Getting around
Getting Around Albania: Buses, Not Trains
Albania's transport network runs almost entirely on roads rather than rail, and the mountainous terrain that makes the country so scenic also makes road journeys genuinely slower than their map distance implies.
Updated 2026-08-15
No Passenger Rail — Furgons and Buses Instead
Albania has no functioning intercity passenger rail network, a genuine surprise for travellers arriving from elsewhere in the Balkans or wider Europe where trains are the default. In its place, a dense network of furgons — shared minibuses that depart once reasonably full rather than on a fixed timetable — and larger coach buses connect Tirana to every significant town, generally departing from clearly marked but informal terminals rather than a single unified station. Furgons are the more flexible option for smaller towns and villages, while buses run more predictably on the main routes between major cities; either way, building in some schedule flexibility rather than planning around a fixed departure time is the more realistic approach outside the busiest routes.
Mountain Roads Are Slower Than They Look
Albania's terrain means road distance and travel time diverge more than a map suggests, and nowhere more than on the mountain routes — the Llogara Pass south of Vlorë climbs to over 1,000 metres in a series of switchbacks that turn a short map distance into a genuinely time-consuming drive, and the unpaved approach road into Valbona, in Tropojë, is slower again. Coastal roads along the Riviera between Vlorë and Sarandë follow the coastline's curves closely rather than running direct, adding real time to what looks like a modest distance. Building extra time into any itinerary crossing these routes, rather than estimating from straight-line distance, avoids the most common planning mistake visitors make here.
Renting a Car
Renting a car opens up Albania considerably, particularly for reaching smaller coastal villages, hill towns and trailheads that furgons and buses don't serve directly, and rental is straightforward and inexpensive by regional standards. Driving standards and road surface quality vary more than in Western Europe — mountain roads in particular can be narrow with limited barriers — so a measured pace and extra caution on unfamiliar routes matters more here than the distances alone would suggest. For a first Albania trip sticking to the main circuit of Tirana, the UNESCO towns and the Riviera, buses and furgons are entirely workable without a car; a car becomes genuinely useful once an itinerary reaches into the mountains or the quieter coastal stretches.