A VanLife guide to Albania

Planning a road trip around Albania? Wondering what Vanlife in Albania is like? Want to find out why you should travel Albania by campervan? Well, look no further.

Albania is likely off the beaten tourist track for many. But if you give it a chance you’ll be hugely surprised, and quickly fall in love with this welcoming, incredibly nature rich and budget friendly destination.

Nestled along the Mediterranean coast between Greece and Montenegro, it is home to the incredible stretches of white pebble beaches and turquoise waters, beautifully clear rivers and lakes, as well as some stunning snow capped mountains. 

And that’s before we get onto its towns, cities and archaeological ruins that have been shaped by Greek, Roman and Ottoman Empires.

With friendly hospitality, an improving road network and cheap diesel and campsites, we think it’s the perfect place to road trip

In this blog we want to share our experiences with you – giving you the topline info you need to know before you travel, as well as share some ideas of things to see and do here. Plus, some extra info if you are like us, vegans on the road. Read below for more info!

Before you go

PLANNING: When should you go?

We visited in March and April, and would definitely recommend the shoulder season, in the Summer we’ve heard that crowds throng to Albania’s beaches, plus it does get very warm! 

We were treated to some mild, sunny weather, and the crowds were so thinned out that we had beaches all to ourselves.

In Winter it can get very cold, so perhaps give that a swerve, unless you like your solitude. While if you love a beach party, hot sun and cheap drinks, then the summer will be for you!

Is it safe?

In short, YES. We don’t think we’ve felt as welcome in a country like Albania before. Every wave was met with a smile, and people were always happy to speak with us and to hear if we liked
Albania.

While we can only speak from our own perspective, we never felt unsafe visiting this country. As you would in even your own country, if you keep your wits about you, and treat everyone with respect, there shouldn’t be a problem.

What language(s) do they speak?

Albanian is the main language in the country. But plenty of people on campsites, restaurants and other places you’ll likely visit speak English and/or another language like Italian (as it’s just across the sea!)

Plus, a smile and a bit of miming can likely get you anywhere.

(as a side note, we would also suggest downloading Albanian from Google Translate as a back-up)

What is the internet situation like?

In short – fast and cheap. We bought a local Albanian Sim Card on our first day, and have used that ever since. We don’t think we’ve ever struggled to connect to 4G; unlike some places in the UK!

We bought our Sim for £13 GBP, which got us 40GB plus calls and minutes that we didn’t use. It was super easy to top-up via the ONE.AL app too.

Campsites and restaurants also offer wifi – to varying degrees of speed!

Campervan travel in Albania – VanLife in Albania:

Albania is definitely becoming a more popular place to visit in a campervan. We saw plenty of them – from Motorhomes to zombie apocalypse proof off-road 4X4 Rigs!

Wild camping is broadly accepted and seems to be allowed. As usual, follow the golden rules of wild camping (respect the area, don’t park outside people’s houses, don’t leave a mess etc), and always check apps like Park4Night to get the latest on the situation.

However, we would also like to say that campsites are also pretty spectacular, and very cheap, compared to other places in Europe, too!

We planned to do a lot of wild camping, but ended up staying on campsites and/or restaurant car parks. This was because they were cheap, but also that Albanian hospitality really is second to none. We learnt so much from our hosts, they often gave us free red wine or raki in the evenings, plus it was a great place to explore from, keeping our van in a secure parking lot, if we were visiting a nearby town or city.

Prices for campsites varied, here’s some of the prices we paid:

• Camping Tirana (12 Euros a night)
• Eco Camp Permet (4 Euros per person per night)
• Muscato Camping (15 Euros per night)
• Family Camping, Gjirokastra (20 euros, but included unlimited washing machine use!)

Can I drink the water in Albania

We used campsites to fill up with water when we travelled. Most water at campsites was drinkable, with quite a lot of campsites plugging their water straight from a mountain spring. However, make sure you ask each time, some water we were told by a few campsites has a high calcium concentrate, so it is suggested to boil before you drink, or to use a filter!

We have a Lifesaver Jerry can filter which we used for our drinking water, while we used the unfiltered water for cooking and cleaning.

What about Gas for cooking?

We have a refillable LPG system, and were able to fill up using an adapter. Most petrol stations had a LPG filling point, and the best bit about it – the attendant will do it for you!

What do I need to do to take my vehicle into Albania?
To enter Albania you will need your vehicle certificate (V5 document), and valid insurance.

It is a legal requirement to drive with at least third-party insurance in Albania. But as to whether you’re UK or EU Insurance provider covers you is a different matter. We asked ours, and we were not covered to drive in the country by our current policy. However, it was very easy to purchase insurance to cover us for the duration of our trip. 

We bought ours at the border and paid 90 Euros to cover us for two weeks. If you need longer (we did) we just visited one of the major border towns (we went to Durres), and bought a new policy.

We also took out breakdown cover with RAC (other providers available), who did cover us – thankfully (knock on all of our wooden cupboards!) we have not needed to use it.

What is it like driving in Albania? 

Albanian Roads

From reading online, there’s no doubt that Albanian roads have developed quite the reputation. But we can gladly report that in 2022, we didn’t really face many difficulties in driving. Sure, there were a few potholes that required a bit of dodging, but that mostly concerned the road between Durres and Tirana. 

The road towards the Albanian Riviera, and along the Ionian coast between Vlore and Butrint was as good as any road we’ve driven in Southern Europe. And they’re beyond scenic. Check out a suggested coastal road trip route here.

We have heard the roads get considerably more challenging the further north you go towards Theth (despite it being tarmacked as of 2021). However, we didn’t manage to make it that way on our trip, so we can’t confirm!

Albanian Driving

We have found that the speed limits are very rarely followed. And our greatest advice would be to just keep slow, steady, follow the speed limits and don’t try to follow the Albanians at their own game of over-taking..!

Broadly, we found it was fine to drive outside of rush hour traffic. But you should definitely keep your wits about you when approaching junctions and turn offs. Some other great advice can be found on the RAC Website: https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/travel/country/albania/#:~:text=Yes.,apply%20for%20an%20Albanian%20licence. 

Albanian Diesel

One final piece of advice is to make sure you buy diesel from a reputable looking garage. And always, always, ask for Euro Diesel. Do not use the other diesel, particularly if you have a newer van, like us. Our engine did not like it, and we needed to quickly fill up with some Diesel Blue at the next station to help give us a better fuel mix!

Vegan in Albania

We won’t lie – eating out was a very difficult thing to do as vegans in Albania. However, as we’ve seen across the world, this is improving. Our best advice would be to download the Happy Cow app and use that to find where other intrepid Vegan travellers have found vegan food.

We did find one restaurant with Vegan options through Happy Cow – Taverna Tradisionale – in Gjirokaster; and the food was pretty good!

For general vegan staples, you will likely be OK if you can find yourself an Extra or a Conad. These supermarkets we found had an OK offering of plant milks, we found some vegan pesto, while we also found some Tofu in the Big Market on the outskirts of Tirana.

You will not, however, struggle for fresh fruit and veg. There are fruit and veg stores everywhere in towns and villages, outside shops, or just by the side of the road. And the best thing is that it’s usually plastic free! (Remember to bring bags!)

Looking for some ideas for your road-trip or VanLife travel in Albania? Click through to some suggested itineraries we’ve created here:

• Travelling the Albanian Riviera; epic drives, beaches and history
• Hot Springs, The Blue Eye and Historical cities of South Central Albania