The Albania Property Zone sortie to Albania

Earlier this month members of the zone (the writer included) made a quick sortie to Albania to see for themselves what the country had to offer the International property investor.

Over the course of the next few weeks through a series of related blog posts we will retrace that journey and share the knowledge and experiences we gained from the trip . But just to wet your appetite here is a quick teaser of what is in store:

• Inquisitive border police and Albanian Coffee Tax?
• Tirana - a city with a Mayor with a sense of humour and quite probably the narrowest lanes in the world
• The delights of the coast road and to whom you should give way
• Sarande - The Albanians own choice
• Whoa, where did the road go?
• Albania’s alternative coastline

Quick overview of the route

Our journey to Albania began in Bulgaria on the Black Sea coast. Having decided to drive rather than fly and hire a car we loaded the glove compartment with chocolate and took an extra 10 litres of fuel just in case petrol stations were few and far between once in Albania.

The first day was spent driving across Bulgaria and Macedonia before reaching the town of Struga at the northern end of Lake Ohrid just 20km from the Albanian border. Over the course of the next four days we drove from Struga in Macedonia to Tirana, Durres, Vlore and Saranda. The return journey took us back to Tirana for a second look around before heading back to Macedonia and a complete circuit of Lake Ohrid where we saw some of the most spectacular scenery you could ever wish to see.

See our route marked in green on the map below:

Impressions of Albania from this first trip?

• Fantastic mountain scenery.
• Very friendly people.
• Tirana - A rapidly developing city with plenty of opportunity for investors to capitalise on the growth.
• Stunning coastline hardly developed at all.
• Crazy driving but not so bad once you learn there are no rules of the road and it’s every man for himself.
• A strong desire to go back and see more, especially Butrint and the northern half of the country.

Watch out for the next post in this series where we take our first steps into Albania and consider the requirements for entry with a car.