Car Hire in Albania: All you need to know

The capital – Tirana – is also the heart of the city. The city is not only considered a fast-moving metropolis, the neighbouring villages also offer space for nature and greenery for the inhabitants of Tirana. Therefore, the most beautiful cities and the beautiful landscapes are best reached with a rental car. Rental stations are present at the airport of Tirana or in the city of Tirana to start an adventurous journey. In the following, we tell you what you should consider when renting a car in Tirana:

Car hire Albania in a nutshell

For us, a hire car is the best option for travelling around Albania in a flexible and time-saving way. Our recommendation: As Albania is very mountainous, in our experience you should hire a car with sufficient horsepower.

Price: In the low season, you can get a hire car with reasonable conditions from 25 euros per day. In the high season, you can expect to pay twice as much.

Insurance cover: Always book fully comprehensive and theft cover and make sure that you don’t have to pay an excess. If you have an excess, you will have to pay a deductible in the event of a claim. Sometimes the excess is only reimbursed in the event of a claim. This is a little more work, but not a knock-out criterion for us. In addition, the liability sum should be high enough (at least 1 million euros) and the rental car should also be insured against glass and tyre damage.

Kilometres: The best arrangement for you is if all kilometres are included. However, there are also arrangements where only a certain number of kilometres are free, and a fee is charged for each additional kilometre.

Refuelling policy: Make sure that you can return the rental car with the same fuel level as when you got it. This is usually called a „fair refuelling policy“ by the rental companies.

Deposit: In our experience, you always have to pay a deposit to hire a car. You often need a credit card for this. Find out in advance and take a look at the rental conditions, where this is usually stated. If you are already on site and don’t have a credit card, you probably won’t get the hire car.

Additional driver: If more than one person is driving, there is often an additional charge per day.

Documentation: Record the condition of the car in detail on handover with the help of photos or, even better, a video and document all damage.

Why you should hire a car in Albania

In our experience, a hire car is the best choice in Albania as it gives you the most flexibility. Many of our excursions would not have been possible without a car, or only in a scaled-down version. This is because you can easily visit other places along the way that you wouldn’t be able to get to by bus or on a guided tour. Of course, you can also stop off at any time if you like somewhere. And last but not least, you will also save a lot of time if you are travelling by car instead of bus.

What should I look out for when driving a rental car in Tirana?

The streets of Tirana can get crowded at peak times – so it’s best to be prepared and patient. Of course, you should also know the most important traffic rules when driving a rental car in Albania. The traffic rules in Albania are similar to European standards.

What car rental companies are available at Tirana Airport?

There are numerous international and national car rental companies with rental stations at Tirana Airport, including:

• Europcar
• Hertz
• Avis
• Sixt
• Enterprise

Renting a car from a local provider in Tirana however, is often cheaper than going with the big companies.

How expensive is a hire car in Albania?

Of course, this depends entirely on the time you are travelling and your needs. In our experience, a hire car with enough horsepower to cope with the mountainous roads is sufficient in Albania. If you are travelling in the low season, you can get a car with reasonable rental conditions for as little as 25 euros per day. In the high season, you should expect to pay at least twice as much.