Is Albania Expensive? What Two Weeks Actually Cost Us
Albania is cheap to eat in and cheap to sleep in, and then it takes the money back on the coast. Our recorded cost was A$2,868.13 per person for 16 days, which is A$179.26 a day once accommodation is included. That is more per day than Egypt cost us, which was not what we expected from the country everyone calls Europe's budget beach destination.
The reason is not daily life. A coffee was A$4.58 and a full lunch was often under A$19. It is that a handful of beach club and boat days quietly ate the budget while the cheap days sat at A$17.
These are our own July 2025 numbers, tracked in TravelSpend as Dan's allocated one-person spending and reconciled against the actual bookings. All figures are in Australian dollars and per person unless I say otherwise. This is what we paid in peak season, not a promise of today's prices.
Is Albania expensive for tourists?
Not day to day. Albania was one of the cheapest places we have eaten, driven and slept in across 50 countries. Our average accommodation on the coast was A$96.50 per night for the two of us, and most of our meals landed between A$11 and A$27 for a full plate of food.
What Albania is not is uniformly cheap. The Riviera in July runs on sunbeds, beach clubs and boat trips, and those are priced for European summer holidays rather than for Albanian wages. Sit down at a beach club in Sarandë and you can spend more in an afternoon than you spent in the previous four days combined. We know because we did exactly that.
So the honest answer to whether Albania is expensive is: your daily costs will be low and your discretionary days will be high, and the gap between the two is much wider than in most countries. A two-week trip can plausibly cost A$1,200 or A$4,000 per person depending on how many beach club afternoons you say yes to.
For comparison, our 15 days in Egypt came to A$149.93 per person per day on the ground. Albania came to A$179.26. Egypt has the reputation for being cheap and Albania has the reputation for being a bargain, but in our actual spending Albania was the more expensive of the two.
What two weeks in Albania cost us
We were in Albania from 3 to 18 July 2025: 16 days, 14 nights, from Sarandë in the south up the Riviera and finishing in the Albanian Alps.
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| Cost | Per person | For two people | What it covered |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day-to-day spending | A$2,039.33 | A$4,078.66 | Food, drinks, activities, groceries, cash, fuel and the bus out |
| Coastal accommodation | A$579.02 | A$1,158.03 | 12 nights across five stops |
| Albanian Alps package | A$249.78 | A$499.56 | 2 nights, transfers and the Shala River trip |
| On-the-ground total | A$2,868.13 | A$5,736.26 | Everything above |
Two things are deliberately outside that total. We flew into Tirana from Istanbul on points, so we have no useful airfare to quote you. And the hire car that covered the coastal leg was booked separately from the tracker, so the A$102 of fuel is in the numbers above but the rental itself is not. Add both to anything you plan from this.
Our two-week Albania route shows how the stops fitted together if you want the itinerary behind the spending.
Albania cost per day: the average is misleading
Our day-to-day spending averaged A$127.46 per person per day. That number is close to useless on its own, because our median day was A$84.70.
Three days did most of the damage:
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| Day | Where | Spent | What it was |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 July | Sarandë | A$478.49 | Beach club, dinner and drinks, cash |
| 11 July | Himarë and Vlorë | A$405.85 | Boat day, sushi and cocktails, cash |
| 15 July | Shkodër | A$263.85 | The Albanian Alps day |
Those three days are A$1,148.19, or 56% of two weeks of spending. Meanwhile our four cheapest days were A$17.38, A$17.64, A$18.16 and A$21.08, which were the quiet Himarë days when we cooked, swam and drank coffee for A$4.58.
That is the single most useful thing we can tell you about budgeting for Albania. The country is not expensive. Specific decisions are expensive, and they are concentrated into a few afternoons.
Where the money actually went
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| Category | Per person | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Cash and general | A$797.64 | 39.1% |
| Restaurants | A$433.54 | 21.3% |
| Activities | A$383.85 | 18.8% |
| Drinks | A$164.79 | 8.1% |
| Transport | A$128.88 | 6.3% |
| Groceries | A$121.47 | 6.0% |
| Coffee | A$9.16 | 0.4% |
Cash needs explaining, because at 39% it is the biggest line and the least informative. Albania is a cash country far more than most of Europe. We counted every withdrawal as spending, because the money left our account and got used, but we did not then re-record each cash purchase. So that A$797.64 is real money that went on food, sunbeds, tips, parking and drivers. It is not a mystery, it is just not itemised.
If you want the honest version of our category list, mentally move a chunk of that cash into restaurants and activities.
How much accommodation costs in Albania
We paid A$1,158.03 for two people across 12 nights on the coast, which averaged A$96.50 per night. Add the Alps package and we spent A$1,657.59 for two across all 14 nights.
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| Stop | Nights | Total for two | Per night |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sarandë | 3 | A$285.03 | A$95.01 |
| Ksamil | 2 | A$231.00 | A$115.50 |
| Himarë | 4 | A$414.78 | A$103.70 |
| Vlorë | 2 | A$144.59 | A$72.30 |
| Shkodër | 1 | A$82.63 | A$82.63 |
| Coastal total | 12 | A$1,158.03 | A$96.50 |
| Albanian Alps package | 2 | A$499.56 | A$249.78 |
Ksamil was our most expensive night anywhere in Albania at A$115.50, and it is also the place we would not base ourselves again. That is not a coincidence. Ksamil charges Riviera prices for a small strip that most people can see in a day, which is the whole argument in our Sarandë or Ksamil comparison.
Our four nights in Himarë were an Airbnb with a kitchen and a terrace over the bay, and it is the stay that made our cheapest days possible. We cooked, swam and spent almost nothing for days at a time. If we went back and wanted a hotel instead, Rea Boutique is the one I would book, and Tias in Shkodër we would rebook exactly as it was.
Rea Boutique Hotel
Himarë was the best value on the coast for us at A$103.70 a night, and this is where I would put that money next time. Rooms open straight onto the bay, it is a short walk to the water and the town, and it scored 9.2 from 482 reviews when I checked.
Tias Hostel
Our base before and after the mountains, and where we booked the whole Alps package. Dinner was included and eaten at one long table with everyone else heading up the next morning. For A$249.78 each covering two nights, every transfer and the Shala River trip, it was the best value booking of the trip. It scored 9.4 from 66 reviews when I checked.
Tias is a first-hand recommendation. Rea Boutique is the Himarë hotel I would compare against our Airbnb if we went back. Check current dates and recent reviews before booking either, because small Albanian properties change hands more often than big chains do.
If you are travelling solo or want to go cheaper than we did, comparing hostels and budget stays will get you under A$40 a night in Shkodër and Sarandë, which is roughly half what we paid as a couple in apartments.
Is Albania cheap for food and drink?
Food, yes, genuinely. We spent A$433.54 on restaurants, A$121.47 on groceries and A$9.16 on coffee across 16 days, which is about A$35.26 a day per person on everything we ate and drank that was not alcohol.
Here is what that looked like on actual receipts, all from July 2025:
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| What | Local price | What we paid |
|---|---|---|
| Coffee | 250 lek | A$4.58 |
| Lunch in Shkodër | 600 lek | A$11.02 |
| Dinner in Sarandë | 850 lek | A$15.58 |
| Lunch on the coast | 1,000 lek | A$18.37 |
| Cafe lunch in Sarandë | 1,075 lek | A$19.70 |
| Breakfast for two | 1,400 lek | A$25.72 |
| Meat lunch in Shkodër | 1,500 lek | A$27.30 |
A week of groceries in Himarë was 1,000 lek, about A$18.34. Having a kitchen is a big part of how we travel full time, and not only because it is cheaper. After a few months on the road, cooking your own dinner is what stops every night feeling like a holiday you have to perform.
Meals in the Alps were included in the package, which is worth knowing when you compare the mountain nights against the coast. The homestay dinners and breakfasts were some of the best food of the trip and none of them appear in our restaurant total.
Then there is the other end. One night in Sarandë, dinner and drinks came to A$150 for the two of us, which was more than nine of our sixteen days cost in total. It was a good night. It was also a completely different country's prices.
Is the Albanian Riviera expensive? The beach club maths
This is where Albania stops being cheap, so it deserves its own numbers.
Our entire two-week drinks budget was A$164.79, and A$144.79 of that went on one afternoon at one beach club. Eighty-eight percent of a fortnight's drinking, in a single sitting, in Sarandë.
These were the posted prices at Crystal Island in Sarandë in July 2025:
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| What | Local price | Roughly |
|---|---|---|
| Sun bed | 2,000 lek | A$37 |
| Day bed | 3,000 lek | A$55 |
| Cabana for the day | 6,000 lek | A$110 |
| Cocktail | 600 lek | A$10.90 |
| Beer | 350 lek | A$6.30 |
A couple taking a day bed and having three drinks each is at roughly A$120 before food. Along at Lost Seaside the cocktails ran 1,100 to 1,300 lek, about A$20 to A$23, with mains from 580 to 2,000 lek and our own average landing near A$20 a plate.
None of that is a rip-off. It is just European beach club pricing sitting a two-minute walk from a country where lunch is A$11, and if you do not notice the switch, your budget will.
The free version is genuinely good. Pulëbardha Beach outside Sarandë, the one at the top of this page, was our favourite stretch of water in the whole country and walking onto it cost nothing. Bring a towel, skip the sunbed, and the Riviera goes back to being cheap.
What activities cost in Albania
Our whole activities line for two weeks was A$383.85, and it was two purchases. That is not a typo and it is not restraint, it is just how Albania works: most of what you do is a beach, a walk or a drive, and then occasionally you buy a big day.
The Himarë boat day: A$120 recorded. We compared operators along the esplanade the night before and booked an early private trip, which got us into Pirate Cave and a run of beaches before the crowds arrived. Ellen called it the best thing to do in Himarë and I would pay it again without thinking. Go early. The same coastline at 11am is a queue.
The Albanian Alps: A$249.78 per person booked ahead, plus A$263.85 recorded on the day. The booked package covered two nights, all the transfers and the Shala River trip. It was the best money we spent in Albania and it is not close. Our Valbonë to Theth hike guide has the full breakdown of what the package included and how hard the walk actually is.
Everything else that made the trip was free or nearly free: Lëkurësi Castle above Sarandë at sunset, the beaches, the drive along the Riviera, the Blue Eye walk in Theth. We paid 500 lek, about A$9.20, at Lëkurësi, though I could not tell you now whether that was parking or entry.
Transport: car hire, fuel and the bus out
Our tracked transport was only A$128.88, split between A$102 of fuel and A$26.88 for the bus out of the country.
The hire car is the gap in that figure. We drove the coastal leg from Sarandë to Vlorë and it is the right way to do the Riviera, because the good beaches are down unmarked turnoffs and the bus network is not built for beach-hopping. Our recollection is around €20 a day, but that booking is not in the tracker so I will not publish it as a number. If you are pricing it now, compare car rental prices for the actual dates, because July rates are nothing like May rates.
Fuel came to A$102 for the whole coastal section, which for the distances involved is not much.
Leaving Albania was the cheapest thing we did all trip. The bus from Shkodër to Montenegro was 15 euros, A$26.88 each. If you are chaining Balkan countries together you can compare bus times and prices across the region, though plenty of Albanian routes are still booked at the counter on the day.
One more small cost: we used the eSIM I use rather than hunting for a local SIM, which mattered more than usual here because a lot of navigation to beaches is offline-map territory.
Cash, cards and Albanian lek
Albania runs on cash to a degree that surprised us. We withdrew A$797.64 per person over two weeks and used almost all of it. Beach clubs took cards. The homestays, the small restaurants, the parking attendants and the boat operator did not, or preferred not to.
Both euros and lek were useful. Larger tourist-facing things were often quoted in euros, everything local was in lek. In July 2025 the rate sat around 54 to 55 lek to the Australian dollar, so 1,000 lek was roughly A$18.
Two practical notes. Withdraw in bigger amounts than feels comfortable, because the per-withdrawal fees are what get you, not the exchange rate. And carry more than one card, in more than one place. We use the Wise card I use for travel as one of ours, but the rule matters more than the card.
Is Albania expensive in July?
July is the most expensive month to go, and we went in July, so everything above is peak-season pricing.
Accommodation is the line that moves most. Our A$96.50 average would be meaningfully lower in June or September for the same properties, and the coast in August is worse again because that is when Albanians and Kosovars holiday at home. Sunbed and beach club prices are seasonal too. Boat operators are at their busiest and least negotiable.
What does not really move is food. A 600 lek lunch is a 600 lek lunch in May.
If you can shift, September is the trade we would make: the sea is still warm, the Riviera has emptied out, the Alps are open and the accommodation is cheaper. Late June is the other window. What we would not do is August.
How much should you budget for Albania?
For our style of travel, apartments with kitchens, eating out most days, a hire car on the coast and saying yes to the big days, I would start at A$2,900 per person for two weeks on the ground, or about A$5,800 for a couple. Add flights and the car rental on top.
You can go a long way below that:
- Around A$1,400 per person for two weeks staying in hostels and guesthouses, eating local, using buses and skipping the beach clubs. Albania genuinely supports this and you would not feel deprived.
- Around A$2,900 per person for what we did.
- A$4,500 and up if you want beach clubs regularly, boat days in several towns, restaurants every night and a car for the full two weeks.
The variable is not really the country. It is how many A$400 days you have.
How we would spend less next time
- Base in Sarandë and day-trip to Ksamil. Our most expensive nights bought the least.
- Pick two beach club days, not five. They are worth doing. They are not worth defaulting to.
- Keep the kitchen. Our A$17 days all had one.
- Withdraw larger amounts less often. Seven withdrawals in two weeks was too many.
- Book the Alps package, not the pieces. It was the one thing where paying up front clearly cost less than assembling it ourselves.
- Go in September. Same country, cheaper beds, fewer people on the sunbeds we were not going to rent anyway.
Was Albania worth what we spent?
Yes, and the Alps alone would have justified it. A$249.78 bought us two nights in a homestay in a valley with no phone signal, every meal, the transfers and a walk over a 1,800 metre pass that Ellen still rates as the best thing we did all year.
What we would change is the coast, not the mountains. We spent A$884 across two afternoons in Sarandë and Himarë and enjoyed both, but neither is in our top five memories of Albania. Pulëbardha was free. The Blue Eye walk was free. The drive down the Riviera was fuel.
Albania is not expensive. It is just very easy to spend money on the parts that matter least.
If you are planning the same trip, start with our two-week Albania guide, then read the Sarandë or Ksamil comparison before you book the coast.
Frequently asked questions
Is Albania expensive to visit?
Not day to day. Our median day was A$84.70 per person including everything. But our whole trip averaged A$179.26 per person per day because a few beach club and boat days were far more expensive than the rest. Albania is cheap to live in and expensive to holiday in.
How much does a trip to Albania cost per day?
Ours cost A$179.26 per person per day across 16 days, including accommodation. Day-to-day spending alone, before accommodation, averaged A$127.46 with a median of A$84.70.
How much did two weeks in Albania cost you?
A$2,868.13 per person, or A$5,736.26 for the two of us, for 16 days in July 2025. That covers 14 nights of accommodation, all food, drinks, activities, fuel and the bus out. It excludes our flights, which were on points, and the hire car, which was booked outside our tracker.
Is Albania cheap for food and drink?
Food is genuinely cheap. We averaged A$35.26 per person per day on restaurants, groceries and coffee, with lunches from A$11 and coffee at A$4.58. Alcohol at beach clubs is not cheap: cocktails ran A$10.90 to A$23.
How much is a beer in Albania?
We saw beer at 350 lek, about A$6.30, at a beach club in Sarandë in July 2025. In ordinary bars away from the beachfront it is less.
Is the Albanian Riviera expensive?
The beaches are free and the beach clubs are not. Sun beds were 2,000 lek, day beds 3,000 lek and a full cabana 6,000 lek per day at Crystal Island in Sarandë when we visited. Our favourite beach, Pulëbardha, cost nothing to walk onto.
How much is accommodation in Albania?
We paid A$96.50 per night for two people across 12 nights on the coast in July, in apartments and guesthouses. Ksamil was dearest at A$115.50 and Vlorë cheapest at A$72.30. Hostels will be roughly half that.
Is Albania cheaper than Greece or Croatia?
We have not travelled Croatia, so we will not pretend to compare it. What we can say is that Albania cost us more per day than Egypt did, so treat the "unbelievably cheap" framing carefully and budget for the coast specifically.
What is the cheapest month to visit Albania?
Of the months that are actually worth going, September gave us the best trade on paper: warm sea, emptier coast, cheaper accommodation and the Alps still open. July and August are the peak and the most expensive.
Do you need cash in Albania?
Yes, more than most of Europe. We withdrew A$797.64 each across two weeks and used nearly all of it. Homestays, small restaurants, parking and boat operators wanted cash. Carry two cards and withdraw in larger amounts to avoid repeat fees.
