Albania by bike

[Steve398]

For several years we’ve been travelling down to Greece by a variety of routes on the bike but have so far studiously avoided Albania… mainly because of its lawless reputation from years ago.

So… anyone been and have recommendations for routes and nice places to stay, or avoid?

 

[wilbjr21]

I did this route in September 2018. I didn't stay in Tirane as I wasn't too struck on the place.

The scenery was good as far as I recall and there were a few good "Ottoman" towns to stay

Not much help for you in the detail but the passage of time has dulled my memory somewhat.

The coast is beautiful and if you like bunkers you're in for a real treat !!!

 

[stever1]

For several years we’ve been travelling down to Greece by a variety of routes on the bike but have so far studiously avoided Albania… mainly because of its lawless reputation from years ago.

So… anyone been and have recommendations for routes and nice places to stay, or avoid?

I’ve ridden through it to Greece, and also just spent a week there on holiday this year.
We rode down the Adriatic coast on the SH8, this moves inland in Albania.
Roads are reasonable but the drivers can be a bit mad at times.
The people are fine, it’s a lot more ‘normal’ than it was last time I was there.
You can easily find fuel and hotel rooms.
I’d have no qualms about riding there again.
If you go it’s a good idea to ride the section from Vlore to Sarande through the Logarro national park.

 

[stever1]

Ok, I’ve dragged up long forgotten memories. We stayed in Shkoder. Can’t remember which hotel but it was good . We ate and drank in the restaurant and bars in the old town, food good, and cheap beer, the same.
We then stayed in the hotel Alpin, At logarra. Good rooms, ok food and beer. Again very cheap.
From there it was down to Sarande and onto the border about 13.00hrs. Igoumenitsa isn’t much further once into Greece.
Incidentally, once into Croatia Booking.com was our app of choice for booking rooms and it works well everywhere.

 

[Wapping]

This site, once you do a bit of weeding through it, has some ideas:

Motorcycle Travel Guide: Albania - Mad or Nomad

Everything you need to know about motorcycle travel in Albania

www.madornomad.com

Motorbike Travel in Albania, the land of eagles | GIVI Explorer

Diary of a motorbike travel in Albania, the land of the eagles, discovering an unknown land filled with humanity and history

www.giviexplorer.com

Other places to steal ideas from:

SH20 by a motorcycle, a route through the Albanian Stelvio!

Peoples says, that on the top of it, the sky meets the earth. We are not able to confirm that, but we can certainly say that it is a true Albanian paradise for motorcyclists. You may already have guessed that we're talking about probably the best-known route in Albania - the SH20 road. We also...

lifeonmoto.com

This one is in foreign but you can work out pretty easily where each day (tag) goes. No, I don’t speak German either, but I can guess what it says.

https://www.motorrad-reisewelt.de/wp-content/uploads/BCT-Albanien-Land-der-Skipetaren-Motorradreise-2023-2024.pdf

Likewise:

Albanien und Balkan mit dem Motorrad erleben - Kurviger Blog

Aufbruch ins Abenteuer: Albanien/Bulgarien/Kosovo/Bosnien-Herzegowina/Montenegro/Kroatien/Slowenien Rosa, Steff und mich hat wieder mal das Teufelchen

blog.kurviger.de

🇦🇱 ALBANIEN XL | Beste Albanien-Motorradtour

MEINE EMPFEHLUNG: Käpt’s Eddy ist der beste Motorrad-TourGuide für Albanien. Fährt grandiose Insider-Strecken und vermittelt wirklich Land und Leute. (Übersetzt Dir auch jede Speisekarte)

romotour.ro

Paradies der Gegensätze - Albanien

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www.tourenfahrer.de

Land der Skipetaren

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www.tourenfahrer.de

Alex-Akropolis - Teil 2

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www.tourenfahrer.de

It often seems that the Germans are much better at going away than the English. Build your holiday for free, using Google.

But Richie (UKGSer) did it just recently…. On a pushbike, so anything is possible.

This one, too:

Five days in Romania

If you’re sticking around, grab yourself a cuppa and allow me a few lines, if you will, before I get into the pictures: You may have read one of my past tour reports, I try to do one each year to encourage others to do the same and to give something back, but then again, perhaps you haven’t...

www.ukgser.com

PS Loads of ‘off-road’ stuff, if that floats your boat.

 

[AustinW]

We went through Albania on our way to Greece last year. Like almost everywhere and everything that appears a tad intimidating from the outside it’s fine when you get there. Border crossing ( boat from Italy) was easy enough and after that we found it friendly even if the men mostly look like gangsters and the women hookers, cheap enough and very very interesting. Landscape is fabulous as it is almost everywhere in the Balkans and the roads varied from very busy urban, to decent duals and main roads, to washed out eroded muddy lanes - so just like the uk - actually no, somewhat worse as was the general standard of driving, but no road rage or entitled driving.

 

[stever1]

I’ve done a bit of digging around and these are the hotels we stayed in.
In shkoder….https://www.booking.com/Share-WtEoL0L
We ate at the San Francisco restaurant this year, just down the street from the hotel above. Good Italian food.

In Logarra…https://www.facebook.com/sidorelacapoj/

 

[Berin]

I’ve been a couple of times but not recently. I’d imagine many of the roads we rode then which were unpaved are now paved. Personally I’d stay away from the coast area, which like all coast areas is busy, built up and expensive. Girokaster and Berat have pretty intact Ottoman old towns, and the Valbone mountain area is beautiful. You can take your picture at the Tropoje town sign, famous for the Liam Neeson film taken, and drive through Barjam Currie, where the American missionaries had to be evacuated from by helicopter. It’s not dangerous now but it is a shithole. And up by the the border with Macedonia is remote and interesting. I see there’s now a road on the shores of Lake Ohrid too, which could be good ride.

The Accursed Mountains is a good if slightly scary read.

 

[Berin]

We’ve ridden there but also got the ferry from Venice to Igoumenitsa, preferable if your on a trail bike.

 

[mspenz]

I have also visited previously but spent a couple of days there in August this year on a return trip from Georgia.

People are absolutely fine but there are some problems, mainly in the cities, pickpockets are rife !
No problems in the countryside whatsoever, but as previously mentioned, watch their driving skills ( lack of ).
It is very cheap.
The mountains are stunning and I would totally recommend getting into Theth..just amazing.
If you are on a lighter weight trailie and with friends, do the off road from Shkoder, otherwise, use the mad little road from Koplik.
And definitely ride Vlore to Sarande on the coast, sea level to mountain to sea level..beautiful

I would have stayed longer and explored more but there was a bit of a storm about to hit , so I bailed.

And I also feel safer in Albania than some French or Italian port towns.

Just go

 

[stever1]

I’ve been a couple of times but not recently. I’d imagine many of the roads we rode then which were unpaved are now paved. Personally I’d stay away from the coast area, which like all coast areas is busy, built up and expensive. Girokaster and Berat have pretty intact Ottoman old towns, and the Valbone mountain area is beautiful. You can take your picture at the Tropoje town sign, famous for the Liam Neeson film taken, and drive through Barjam Currie, where the American missionaries had to be evacuated from by helicopter. It’s not dangerous now but it is a shithole. And up by the the border with Macedonia is remote and interesting. I see there’s now a road on the shores of Lake Ohrid too, which could be good ride.

The Accursed Mountains is a good if slightly scary read.

We stayed near Ohrid for 6 nights. Nth Macedonia has some great scenery.

 

[Steve398]

We’ve ridden there but also got the ferry from Venice to Igoumenitsa, preferable if your on a trail bike.

Uhhhhh… no.

2-up with six weeks worth of kit on an RTLC. So trails may be possible, but it wouldn’t get me a round of applause from Wifie on the pillion seat!

 

[Berin]

Uhhhhh… no.

2-up with six weeks worth of kit on an RTLC. So trails may be possible, but it wouldn’t get me a round of applause from Wifie on the pillion seat!

Still worth a trip - but plan the route carefully with a a bit of Google Earth viewing to check it's paved. As others have said, the standard of driving is abysmal, and most of the cars there are stolen. No-one has any insurance so ride defensively!

 

[stever1]

Still worth a trip - but plan the route carefully with a a bit of Google Earth viewing to check it's paved. As others have said, the standard of driving is abysmal, and most of the cars there are stolen. No-one has any insurance so ride defensively!

Re the stolen car remark.
No doubt it’s still a thing in Albania, but I don’t think it’s as prevalent as it used to be. In 2018 last time I was there, lots of foreign cars had been ‘ imported’ shall we say.
This year we had 6 days travelling around Albania and most cars had Albanian reg plates.
Those that had foreign plates tended to be high end cars, many on UK plates with UK stickers.
Apparently, many Albanians who came here as illegal immigrants join Albanian drug gangs in the UK then go home for holidays showing how wealthy they are

 

[Berin]

Re the stolen car remark.
No doubt it’s still a thing in Albania, but I don’t think it’s as prevalent as it used to be. In 2018 last time I was there, lots of foreign cars had been ‘ imported’ shall we say.
This year we had 6 days travelling around Albania and most cars had Albanian reg plates.
Those that had foreign plates tended to be high end cars, many on UK plates with UK stickers.
Apparently, many Albanians who came here as illegal immigrants join Albanian drug gangs in the UK then go home for holidays showing how wealthy they are

Yeah, there’s a reason for that. When Albania was in the early stages of seeking its accession status to the EU, the EU observers were concerned that the place was full of cars stolen from the UK, Italy, and Germany still wearing their country of origin plates. Didn’t look good. So to solve that, the Albanian government introduced a fast track process to register any foreign car in Albania, for a nominal sum. All that was needed was a “receipt” for the purchase. So between 2008, our first visit, and 2012 or so, the second, 90% of the stolen cars became legally registered Albanian cars. Or so the proud owner of a £100k S Class we met told us! He’d paid $10k for it, delivered!