trip, much like any other bus in the capital. It should not take more than 20 minutes to get there using this method, however, traffic in Tirana is very unpredictable so always keep that in mind. Better be early than late!
TEG (Tirana East Gate)
Though I loved every single second of my stay in the very centre of Tirana, there were times when I felt underwhelmed with the selection of goods that I could find in nearby markets and supermarkets. What I needed was a HYPERMARKET! No matter whether you need a hypermarket to find even more snacks (like me) or if you just want to see what an Albanian shopping mall looks like, TEG (and some other options) is there to serve all your needs. You can get to it using buses with “TEG” written on them, so it is pretty straightforward. I got on it from the bus stop that was on the opposite side of the road from the Resurrection of Christ Orthodox Cathedral and it seems to pass at around every 15 to 20 minutes.
There does not seem to any reliable apps as of yet that can help with transportation around Albania, or within Tirana. An app called Moovit tries to help but it is quite useless in most cases as it seems to recommend the wrong buses, or completely fail to calculate a path to your destination. It is always a-okay to simply ask the Albanian youth, that waits in the same bus stop as you are, how to get to where you want to go. In most cases, they will speak enough English to tell you just what you need. You may (or may not) be used to trusting apps to get you around in your home country (as I was) but that simply does not work everywhere around the world, some parts of which often have these extremely friendly and hospitable locals to always help a traveller in need!
Moving Around Vlorë, Berat and Krujë
Moving around the country by bus is feasible and moving around its capital is a no brainer. Now, if only I could say the same about moving around the smaller cities. That is when and where I felt the most “powerless” when it came to my options to go to my desired destination, so much so that I ended up hitchhiking for the first time in my life. Unfortunately, public transportation in Vlorë is just two buses that seems to both serve the main arteries of the town, leaving all the rest of its denizens out of its route. It was not practical for us and thus we never used it.
In Berat there was a bus that went from the bus terminal to the city centre, and if I knew about it beforehand, we could have shaved a few kilometres away from our walk that day. If you do not see it waiting for you when you arrive at Berat, simply wait for a few more minutes and get yourself a nice seat in it.
I have not seen a single bus or minibus in Krujë and it being the super hilly city that it is, I think I know why. Its denizens are obliged to all have a car as leaving the mountain town is not very convenient otherwise, and as such its locals have no need for a bus network whereas its many tourists often arrive there either by their own cars or by tour companies, who also does not need any other buses in it. It is a very small town, and a public transportation is not necessarily required, though do keep in mind that both in Krujë and in Berat one must scale quite a lot of steep hills here and there if they wish to see the best landmarks both of these cities offer.
Vlorë is much easier to explore by walking, though it too is problematic in summer due to a lack of trees lining the streets, leaving one alone with the Adriatic/Ionian sun hammering down on them. I so wish that there was at least an irregular bus line to Zvërnec, a nearby small but touristic town that is near the small but cute St. Mary’s Monastery, though perhaps it is too much of a wishful thinking given the overall lack of people moving in between these two places at any given time in a day.
In short, you may feel like a car is required in one of the many smaller towns found in Albania, and you may actually need them if your health or age does not allow you to be quite active during your trips around the world, but other than these “little nuisances” it is perfectly possible to move around the country and many of its cities without a car. It would be smart to have a bike with you if you can, or perhaps rent one during your stay in Albania, as that may make life a lot easier for many, as plenty of bike-riding Albanians would agree with!
Now that you know how to get around Albania, it would not be wrong to argue that all that remains is to find out how to get there! Go to your favourite website now and book that ticket knowing that you will have, for the most part, be able to move around Albania relatively hassle-free. If you ever get hungry during your travels, and I am sure that you will, you should be happy to know that no matter where you go next in Albania, some good food will be right around the corner, waiting for you. Read more about the wonderful Albanian cuisine HERE!