2.53/5
417 reviews
Photo by Abenteuer Albanien via Unsplash

Tirana

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nice

cheap

good

cafes

walking

center

night

history

drive

restaurants

friendly

stay

food

pretty

museums

spring

balkans

modern

Tirana is a good destination for long-term stays on a budget. Food, accommodation, and general expenses are very affordable, which makes it appealing for anyone trying to save. The city center is compact and walkable, with good availability of parks and cafes. Coworking cafes like Destil and Coolab offer reliable internet and a good work environment. Safety is generally high, even at night, with many residents reporting feeling safe walking around. Locals are mostly friendly, especially toward foreigners and Americans in particular.

However, there are a few consistent drawbacks. Driving customs are chaotic and even dangerous at times, so crossing the road can be stressful. There’s not a strong digital nomad community yet, and culturally, the city offers only a small number of museums or activities for visitors. Electricity outages can occur, and heating is poor in the winter, making colder months uncomfortable. Public toilets are also a recurring issue, with hygiene being substandard in many locations.

Overall, Tirana is a modern, safe, and affordable city that's great for a few weeks to a couple of months, particularly in spring or autumn. But visitors should be prepared for some infrastructure-related challenges and be cautious with traffic.

AI-generated summary of reviews

I spent a month in Tirana in February 2022 and then returned in October for a one-week stay. Generally, I was pleasantly surprised and would recommend Tirana. Here are my Pros and Cons:

Pros:
- Cheap: Airbnbs are cheap (especially on a monthly basis), food is very cheap (around a third of what you would pay in Germany) and still good quality (most of the time).
- Walkable: The city center is pretty compact and everything can be reached on foot
- Green: The city center has multiple parks around the main boulevard. The big city park has an artificial lake and paths for runners and cyclists.
- Nice People: All locals that I talked to were very nice. I once went to the barber who was the nicest dude ever. We talked for around 1.5 hours about Albania, politics, economics and so on. That way, I learned a lot about the country.
- Great coworking cafes: I can recommend the Destil Creative Hub and the Coolab. Nice people, good coffee and a good internet connection. Stay away from the #TECHSPACE, though. Very bad internet, tedious to even get in, not a good experience there.
- Safe: I never felt unsafe, even when walking back to my Airbnb at night. There also were a lot of women walking around at night. Also, locals told me that pickpocketing is not a problem in Tirana since there are only few tourists.
- Night Life: There are many bars around the city center. Even during the week, there are many people out partying.

Cons:
- Boring: There is not much to do generally. There are a few museums like the National History Museum, the two Bunk'art museums (old bunkers from communist times) and the House of Leaves. All of them are focused on Albanian History. I can especially recommend Bunk'art 1. It's impressive to wander through this huge bunker. The National History Museum starts strong with a really cool exhibition of relicts and statues from Ancient times on the ground floor. On the top floors, most texts are not translated into English. Also, the exhibitions are partially very old school or trashy (the exhibition about Mother Teresa looks like it was designed by a child in Word 2003).
- No digital nomad community: I would have loved to meet more digital nomads, but sadly there is no real community there (yet).
- Cars: Traffic is insane in the city. And people drive like crazy. Take care when walking over the road (even at crosswalks). I was almost hit by a car on the crosswalk twice. Also, I was surprised that I made it from the airport to the city and back without an accident, considering the driving style of most drivers.
- Coldness: Since it's pretty hot in Albania for most of the year, most buildings don't have heating or well-isolated walls (apartments as well as restaurants, museums etc.). I was there in February and I was constantly cold. So I would recommend visiting Tirana in spring or autumn when it's neither cold nor super hot. In October, the temperature was nice.
- Public Toilets: Toilets in public places and restaurants are mostly filthy and unhygienic. Most places don't have urinals, still most men appear to urinate standing up and have terrible aim. That leads to piss being all over the toilet and on the floor. It was like this almost everywhere I went.

Generally, I enjoyed my time in Tirana and I definitely plan to visit a third time. I can recommend it to everyone, but especially to people who are on a budget.
In spring, you can get a nice Airbnb in the city center for around 500€ - 700€ a month, WizzAir offers cheap flights to Tirana from many major European cities (100€ - 150€ there and back) and food is pretty cheap (main course + drink around 10€ at most restaurants). So I estimate you can visit Tirana for a month at around 1000€ - 1400€ in spring.

2 years ago

I really like Tirana, one of my favorite places in the Balkans. The people are really friendly towards Americans as well. The mountains surrounding the city are also lovely.

3 years ago

Tirana is modern, walkable and seems to have good nightlife while feeling safe (lot of kids, families and women walking around at night). But it is also very crowded of people and cars, there is a lot of garbage and inpleasant smells. I would defenitly prefer the coastal area for a longer stay

4 years ago

Tirana was a pleasant surprise for me! It wasn’t on my initial list for places I’d planned to go this year, but after researching countries in Europe that allows U.S. citizens to enter with COVID, it piqued my interest. I stayed in the Blloku area and would definitely recommend it. It’s littered with bars and cafes you can work from (Mon Cheri and Mulliri Vjeter became fast favorites because of consistency!). I was also genuinely grateful to get the chance to learn about the very recent communist history in more detail while I was there. There’s not a ton to do culturally, but in general, Tirana is a very comfortable, vibrant, and livable (albeit small) city if you’re looking to settle in somewhere for a month or two.

4 years ago

Big no from me. After being around all the balkans, this place felt off.
Locals are friendly IF they know you're a tourist, otherwise, they're loud and rude to each other.
The way they converse, drive, or behave is a intimidating to say the least.
Electricity outages as seen in India or Nepal (sometimes daily occurrence!)
Everything seems to be of low quality,
Locals seem disinterested in learning from other cultures.
Locals prefer to sit in cafes all day, they DRIVE to that cafe even though its a 2 minute walk.
They drive instead of walking, so the whole street will see their BMW.
Perhaps this is the influence left by Enver Hoxha.
Avoid this place if you can,
Macedonia , Bulgaria, Serbia or Montenegro next door are just as affordable.

4 years ago

Beautiful, joyful and surprisingly modern city. People are extremely friendly. There are nice cafes and restaurants throughout the city, serving a unique combination of Turkish, Greek and Italian cuisine. Spectacular modern architecture and urban planning. Amazing value for money.

5 years ago

Forget about Tirana, go to the coast! Sarandë and Ksamil are the best places in Albania, if you’re in doubt just google it :)

5 years ago

I really like this city. Great place for food, a lot of cafe's and relatively easy to reach. Growing startup ecosystem, a few nice coworking spaces, you can walk everywhere and housing is still very affordable compared to western europe

5 years ago

Very costly.
The salaries are ridiculous.
The air is terrible.
People are really friendly.
Corruption is a high level.
Political situation is unrest all the time.

6 years ago

Brilliant, vibrant city in a beautiful country.

I've lived in the balkans for a few years, and I'm not sure I've ever met friendlier people.

7 years ago

✅ Very affordable

✅ Friendly people

✅ Safe

✅ Walkable

✅ Great coworking cafes

✅ Pretty safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Warm now

✅ Perfect humidity now

✅ Good air quality today

✅ Many Nomads.com members have been

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Easy to do business

✅ Roads are pretty safe

✅ Freedom of speech

✅ Safe for women

✅ LGBTQ+ friendly

❌ Traffic and aggressive driving

❌ Electricity outages

❌ Not much to do culturally

❌ Lack of heating during colder months

❌ Unpleasant public toilets

❌ Not very democratic

❌ Not much to do

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Nomads.com members didn't like going here

❌ Not many Nomads.com members right now

❌ Quality of education is low

❌ Hospitals are bad

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Not family friendly

❌ Many people smoke tobacco

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

11°C / 52°F cool

13°C / 55°F cool

20°C / 68°F mild

24°C / 75°F warm

31°C / 88°F hot

29°C / 84°F warm

24°C / 75°F warm

18°C / 64°F cool

17°C / 63°F cool

10°C / 50°F cold

Real (median)

11°C / 52°F
cool

13°C / 55°F
cool

12°C / 54°F
cool

13°C / 55°F
cool

20°C / 68°F
mild

24°C / 75°F
warm

30°C / 85°F
very warm

29°C / 84°F
very warm

24°C / 75°F
warm

18°C / 64°F
cool

16°C / 61°F
cool

10°C / 50°F
cold

Humidity

damp
77%

nice
68%

nice
63%

nice
66%

nice
62%

nice
55%

nice
50%

nice
45%

nice
55%

nice
65%

nice
63%

damp
71%

Most common

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

Rain

rainy
53mm

rainy
113mm

rainy
129mm

rainy
106mm

rainy
78mm

dry
22mm

dry
30mm

dry
33mm

rainy
87mm

rainy
118mm

rainy
168mm

rainy
139mm

Cloud

cloudy
51%

pockets
26%

pockets
31%

pockets
37%

pockets
28%

pockets
20%

pockets
11%

pockets
10%

pockets
30%

pockets
38%

pockets
49%

pockets
46%

Sun

safe
2 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

avoid sun
7 UVI

avoid sun
9 UVI

avoid sun
8 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

safe
2 UVI

safe
1 UVI

Remote workers

625 people

550 people

733 people

667 people

927 people

1,450 people

1,138 people

1,333 people

1,260 people

1,067 people

725 people

360 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Based on Tirana's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

	Software Engineer @ ControlShift
	Lead Data Engineer @ Open Architects
	Software Engineer II @ Everbridge
	Senior React Native SDK Engineer @ Nami ML
	Tech Cofounder CTO @ Founders Factory
	Senior Backend Engineer @ HockeyStack
	Senior Full stack Developer @ Lemon.io
	Senior Account Lead @ Sanctuary Computer
	Developer Productivity Engineer @ Narwhal Technologies Inc.
	Spanish Speaking Software Support E... @ Payara
	Full Stack .NET Developer @ Smart Working Solutions

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✈️11h

$1,542 / mo

🌇 Also went here177 people

800 remote workers in Tirana now, of which 2+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

⭐️ Total score	2.53/5 (Rank #389) 417 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍8 liked it 👎5 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Okay
👶 Family score	Okay
🎒 Community score	Good
💵 Cost	😙 Affordable: $2,304 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 10Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Bad
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Too hot: 30°C87°F (feels 31°C88°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	😊 Comfy: 45%
💨 Air quality (annual)	😐 Moderate: 92 US AQI
👌 Safety	Good
🤮 Food safety*	Good
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Good
🤝 Lack of racism*	Bad
🎓 Education level*	Mediocre
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Vulnerability to climate change	Bad
💰 Income level*	Very low: $338 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
😄 Happiness*	Bad
🍸 Nightlife	Good
📶 Free WiFi in city	Okay
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Okay
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Good
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
👩 Female friendly	Okay
🌈 LGBTQ+ friendly	Okay
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Europe
🚩 Country	Albania
🗓️ Average trip length	8 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	10 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	☀️ 30°C 87°F + 😊 Comfy (45%) = feels 31°C 88°F
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👎😷 92 US AQI = 🚬 / day
🔌 Power	230V 50Hz
🚕 Best taxi app*	Merr Taxi
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 100 ALL in USD	USD 1.16
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	ALL 10,000 = USD 116
💻 Best coworking space	My Office
☕️ Best coffee place	Stephen Center Café
🏪 Best 24/7 coffee place	Kameri
🚰 Tap water	🚫 No, not drinkable
♻️ Return rate	👍10% of visitors return
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	420,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$4,054 / year
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 47% 👱‍♀️ 53%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 54% 👱‍♀️ 46%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 83% 👱‍♀️ 17%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Religious
🏠 Apartment listings	Airbnb
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	Blue Panorama
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Alitalia
🏥 Best hospital	American Hospital Tirana

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$2,304 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$1,466 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$2,502 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$715 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$927 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$2,269 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$500 / month
🏠 Median home price	$1,396
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$43 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$74 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$281 / month
🍛 Dinner	$8
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$2
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$2
👩‍🏫 International school	$4,749 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$33 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$12 / trip