How much we spent: 10 days in Albania 🇦🇱
- Calvin Chan
- Aug 21, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 22, 2024
🇦🇱 Albania | 📅 10 days in May 2024 | 🌷 Spring
This is how much we (2 people) spent during 10 days in Albania, in May 2024 (Spring). We hit up Tirana, Shkoder, Theth and Valbona in 10 days.
For reference, we're nature-loving, value-seeking 20-something year olds from Australia who think with their stomachs. Hopefully this helps you plan and budget your trip to Albania! Three money saving tips for Albania below!
💲How much we spent
Total spend*: 1,579 AUD | 1,058 USD | 947 EUR
Daily spend: 117 AUD | 78 USD | 70 EUR
* The above prices are without international travel and shopping costs (i.e. arriving in country and souvenirs)
🛏️ Accomodation: 60 AUD /day 602 AUD | 403 USD | 361 EUR
If you're worried about your budget in Albania, don't be. Albanian accomodation is super affordable. It may not look it at 60 AUD per day, but what we got for that price was unbelievable. Check out what we got for 64 AUD per night in Tirana, and 57 AUD per night in Shkoder. The mountain cabins were also great value, considering we were in the middle of the mountains, the rooms we got and the hospitality from the host families.
🍽️ Food: 35 AUD /day 353 AUD | 236 USD | 212 EUR
We had no idea what to expect with Albanian food, but it was DELICIOUS. Albeit sometimes a little plain, but once you hit the traditional dishes - you will be met with FLAVOUR. Our favourites were the home-style meals like Father's Rice and Mother's Meatballs. The best meal we had was at Puri in Tirana.
🚶🏻♂️ Activities: 4 AUD /day 39 AUD | 26 USD | 24 EUR
Since we spent most of our time hiking in the Accursed mountains (highly recommend!), we didn't spend too much on activities. Hiring bikes are really cheap in Schkoder and a great way to explore the town and surrounding areas. If you only had time for one cultural thing in Tirana, we got recommended and recommend ourselves - Bunk'Art 2. An insightful look into what closed-off Albania was like before they opened up to the rest of the world in late 1980's, inside an old bunker!
🚌 Local transport: 16 AUD /day 159 AUD | 107 USD | 96 EUR
Local transport in Tirana is super cheap and straightforward. We were prepared for a bit of confusion and running around, but everything was actually very simple and easy. Inter-city buses are usually taken in large bus stations and can be booked in advance online, though we were able to get tickets on the day just fine. Transport within towns/cities were super affordable (<1 AUD inside Tirana) and the more "tourist routes" (like the ferries to and from the Accursed mountains) can be booked online or through your hotel in Shkoder! For the ferries, check out this website for the latest - it's from the official company.
🧺 Misc: 2 AUD /day 18 AUD | 12 USD | 11 EUR
This category encompasses anything and everything outside of the other categories, and shopping below. Typically this includes laundry, pharmaceuticals, buying replacement for things, and in this case - ATM withdrawal fees 😖!
🛍️ Shopping: 0 AUD /day 0 AUD | 0 USD | 0 EUR
We did no shopping during our 10 day trip in Albania. I know, there's so many cool knick knacks and souvenirs like carpets, soaps and jams BUT we've both only got one bag each for our year+ trip around the world - we gotta keep light!
🧠 Tips on saving money in Albania 🇦🇱
Carry some LEK! Not everywhere, but some places will convert the euros to their favour so they get more. We had a few cases where we paid a little more for meals/purchases, small change but it adds up.
Find a good guesthouse if you’re going to the Alps! Most of them serve dinner for great value, but quality and quantity of the food varies. In Theth, Bujtina Therthija was delish and had big portions. Never had to buy extra food for dinner.
If you’re going to the Alps, don’t bother renting a car! The drive from Theth to Valbona (vice versa) is 5+ hrs and doesn’t let you get the same views as the hike. We met couples who just had to leave their car and do the hike twice! The public buses and boats are very reliable and affordable.
✨ For Albania 🇦🇱 itinerary inspo, check out our blog posts:
Tirana 1 day itinerary
Shkoder 1 day itinerary
Accursed Mountains 5 itinerary
How to hike the Blue Eye Lake, Accursed Mountains Albania
The best hike in Albania: Theth to Valbona
What does Albanian food look like?
5 things we wished we knew: Albania
📔 For budgeting and planning your trip to Albania, check out our FREE resources:
🧮 Travel Budget Tracker ⬅️ The screenshots from this article used this!
📕 Travel Adventure Planner ⬅️ This is how we planned our year+ adventure!
🪨 More travel resources:
📱 Our favourite global travel eSim ⬅️ Use "KIMNCAL30" for 30% off!!
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