Tirana Transportation

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After the recent excellent Euromeet 2011 organised wonderfully by Valentina I needed to travel to Tirana in Albania to get my flight home. An internet search produced a lot of conflicting information that was either undated, out of date or just plain wrong so I intend to provide a step by step guide which was current as of 5th June 2011. Obviously, travel information is usually out of date as soon as it is written so chack to see if there is anything more recent as the usefulness of this decays.

Firstly, a bit of mythbusting. I had heard talk of a daytime bus, which I would have preferred but it simply does not exist. There is one bus per day, it departs at 1900 hours and this is how to get it.

I decided to get my ticket early although it would have been possible to turn up a short time before as the bus was nearly empty. Go to the the bus station, which is on Bulavar Kusman Josefovski Pitu and is actually under the main train station. Both are signposted and a taxi will take you there although if you wish to walk and / or save a few dinari it is only about a twenty minute stroll from the centre. From the centre, keep the river on your left, walk past the large Vero shopping centre and you will come to where the railway crosses over the road. It is just on the right and I have included a photo to help you.

When you enter, there are a number of different ticket booths and you need to go to the last one on the left which says Eurolines in Roman script. I went in and spoke to the two helpful ladies both of whom spoke reasonable English. I purchased my ticket easily in local currency although it was quoted in Euros. Be aware that you need to produce your passport to purchase a ticket, I think it is something to do with speeding up the somewhat notorious Albanian border procedure.

One thing to note is the difficulty in obtaining Albanian currency. I tried at the bureau de change in the bus staion but they couldn't help even after making a couple of 'phone calls on my behalf. I asked was there a bureau at the border and the lady couldn't help. In the event there was not but don't panic, you can use Euros until you get to Tirana.

All the perceived wisdom is that the bus departs from stand #1 although they told me it would leave from #3 which it duly did. They did, however, tell me the bus would have the Eurolines livery although, as you can see, it didn't.

The bus left on time with myself and one other lady on it. It was comfortable and had a toilet onboard although I did not use it so cannot vouch for it's cleanliness or otherwise. I took my favouerd seat which is the back seat in the middle. That way I can stretch my rather tall frame out a bit. As it happened, I managed to get a bit of sleep stretched out over all five seats.

The journey could probably be achieved a lot quicker but they tend to stop every couple of hours, always at a restaurant so you can stock up on food or snacks as well as attending the call of nature. All the places we stopped seemed to be clean. tidy and pleasant enough.

In the dead of night, our assistant / ticket collector disappeared into a small building and appeared to be conducting some sort of official business. This was explained a short time later when we approached the border. The assistant took our pasports and got them checked for us (we did not leave the bus). Then he gave them back, we drove a couple of hundred yards and he took them again at the Albanian side. No, I don't understand why either. Anyway, a few minutes later I had my passport back with my long-coveted Albania stamp. All completely painless. There is supposedly an entry tax of about one Euro but we didn't have to pay at the border, I think it is inbuilt in the ticket price.

After a few more stops we arrived in Tirana at about 0430 in the morning. Tirana does not have a bus station and you are dumped in a carpark, not too far from the centre. There I was, middle of the night strange capital of a new country with not a word of Albanian nor a penny piece of the local currency. Still, I like an adventure. This is what you may care to do. If you look from the carpark, there is a main road in front and a wide boulevard going away for you. This leads to the main square. Go down there a couple of hundred yards and there is a cafe / bar just beside the casino. Both are open 24 hours a day. The staff in the cafe were friendly, spoke a little English and, most improtantly, accepted Euros. I spent a very pleasant couple of hours there until the town started to come alive and I bid farewell and moved on.

This then is how to get from Skopje to Tirana by bus and it is not as scary as some might have you believe.

I shall unashamedly crosspost this in my Tirana page.

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I arrived in very good time as Tirana Airport which is officially called Mother Theresa but also known as Rinas and was initially impressed by the wonderful modern building. I was certainly too early for my checkin so I decided I would have a drink whilst I waited.

This was the first unpleasant experience. I ordered a beer and enquired would Euros be acceptable as I had no local currency, to be assured this was no problem. I realise airports are always expensive but I was charged five Euros for a beer which is at least three times what I had paid right in the centre of the city and no bill (check) to go with it. Basically, he ripped me off but I was too tired to argue.

At two hours before flight time (normal check-in) I went to the indicated check-in desk to be told it was not open. About five minuted later I noticed a large group of people obviously checking in although the board still indicated to wait. I queued up and was checked in. In fairness, the lady was friendly and offered me an exit seat as I am quite tall.

I went back outside and spent an interesting time watching the taxi touts harrassing arriving passengers in a number of languages, predominantly English. I have included a photo and I suggest you avoid them.

When the time came to check in, I was subjected to quite the most rigorous security check I have ever had. It was unbelievable. I have never been asked to remove my watch before. After having gone through my wallet thoroughly, the security man insisted on putting it back through the scanner, along with my small plastic comb which he had similarly manually inspected. I am all in favour of aviation security but this was just mad.

Having negotiated the security, I went to departures. First good news, there is an outside smoking area. It is just through the cafe on the left as you look towards the runway, should you want it.

The security theme continues in duty-free where they sealed my purchases in a bag so securely I had to take to it with scissors on my return home.

The flight was shown as being on time. At about 20 minutes before, it was clear this was not going to happen as the inbound was not on any stand that I could see. It flies in and we are still informed it will be on time. Not a chance. I believe it was still shown as on time when we boarded about half an hour late.

It is a beautiful building but they really want to sort out the organisation.

I must admit I had heard a few horror stories about taxi drivers in Albania and, on general principle, I am alway suspicious of them in places where I am obviously a visitor. To set the scen, I had been on a bus from Skopje all night, desprerately trying to keep awake and had to be at the airport for a 1430 flight.

I was having my umpteenth coffee in a nice little cafe on the main square in my attempt to induce insomnia and spoke to the friendly waiter about the situation. I had read that the fare should be about 17 Euros, so I said i would pay twenty. OK, a little over the odds but I just wanted to get there and I thought a pre-arranged price was better than haggling over a dodgy or non existent meter. no problem at all. My new best friend the waiter told me all was well and his mate across the road would be happy to oblige. He duly appeared, took my bag for me (unusual for taximen), we went to his car, negotiated the slightly lunatic traffic and arrived in good order. Job done. My suggestion is to know what the fare should be roughly and negotiate on that rather than a meter.

Hello,

The buses from Saranda will arrive next to Kombinat( until 2 years ago it was like that). There you will have to take the city buses of Tirana.

Careful in the bus especially in the line Kombinat-Kinostudio.

Good luck with your appointement at the Uk Embassy!

Hello,

There is a Coach that lives from Tirana Center next to the big Hotel of 15 floor.
In Albanian you say "15 kateshi".

They live Tirana at 3 pm and arrive to Prishtina around 1 am. You can get the ticket at the agency that is next to the hotel and the Coach departure.

Have an nice trip!

Hi,

I can only give you an answer for Ulcin-Shkodra et Shkodra-Tirana.

There are minibuses 2 times an day at least from Ulcin-Shkodra around 5-6 euros.

And for Shkodra-Tirana there are an lot minibuses and an few buses daily.

The minibus is around 4 euros and the bus an bit cheaper.

The minibuses are at the entrance of Shkodra and the buses are near the Theater.

Have an nice travel!

Gil

The airport is officially called ' Mother Teresa International Airport Tirana', but it's also known locally as 'Rinas Airport', the name of a nearby village.

The airport is situated 17km from Tirana. I travelled to & from the airport by taxi, arranged by my hotel. The fare was 3000 lek & it took about 20 minutes each time. I gather that there is an airport bus that goes between the airport & the National Historical Museum. I didn't see it, but I did see signs at the airport for it.

It's a small, clean, spacious modern airport. Check in was quick & easy. Once in departures, there's a bar & shops. Arrival is quick & easy too, immigration & visa purchase doesn't take long. In the baggage collection area there is a bureaux de change, ideal to get some money while you wait for your luggage to arrive.

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Tirana doesn't have a bus station, what it does have is a piece of land next to the railway station where buses & minibuses depart & arrive.

When I visited it, there were numerous buses with their destinations on signs in the bus windscreen. The drivers were stood about shouting out the destinations of their bus. I'm not sure if they ran to a timetable, they seemed to set off when they were full. The desinations I could make out were those of major Albanian cities.

On the main boulevard Zogu i Pare there are many travel agencies offering coach travel to the nearby countries. The coaches seemed to depart from there.