My experience in Albania and what I would've liked to know before going
I (M21) visited Albania for a week a few days ago with my gf (21).
We are from Czech Republic (which I think is relevant).
We stayed in Tirana for 3 nights, then went to Vlorë for another 3 and planned to go back to Tirana for one last night before flying back home, but had to change plans and stayed in Vlorë for an additional night, because we got sick and couldn't travel that day. Instead, we ended up going to Tirana early in the morning and straight to the airport.
Now what was my experience like? Overall I would rate it 5/10. I feel like a lot could've been improved simply by the mindset of people there. Anywhere we went and anyone we talked to felt like we were not welcome. People looking at us as if they were judging us even tho we tried to be as respectful and polite as possible. It also didn't help that many people spoke English very poorly, so we couldn't really communicate that well.
The cities are a weird mix of old almost falling apart buildings and new shiny skyscrapers. That felt really out of place and this feeling was amplified by the fact, that the streets were pretty dirty but roaming with fancy, new and very clean cars (Mercedes, Volkswagen etc...). Seeing an old beat up car there was a rarity.
There were also a bunch of stray dogs and cats. I've heard about that and have been warned that the dogs might attack people - my experience was nothing like that. The dogs minded their own business and didn't bother us at all. Most of the cats didn't want to be pet :((. I have not been to the nature in Albania too much, but apparently the aggressive dogs are in the forests (correct me if I'm wrong) and it's advised to carry sticks and rocks to defend yourself (I repeat, that is not my experience).
Now I knew that tap water was not drinkable, so we stopped at a shop and grabbed some water and groceries and to our surprise, it was really expensive. Turns out, supermarkets are mostly for tourists. If you wanna eat on budget, go to markets, street vendors or restaurants.
We wanted to try local food, but most restaurants were pizzerias, which didn't bother us, but felt like a missed opportunity.
When dining in one restaurant in Vlorë, we sat outside and I was shocked that before our food came (which took a normal amount of time, idk how long) 4 people went through the whole restaurant begging for money. That was very unknown to me, but again, it didn't really bother me.
What did bother me was the public transport. There is rarely anything like a system in it. When you get to a bus station, it looks like a big parking lot. You have to find out yourself, which bus you are looking for. The only people willing to help us were (to my big surprise) taxi drivers. They usually approached asking where we were going and offered to take us there, but after we asked, which bus to take, they always told us and were very nice while doing so. I've read some criticism about taxi drivers in Albania, we did not take a single taxi, so idk about that, but my experience with taxi drivers was actually very pleasant.
When you get on a bus, you just sit there and wait until it goes (usually only when it's full of people) and then a guy comes and you pay him for the ride. Some buses are more like vans, which look like citizen cars and we did feel a little bit scared of being kidnapped from time to time. But all went smoothly after all.
When going to Tirana the morning of our flight, we were walking to the bus station and suddenly a van pulled up next to us and asked, if we wanted a ride to Tirana. We talked for a while and it turned out, it was a bus (but nowhere on the internet did it say, it would go at that time) and after I told the driver, we couldn't pay him what he asked, because we didn't have that much, we negotiated the price (from 4000 lek, to 2750, which was all we had left). That was also a pretty unusual experience.
Anywhere we went (shops, restaurants, buses etc...) just felt like people viewed us as the "rich entitled white tourists from the west" and that they were trying to upsell us as much as they could. That felt wrong simply because...we are not rich nor entitled. We are both students and saved up for this trip for a while, and I did not feel like I owe those people anything.
However I don't want to sound like there is nothing to like there. I did enjoy cheap coffee, the sea and especially the mountains and I do regret not being in the nature more.
The cities seemed alive in their own way. Music, lights, people talking etc..., that is also really awesome.
It is sad that the attitude of locals gives the whole trip such a bad vibe. I know they don't have to be nice to me, after all they live there and I have no business being there, but still...
I did meet like two nice people there, both young guys serving us at cafés, I do want to mention that simply because I really appreciated those.
Overall it was an interesting experience, I am glad we went, but I will probably not visit again. It made me appreciate where I live and generally what I have.
If anyone disagrees with anything, I will gladly read your points in the comments and if you are thinking about going, don't let my mediocre experience influence your view. Maybe you'll enjoy it, maybe I just wasn't lucky