Cash Only:
Almost nowhere accepted credit or debit cards. Leks were preferred, but sometimes you could get away with Euro. Find an ATM or money exchange and take out cash immediately because grocery stores, buses, and most hostels are all cash-only.
Transportation:
Buses
The Albanian bus system is not the *most* reliable, but with some forethought and an openness to going with the flow, it can be managed. I took a lot of buses in Albania: one broke down with us still on it, a few didn’t show up at all, and almost all had a driver chain-smoking the entire time (on par for the Balkans). The official schedules are not listed online, but this is the most accurate bus schedule I’ve found. Some of the late-night ones listed did not turn out to be accurate, specifically the airport times.
Hitchhiking
Hitchhiking is surprisingly common in Albania. When the buses fail, you can count on the lovely people in Albania to open their cars to strangers. Due to countless flight delays, I left Tirana Airport at 2 am one day, fully trusting Google Maps on my phone that there would be a bus waiting to leave at 2:30 am to the city center where my hostel was. I asked a girl around my age where the bus stop was and she looked at me like I was crazy. She said, “The buses never run this late. Are you going to the city center? You can come with us!” Blaming it on a lack of sleep, I hopped into her car, squished in the backseat between her and her sister with their parents in the front. They drove me directly to my hostel, asking questions about why I was in Albania and life in the United States the whole way. They were absolutely lovely and helped me when I needed it the most.
While traveling, I was always dwarfed by my massive 60L backpack, and every time I walked around with it in Albania, people would always stop and ask me if I needed a ride. When hitchhiking, you do need to make split-second decisions about whose car to get in. As a young girl, I would not get in a car with only men but if there was a woman or children present, I normally judged it as safe. There are exceptions to this– if you ever get a bad feeling, walk away. Be along for the adventure, but don’t gamble with your safety.
Bars & Clubbing
Stick to Their Crowd
In Tirana and Sarande alike, at bars and clubs, we didn't think it was common to talk to people outside your immediate group. Most people seem to go out with their own friends and spend time really only talking to them. While they’re not rude to others, they do keep to themselves. The exception to this is the drunk, late-night “hellos” we would receive walking around if people heard us speaking English. They were harmless and always made us giggle.
Tables Yes, Dancing No
At clubs and the music festivals we attended, I was always surprised by the lack of dancing. Everyone would crowd around tables and it seems much more common to buy bottle service. The vibe was very different from American or Western European clubs, but it was still fun if not a little more subdued.
Dress for Success
Most women were dressed to the absolute nines. They all looked gorgeous and had really nice clubbing dresses on. It seemed to be standard throughout Albania for women to dress up for the clubs, and the one night I went out in jeans I felt very out of place.
Male Dominated Bars
The clubs had a better gender split, but just getting a drink at a bar was a heavily male-dominated activity. Most went out in big groups of men, drinking and smoking together. There were few women in their groups and you hardly ever saw a group of just women out.
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