Arriving & Transport Getting to Albania has never been this easy, with affordable links via land, sea and air. Once you’ve arrived, keep in mind that as long as you’re on the ground it’s going to be a bumpy ride, whether you take a taxi, bus, car or train.
ARRIVING IN TIRANA
AIRPORT
BY BUS Most international and domestic buses will drop you off at the current bus terminal, west of the centre. The adjacent Ring Center mall has food, ATMs and toilets. From late summer, buses from the east and south will soon drop off at the fabulous new Tirana East Bus Terminal by the TEG mall. Both locations have bus stops to get to the city centre.
TIRANA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Tirana’s easy-to-use Nënë Tereza international airport is located 17km northwest of the city centre near the village of Rinas, and offers an increasingly interesting range of destinations, many of them on budget airlines. There’s a bookshop, ATMs, mobile phone shops and cafés. The airport express bus runs from near Skenderbeg Square hourly between 07:00 and 19:00 for 250 lek. Alternatively a taxi costs between 2500-3000 lek, taking 40 minutes.QRinas, tel. +355 4 2381 800, www.tirana-airport.com.
LUGGAGE STORAGE
BY CAR Since the main roads to and within Albania have been upgraded, driving to Tirana is finally an option. In summer months you may face long queues at the border, and keep in mind not all border crossings are open around the clock.
LUGGAGE STORAGE TIRANA Professional luggage storage for the Airbnb generation, 200 metres from Skanderbeg Square. Prices from 150 lek per hour up to 650 lek per day for two bags of any size, 3700 lek per bag per week or 4700 lek per month. QRr. Barrikadave, NECI Services, Elevator A1, 1st floor, tel. +355 69 246 08 22, www. luggagestoragetirana.com. Open 08:00-21:00.
BY FERRY Car ferry services from several Italian cities to the ports of Durrës, Shengjin and Vlora operate all year round. Flying to Corfu and taking advantage of the twice-daily passenger ferry to Saranda in the south of the country is often the cheapest way to reach southern Albania, though it’s still a long (yet very scenic) drive to Tirana from there.
Safe short and long term LUGGAGE STORAGE in central Tirana
OPEN DAILY from 8am to 9pm
Rr. Barrikadave tel. +355 69 2460822 www.luggagestoragetirana.com 8
Arriving in Tirana in style.
Tirana In Your Pocket
BY PLANE Tirana’s modern Nënë Tereza (Mother Teresa, TIA) airport, 17km northwest of Tirana, is a 30-minute drive away from the city centre in good traffic. Beside the baggage carousel in arrivals there are ATMs, an exchange office with so-so rates, and a tourist information desk. Buy a local SIM card at the mobile phone shops. Ignore taxi drivers harassing new arrivals and take an official yellow airport taxi to the centre for 2500 lek during the daytime and 3000 lek between 21:00 and 07:00. Other companies like Green Taxi charge only half that fee, but you need to order by phone for a pick-up across the street at the Jurgen Hotel. Alternatively, hop on the Rinas Express airport bus to Sheshi Skënderbej; these depart daily on the hour between 08:00 and 23:00 (from the centre to the airport between 07:00 and 22:00), and tickets cost 400 lek. BY TRAIN Tirana’s train station was regrettably demolished recently, so bold travellers arriving by train from Shkodra and Durrës consequently now find themselves deposited at Kashar west of town where shuttle buses take you the final 15km of the journey to the northern end of Blv. Zogu I. Albania has no international passenger trains yet.
