Albania by campervan: costs and prices

Practical costs in Albania: currency, cards, cash, fuel, groceries and budgeting for a campervan trip. What to know before you go.

Published 18 September 2026Last checked 19 September 2026

Currency
Lek
ALL, not the euro. 92.27 lek to €1 in September 2026
Language
Albanian
Italian and English are common in tourist towns
Driving
Right
Motorway 130 km/h, towns 40 km/h
Insurance
Green card required
Carry it. Albania is not in the EU arrangement
Tap water
Do not drink it
The Foreign Office says bottled water only
Emergency
112
Ambulance 127

Money

Albania is not uniformly cheap, and the pattern is the opposite of what people expect. Eurostat's 2024 price level indices put restaurants and hotels at 52 against an EU average of 100, the lowest in this part of Europe. But food and non-alcoholic drinks in the shops sit at 100.1, which is the EU average exactly, and soft drinks are at 119. Overall household consumption is 63. Eating out is half price. Filling a cupboard is not.

Euro banknotes fanned out in a row on a white surface — Euros are taken in plenty of places, at the seller's rate. The currency is still the lek

Practical prices for camper travel

Diesel, 1 litre: 219 lek
Campsite or camper area, 1 night: €25
Inexpensive restaurant meal: 800 lek
White bread, 500 g: 90.57 lek
Bottled water, 1.5 litres: 63.46 lek

How Albania compares on price, Eurostat 2024, EU27 = 100

Basket	Albania	EU average	What it means in the van
All household consumption	63	100	Cheaper than the EU overall, but less cheap than Montenegro at 58 or North Macedonia at 50.
Restaurants and hotels	52	100	The lowest in the region. This is the reason Albania feels cheap, and it is real.
Food and drink in shops	100	100	Exactly the EU average. Self-catering here saves you nothing at all.
Non-alcoholic drinks	119	100	Above the EU average, and you will be buying a lot of bottled water.

Cash, cards and euros

Carry lek. The further you get from a town the less a card terminal can be assumed.
Euros are widely accepted in practice. The Bank of Albania's own de-euroisation programme exists because currency use by the public is so widespread.

Where the money goes

Fuel, first and by a distance. At about 2.37 euros a litre in September 2026, a slow mountain route costs real money.
Restaurants are the cheapest line in the budget, at roughly half EU prices.