Currency in Albania: what to use and how to exchange

Albania runs largely on cash, with a card layer on top. In Tirana, Durrës and the bigger coastal towns, some hotels, supermarkets, chain cafés and restaurants take cards; smaller guesthouses, buses and furgons, small restaurants, beach bars, market stalls and rural ticket counters often do not. Treat cash as the default and ask before you rely on a card (check).

The lek is not something you can usually buy at a good rate before you arrive, so plan to get it in Albania. Arrive with euro notes for your first hours — a taxi or bus from Tirana airport, a coffee, a SIM — then withdraw or exchange in town. Euro is sometimes accepted for hotel bills and tours; check the rate offered, and expect change in lek.

Withdrawing from an ATM is the simplest way to get lek. Where you can, use a bank ATM attached to a branch during opening hours, and if the machine offers to convert the amount for you, choose to be charged in lek and let your own bank do the conversion (check). Albanian ATMs often dispense large notes; break them at a supermarket or café rather than carrying a stack of 5,000-lek notes.

For exchanging cash, banks and licensed exchange offices (këmbim valutor) in city centres are the usual choice; compare the posted rate and any commission before you hand over money (check). Airport and ferry-port counters are generally the worst value. Street touts offering a rate that looks too good are a scam risk; skip them.

Prices are quoted in lek. A rough mental conversion: 100 lek is under €1, so a 300-lek coffee is about €3 and a 1,000-lek meal about €10. Keep small notes and coins for buses, bakeries and toilets.