Tirana

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.