Albania: Getting there & around

Albania's international flight provision is improving slowly. Recently British Airways added a daily flight from London Gatwick to Tirana's Mother Teresa airport, making the country far more accessible to long-haul travellers. There are also connections to Athens, Bologna, Cologne, Frankfurt, Istanbul, Milan, Rome, Turin, Venice, Vienna and Zurich. Land crossings are possible from Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Greece, and there are regular bus services to and from these countries. There's also a quick, short ferry from Corfu in Greece to Saranda in Albania.

Most Albanians travel the country in private minibuses ( furgons ) or state-owned buses, and they are frequent, cheap and comfortable. The roads are often poor and badly maintained in rural areas, but the main highways are being rapidly improved. A decrepit and limited railway network operates, with daily passenger trains leaving Tirana for Shkodra, Fier, Ballsh, Vlora and Pogradec. Cycling is possible but you would need to take into account the freewheeling local driving habits.