Cost of withdrawals in Albania, using euros and bank cards

Hi there,

I’ve read that Albanian merchants (hotels, restaurants, gas stations, etc.) aren’t big fans of card payments and that the euro is widely accepted.

How is it these days? Should I plan to pay only in cash (which feels pretty unusual these days...)?

Also, all ATMs seem to charge a minimum withdrawal fee of 5 €. Which networks are the least expensive? And what’s the maximum amount you can withdraw?

Thanks to recent travelers for your answers! 🙂

YES, you can indeed pay in euros almost everywhere. In the south of the country, the exchange rate is 0.95 € = 1 lek: yep, mass tourism......

Hello Attila,

In 2023, we withdrew 20,000.00 L and were charged 800.00 L in withdrawal fees. The exchange rate was 0.0097 for the Swiss franc.

It’s possible to pay with euros, but it’s always nice to have local currency for paying small roadside vendors. We were also able to pay by card in some larger stores.

Hi Nathalie 🙂

For now, the cheapest ATM is the one from ABI Bank with fees of 500 leks. For a withdrawal of 30,000, that’s reasonable.

Credins charges 600.

The exchange rate outside the airport is 96 for 1 euro. 98 in town.

Cards still work in very few places: some gas stations, a few hotels, supermarkets, and the only toll...

Many prices are listed in euros: parking, tours...

You pay in euros for what you booked in euros. For everything else, we prefer leks to save euros for the end—so we don’t have to withdraw 1,000 leks with a 500 lek fee...🤪

Leks don’t disappear quickly given the prices. The cheapest country in Europe, apart from gas! But also more budget-friendly than more exotic destinations when traveling mid-range.

Hello,

Yes, we did pay quite a bit in cash that we’d brought with us. (Trip in May 2023)

For accommodations, we chose small places, and they prefer being paid in cash in euros. But it’s best to have the exact amount because they’ll refund any overpayment in LEK at a rate that wasn’t very favorable. So we’d prepared small bills of 5 € and 10 €—no 100 € notes or larger.

For restaurants, site entrances, and small stops along the way, we paid in LEK. We exchanged our euros at Western Union as needed, 100 € at a time. The rate was really good. You can also pay in euros, but the exchange rate offered by merchants wasn’t great when we were there (1 € for 100 LEK, while the bank rate was 1 € for 113 LEK).

Gas fill-ups and the car rental were paid by credit card.

We checked out withdrawals at several banks just out of curiosity. The Albanian bank charged at least 5 € in fees.

Pascale

Actually, there are still quite a few merchants that accept bank cards—like all supermarkets and a lot of restaurants, and we never had any issues at gas stations. But not all restaurants do! Also, accommodations booked through, say, Booking.com almost always ask to be paid in cash (and they don’t warn you in advance, so double-check). We brought a lot of cash with us. It’s way better than withdrawing on the spot. We did withdraw a little, though. We preferred international banks like Raiffeisenbank (Austrian, I think). We compared, and it seemed better than local banks. Have a great trip!