Biking in Albania

Posted by The Madbiker on Tue, Aug 30, 2022

The speed limits in Albania are 40 km/h (25 mph) within built-up areas, 80 km/h (50 mph) outside built-up areas, 90 km/h (56 mph) on Dual Carriageways, and 110 km/h (68 mph) on Motorways.

In Albania the motorways are numbered and prefixed with the letter A, the non motorway main roads are numbered and prefixed with the letters SH, the smaller roads just have the names of the town that they lead to on the signs.

Again like those in Serbia, the motorways signs have a Green background with White numbers for the motorway number, the non motorway main road signs have a Blue background with White numbers, and signs for the smaller roads have a Yellow background with Black names.

The roads were generally either very poor or very good with almost nothing in between. The roads are still used by farmers and others driving horses and carts on the roads so driving with extra care, expecting to encounter large animals on the road is a must.

The only motorways are to and from the capital Tirana and only one goes South as far as the city of Vlore, however I never used them so I cannot comment on them.

Albania not in the EU so they still have their national borders and depending on what insurance policy you have for your bike you may be required to purchase insurance for it at the border. They also do not use the Euro in Albania and petrol at the time of writing was the equivalent of about 0.90 Euros per litre.

I never saw any speed camera but I did see the odd police patrol car on the roads near the capital.

To buy a SIM card for a mobile phone you need to go to a mobile phone service provider shop and you are required to produce your passport to buy the SIM card. When I did this the cost was around 10 Euros for one month of internet.