In case you’re planning a visit to Albania, your largest choice goes to be whether or not to journey by bus or rent a automobile.
Sadly, each choices include appreciable downsides.
Renting a automobile offers you the liberty to cease wherever you want, exploring the nation in depth whereas not being on the mercy of a posh bus system. However then again, native drivers are aggressive, parking is so sparse it’s possible you’ll not be capable of discover a area anyplace close to your lodging, and mountain roads can contain steep gradients, sheer drops, and tight hairpin turns.
Taking the bus presents an affordable approach to get across the nation, the place you don’t have to fret about coping with scary drivers, scarier roads, or spend hours in search of a parking spot. And but, bus stations may be situated on random stretches of freeway in the course of nowhere, with no indication you’re in the suitable place. The lack to order a seat prematurely could make for traumatic journey days, whereas the dearth of air con may be uncomfortable in summer season.
Dave and I made a decision to navigate Albania by bus, primarily as a result of neither of us have a lot expertise driving on the right-hand aspect of the street, and we didn’t wish to be taught whereas being surrounded by impatient, honking drivers.
Having mentioned that, I used to be undoubtedly involved we have been making a giant mistake. In truth, I arrived in Tirana with visions of Dave and I stranded on the aspect of a motorway with no concept how we’d get to our subsequent vacation spot, however excellent news! That solely occurred to us as soon as.
It’s true: I had a few horrible bus-related experiences in and round Albania, however I discovered quite a bit from my disasters. Had I identified what I do know now, in reality, I totally imagine I might have had a easy journey general, which is strictly why I’m publishing this text.
And you realize what? If Dave and I have been planning a return journey to Albania, we’d completely make the identical choice once more. I do imagine that travelling the nation by bus is a greater choice than by automobile.
And so, when you’re heading to Albania and contemplating utilizing public transport, I’m hear to inform you that it’s completely doable. And so long as you retain just a few key issues in thoughts, you’ll be capable of have a trouble-free journey, too.
On this article, I’m going to cowl completely every little thing it is advisable find out about how the bus system works on this nation. I’ll share all of my transportation disasters, together with why they occurred and the way I may have prevented them. And I’ll share my actual itinerary, too, with the intention to copy it and know that the buses I like to recommend do exist, are comfy, and run on time.
Let’s get began.
Gjirafa is Going to Be Your Large Journey Important
I couldn’t think about travelling round Albania with out entry to Gjirafa Travel! Whereas this web site actually has its flaws, it’s nonetheless essentially the most dependable approach to discover out which buses are working between two locations.
Gjirafa is best-used for its timetables. Whereas it doesn’t checklist each bus firm that’s working on a particular route, it does present most of them, and the instances listed are correct. What’s much less correct is the placement of the stations, and this ended up being the primary explanation for my many misadventures.
I can inform you that the departure bus station areas listed on Gjirafa Journey have been right for Tirana, Berat, Gjirokaster, Sarande, Ksamil, and Himare. When it comes to the place the buses arrived, that was a little bit extra imprecise. Generally drivers would simply drop us off on the town on a random road that wasn’t truly the bus station, nevertheless it was often shut sufficient.
In each Fier and Prizren (which sure, is in Kosovo, however I’m together with it right here, because it nonetheless entails Gjirafa Journey) the departure level of the bus station was truly 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the place it was marked on Gjirafa. And that… was an enormous downside.
In each of these cities, I ended up lacking my unique bus, having to troubleshoot on the fly, and arriving in my subsequent location hours after I used to be speculated to. It was traumatic, complicated, costly, and wasted a lot time.
Fortuitously, after I complained to Gjirafa, they’ve since up to date the placement of the Prizren bus to be right, however the Fier departure level remains to be improper. (I can’t even inform you the place the right Fier departure level is, as a result of it’s on the aspect of the freeway, not marked on Google Maps, and with no seen signal so you realize the place to face.)
How will you forestall this from taking place?
In case you’re going to be travelling to/from anyplace that I haven’t confirmed is marked within the right location, you’ll wish to double-check every little thing with the locals. Ask your guesthouse proprietor if the departure level in your bus is right. While you arrive at a bus station, ask a employees member or one other driver when you’re in the suitable place. If you could find the contact particulars of the bus firm, you’ll be able to ship them a WhatsApp message prematurely to double-check the departure location.
It’s a headache, however not the top of the world, and when you’re solely venturing to the locations I discussed above, this isn’t one thing you’ll want to fret about.
You Can Type-of-However-Not-Actually Guide in Advance
When you’ve finalised your itinerary, you’ll most likely assume the next step goes to be reserving every little thing. And the excellent news is that, in contrast to up to now, you can purchase bus tickets on-line, by way of Gjirafa — I had zero points doing so for the 2 bus journeys I booked — and you may pay by international bankcard.
One factor to remember, nevertheless, is that bus drivers don’t settle for digital variations of tickets. All of them require you at hand over a paper copy, as they’ll must hold it as proof that you just travelled on board. Provided that it’s unlikely you’ll have entry to a printer as you journey across the nation, you’ll due to this fact must be sure you’ve booked and printed your whole tickets earlier than you allow house.
However is there any actual profit to reserving prematurely?
In Albania, the primary one is with the ability to pay by card. This can be a nation that could be very cash-focused (we even needed to pay for all of our lodging in money!) and meaning ensuring you at all times have loads in your individual. And sure, bus drivers in Albania additionally solely settle for money as cost.
You may assume the opposite profit could be having peace of thoughts that you just’ve received a seat in your chosen bus. The fact, nevertheless, is the precise reverse.
Having a Bus Ticket Does Not Assure You a Seat on the Bus!
Bus journey in Albania is greater than a little bit informal.
You might have purchased a bus ticket prematurely, however you shouldn’t anticipate the driving force to find out about it, wait round for you, or forestall different passengers from taking your seat. Sure, significantly.
Right here’s the way it often works: buses arrive at their cease, passengers get on, the driving force waits till the car is full, then leaves. What meaning is that if the bus arrives 10 minutes early and there’s sufficient folks ready round to fill the car, the driving force will take cost from everybody and set off. Yep, it’ll depart when it’s full, whether or not you could have a ticket or not, or whether or not you’re on board or not.
(This additionally signifies that on quiet routes, you may end up ready round for sufficient passengers to fill the bus.)
For that reason, there actually isn’t a lot level in shopping for a bus ticket prematurely, as when you miss the bus you’re meant to be on, you’ll must pay for an additional one. Whereas we have been travelling in Albania, I don’t recall seeing another passengers with booked bus tickets — everybody simply turned up half an hour earlier than the departure time and paid the driving force in money.
The Buses are Extraordinarily Cheap
One big benefit of travelling Albania by bus is getting to save lots of a lot cash! This nation has a significantly cheap bus community, and I couldn’t imagine how little cash I used to be paying for every journey. Right here’s precisely what I paid for each bus journey I took inside the nation:
- Tirana to Berat: €5
- Berat to Gjirokaster: €10
- Gjirokaster to Sarande: €4.50
- Sarande to Butrint: €2
- Butrint to Ksamil: €1
- Ksamil to Sarande: €1.50
- Sarande to Himare: €8
- Himare to Tirana: €12
- Tirana to Ohrid: €18
When you think about that renting a automobile in Albania is more likely to price €30 a day at a minimal, you’ll be able to see simply how a lot you’ll save by utilising public transport.
And They’re Surprisingly Snug
I’m making this assertion with an enormous disclaimer as a result of Dave and I visited Albania in early-September, when day by day temperatures have been round 26°C (79°F). Due to this, the dearth of air con within the overwhelming majority of buses wasn’t an issue for us.
In July and August, the temperatures in Albania common out at 30-31°C (86-88°F) and may attain as excessive as 38°C (100°F) — a variety of travellers complain about scorching buses right now of yr. In these temperatures, home windows will usually be opened on the bus to assist cool issues down, which does assist, nevertheless it additionally may be price bringing a fan with you to assist keep cool.
Other than potential temperature points, we discovered the buses general to be fairly comfy. All the ones we took have been clear, the seats have been smooth and supportive, and (apart from one bumpy journey to the North Macedonian border), the suspension labored effectively. Bus drivers usually drove safely across the nation and Dave and I by no means felt in peril on any of our rides.
Given the costs you’re paying for the buses, they might simply be quite a bit worse.
The Bus Stations are Usually within the Center of Nowhere
In Albania, bus drivers are allergic to city centres and it makes for some irritating journey days.
It’s sort of an extended story, however mainly, personal automobile possession was banned in Albania whereas it was beneath communist rule, and so a variety of cities and cities aren’t effectively set-up for automobiles. Site visitors may be horrible, streets are slender, and parking spots are sparse. Driving by way of a metropolis, then, makes for fairly the prolonged journey — one that the majority bus drivers don’t wish to must cope with.
And so, as an alternative of driving into the city centre, the drivers will as an alternative cease on the aspect of the motorway, on the turn-off to the vacation spot, leaving you to seek out your personal manner into city.
In each Berat and Gjirokaster, for instance, the long-distance buses drop you a ten-minute drive from the primary vacationer areas, which implies you’ll then must hop in a taxi or catch one other native bus to get into city. This wasn’t a difficulty for us: each time we received off the bus, there have been quite a few taxis ready to select folks up — we paid €2.50 every time to get to our lodging in Berat and Gjirokaster.
Tirana is not any higher: town has three separate bus stations: the north-south terminal, the east terminal, and the airport bus terminal. The north-south and east terminals are all inconveniently situated on the outskirts of town, so attain both of them, you’ll must take an area bus or Patoko (Tirana’s taxi app). Likewise, while you arrive in Tirana by bus, you’ll be dropped off on the outskirts of town and might want to name a Patoko to get to your lodging.
Elsewhere, issues can get much more baffling.
In Fier, we have been dropped off in the course of a market, a ten minute stroll from the primary station; our connecting bus, nevertheless, departed from a spot beside the motorway six miles away from each the primary station and the market we have been standing at. After we arrived in Sarande and Himare, the bus merely pulled over at a random spot to allow us to off.
All that to say, don’t be shocked if the bus station you assume you’re going to reach at just isn’t the place you truly do.
Take the Direct Route if Potential
Enable me to broaden a little bit on the aforementioned confusion we confronted in Fier.
When Dave and I made a decision to journey from Berat to Gjirokaster, we have been pissed off by the choices for direct buses: we may both depart at 8 a.m. or 2 p.m. The previous of those was too early and the latter was too late. We thought we’d discovered an answer after we hopped on Gjirafa and found there have been dozens of oblique buses working between the 2 cities.
Little did we all know, we must always have completely not have taken an oblique bus route in Albania.
As I discussed within the part above, we have been dropped on the aspect of the street in Fier a 10-minute stroll from the bus station. That was tremendous. After we received to mentioned bus station — which is the place Gjirafa mentioned the bus to Gjirokaster would go away from — we have been the one folks there.
Having discovered from my bus-related disaster in Prizren (an incident so dramatic I needed to write a whole weblog submit about it!) I approached an area driver to double-check we have been in the suitable place. In stunning information to no one, we weren’t, in reality, in the suitable place.
So it turned out the buses left from a very completely different location to the place they arrived, and since the drivers don’t wish to enter cities, we’d want to go out to the motorway and look ahead to the bus to swing by and choose us up — if it even did. The bus driver helpfully dropped a pin on Google Maps so we’d know precisely the place to attend, however Google Streetview confirmed there was nothing round. It was simply the aspect of a motorway with no shelter, signal, or something to point it was a bus station.
Had we not requested that bus driver for assist, we’d have been ready at Fier bus station for a bus that was by no means going to reach.
Had we simply chosen a direct bus route, we’d have utterly eradicated the issue.
Given the dearth of readability over the place buses truly depart from and arrive at — and that they’re usually not the identical place — I might strongly advocate steering away from the oblique routes. In case you do determine you wish to take an oblique journey, be sure you’re keen to ask loads of locals when you’re in the suitable place, as you may must take a taxi to a random stretch of street to catch the connecting bus.
Methods to Efficiently Take the Bus in Albania
Now that I’ve advised you completely every little thing I do know concerning the bus community in Albania, let’s put all of it collectively with the intention to guarantee you could have a protected, easy, and pleasurable journey.
Step One: Determine the place you wish to go to in Albania and far time you wish to spend in every place.
Step Two: Head to Gjirafa Journey to verify that there are direct buses between your locations and that they’re all working at logical instances. If not, see when you can rework your itinerary to make issues simpler on your self.
Step Three: If you wish to pay by card, e book your bus tickets prematurely and print them out. If not, make a remark of every journey you wish to take.
Step 4: Arrive in Albania with blind religion that every little thing goes to be tremendous.
Step 5: On the evening earlier than your bus journey, have a chat together with your guesthouse proprietor to double-check that the bus you’ll be taking exists and is leaving from the precise place you assume it is going to.
Step Six: On the morning of that first bus journey, guarantee you could have the right change to pay the driving force and purpose to get to the station half an hour earlier than your departure.
(In case you’re going to be departing Tirana and will likely be utilizing Patoko to get to the station, give your self much more of a buffer as a result of it could possibly take as a lot as half an hour to get a driver and visitors may be maddening. In case you’ll be exterior of Tirana (the place Patoko doesn’t function), make sure you’ve booked a taxi or driver to the bus station, if wanted, as they’re not simple to seek out on the streets.)
Step Six: When you get to the station, double-check with a member of employees, bus driver, or pleasant native that the station you’re at is the right one. I discovered essentially the most success by asking different bus drivers, as employees members usually didn’t know the routes of different bus firms.
Step Seven: Get on board, arrive at your vacation spot, and end up questioning what all of the fuss was about.
My Albanian Itinerary and Really useful Buses
If this all appears like far an excessive amount of arduous work, right here’s the route that I took in Albania, with the precise buses I used (or advocate taking, within the case of my Berat-to-Fier-to-Gjirokaster catastrophe.)
Tirana to Berat: 8:45 a.m. bus from Tirana to Berat, leaving from Tirana’s South and North Bus Station and arriving at Berat Station at 10:45 a.m. After arriving in Berat, catch a taxi (there’s a number of on the station) to your lodging.
Berat to Gjirokaster: 2:00 p.m. bus from Berat to Gjirokaster, leaving from Berat Station and arriving at Gjirokaster Station at 5:00 p.m. Each Berat and Gjirokaster Station are situated exterior of city, so that you’ll must take a taxi (or native bus) to every of them.
Gjirokaster to Sarande: 9 a.m. bus from Gjirokaster to Sarande, leaving from Gjirokaster Station and arriving in Sarande at 10 a.m. You’ll must take a taxi to Gjirokaster Station, because it’s situated exterior of city.
Sarande to Himare: 11 a.m. bus from Sarande to Himare, leaving from Saranda bus station and arriving in Himare at 12:30 p.m.
Himare to Tirana: 6 p.m. bus from Himare to Tirana, leaving from exterior Riviera Excursions (the place we purchased our ticket from the day earlier than) and arriving in Tirana at 10 p.m. We arrived at Tirana’s East Bus Terminal.
And That Was Albania by Bus!
Albania was a very complicated nation to navigate by public transport, however had I identified what I now know, I believe I’d be telling you the precise reverse.
The primary factor to remember is that bus station areas are a hand-wavey idea, however so long as you double-check departure areas with guesthouse homeowners prematurely, and bus drivers while you get there, you must handle to side-step the incidents that befell me.
Be sure you get to the bus station with loads of time to spare, make sure you’re carrying sufficient money to pay, triple-check you’re in the suitable place, and keep away from all oblique buses: by doing all of this, you must don’t have anything however easy journey days.
I hope you could have an exquisite journey in Albania!
The submit Traveling Albania By Bus: Everything You Need to Know appeared first on Never Ending Footsteps.
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