Getting Around Albania: Rental Car, Bus, or Taxi

The question I get right after "is it safe" and "how much will it cost" is almost always some version of "how do I actually get around," and it's a fair thing to be uncertain about, because Albania's transport system doesn't quite work the way most visitors expect coming from Western Europe. There's no real passenger rail network worth planning around, the bus system runs more on local knowledge than published timetables, and yet somehow, once you understand the actual logic of it, getting around here is easier than the uncertainty beforehand ever suggests.

A rental car is what I'd recommend for most visitors who can drive stick or don't mind the slightly higher cost of an automatic, mainly because it gives you access to places furgons and buses simply don't reach easily, like the smaller Riviera coves or a flexible pace through the mountains. A few things are worth knowing before you pick up the keys: Albania technically requires foreign drivers to carry an International Driving Permit alongside their home license, and while enforcement is inconsistent enough that plenty of travelers never get asked for one, it costs very little and takes an afternoon to sort out before you leave home, so I'd just get it rather than gamble on not being stopped. Once you're on the road, the driving culture here runs more aggressive than most Western visitors are used to — overtaking on blind curves, loose lane discipline in cities — and mountain roads like the Llogara Pass demand real attention, minimal barriers and sharp drops included. Main highways and coastal roads are generally in good shape these days, noticeably improved over the last decade, but rural and mountain routes can still turn rough or unpaved with little warning, so I'd never fully trust a GPS estimate in those areas without building in extra time.

If you'd rather skip driving entirely, the furgon is how most of the country actually moves, and it's one of my favorite things about traveling here. These are shared minibuses that run fixed routes between towns without a fixed timetable, operating instead on a simple, almost charmingly analog system: they leave once every seat is full, not at a scheduled time, which means showing up and waiting twenty minutes is a completely normal part of the experience rather than a sign anything's gone wrong. Fares are cash-only and remarkably cheap, a few euros will get you between most major towns, and while there's no app or website that reliably tells you departure times, asking at the local bus terminal, or simply asking your guesthouse host the night before, gets you the information you need almost every time. It's not the transport option for anyone who needs precision timing, but for everyone else, it's the cheapest and, honestly, the most Albanian way to see the country.

Longer-distance intercity coaches exist alongside furgons on the busier routes, generally a bit more comfortable and running to something closer to an actual schedule, though the line between "bus" and "large furgon" blurs more than you'd expect once you're actually booking one. Within cities, taxis are metered and reasonable, but I'd lean toward Bolt, the ride-hailing app that's become the standard in Tirana and most larger towns, simply because it removes any ambiguity about the fare before you get in, which matters more outside the capital where meters aren't always used consistently.

The one option I'd actively steer you away from planning around is the train. Albania does technically have a rail network, but passenger service has shrunk to the point of being effectively irrelevant for tourism — routes are limited, slow, and infrequent enough that I can't remember the last time I met a traveler who used one to get somewhere useful. If you see it mentioned as a novelty or a specific nostalgic detour, that's a different conversation, but as an actual way to move around your trip, cross it off the list entirely.

How I'd actually put this together for a typical trip: rent a car for the Riviera and the drive up toward Berat or Gjirokastra, where the flexibility to stop at every viewpoint is worth the extra cost and the mild stress of the mountain roads, then hand the car back in a city like Tirana or Sarandë and switch to furgons for a slower, cheaper stretch, using Bolt for anything short and local along the way. Mix and match rather than committing to one method for the whole trip, and you'll end up with both the flexibility and the budget-friendly, genuinely local experience that neither option gives you entirely on its own.