How Much Does it Cost to Travel the Balkans For 2.5 Weeks?

This summer, I went on a big trip to one of my favorite regions in the world: the Balkans. Located in southeastern Europe, this peninsula is full of amazing places to visit. On my trip, I visited North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Albania. I spent just about 2.5 weeks there, or 17 days total. I wanted to do a full budget breakdown of costs and spending, to help other travelers plan their trip!

On every trip I take now, I keep a list of all of my expenses. I write down every beer, every bus ticket, everything that I’ve spent money on. I do this so that I can give an accurate and realistic idea of how much it actually costs to travel to a different destination.

North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Albania: A Balkan Budget Breakdown

To sum up the trip, I first flew from the UK to Skopje, in North Macedonia. I had a few days in Skopje, then went to Pristina in Kosovo for a few days. Then, I traveled back south to Ohrid in North Macedonia. From there, I traveled to Albania for a week: a few days in Tirana, and a few days in Shkoder. I flew back to the UK from Tirana via an overnight layover in Slovenia, where I stayed in Kranj.

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I could have visited a few more places on this trip. But I also could have spent these 2.5 weeks just in any one of these three countries in the Balkans. I felt that this was a good mix of time in places—enough where I had time to chill and relax (and not constantly being on the go all day every day). But when the time came to leave, I was more or less ready to move on.

For this post, all expenses are divided into 5 separate categories: accommodation, food/drink, miscellaneous, sightseeing, and transport. Most of my food/accommodation costs (and other miscellaneous costs, like souvenirs) were shared between Adam and myself, which cut costs considerably. Those expenses are split in half, because they were shared with another person.

For days where I visited two cities in one day, that day counts as whichever city I spent the most amount of time in—generally, where I spent the night on that specific day. I have listed how much money I spent in each city (which includes accommodation), my average daily cost in each city (which does not include accommodation), the most expensive and the cheapest day in that city, and a breakdown of costs in each category for that city. Costs are given in pounds (GBP), dollars (USD), and sometimes the local currency.

So with that all out of the way, here you go: how much it cost me to travel the Balkans and visit North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Albania for 2.5 weeks!

Skopje (North Macedonia)

Currency: Macedonian Denar (MKD)

Total spent in Skopje over 2 days: £47.30 // $56.90 (including accommodation)

Average daily cost: £10.90 // $13.10 (excluding accommodation)

Most expensive day: 18 August, where I spent £14.50 // $17.45

Cheapest day: 17 August, where I spent £7.25 // $8.65

Random Daily Budget Breakdown: 18 August

Money on public transport card: 100 MKD // £1.50 // $1.80

Lunch (and tip) at Matka Canyon: 435 MKD // £6.45// $7.75

Taxi back to Skopje: 250 MKD // £3.70 // $4.45

Sprite: 15 MKD // £0.20 // $0.25

Pizza: 180 MKD // £2.65 // $3.20

Total Costs: 980 MKD // £14.50 // $17.45

Matka Canyon: A Perfect Daytrip From Skopje

Hostel Review: Shanti Hostel, Skopje

Pristina (Kosovo)

Currency: Euros (EUR)

Total spent in Pristina over 3 days: £92.80 // $111.70 (including accommodation)

Average daily cost: £20.00 // $24.05 (excluding accommodation)

Most expensive day: 20 August, where I spent £23.20 // $24.95

Cheapest day: 21 August, where I spent £16.00 // $19.30

Random Daily Budget Breakdown: 20 August

Bus to the bus station: €0.40 // £0.35 // $0.45

Bus to Prizren: €5 // £4.55 // $5.45

Burek and drink: €2.20 // £2.00 // $2.40

Giant ice cream: €2.50 // £2.30 // $2.75

Bus to Pristina: €4 // £3.65 // $4.40

Bus to hostel: €0.40 // £0.35 // $0.45

Beer and food: €3.45 // £3.15 // $3.80

Beer and free rakija: €1.50 // £1.35 // $1.65

Cocktail: €2.50 // £2.30 // $2.75

Cheeseburger (shared between two): €0.75 // £0.70 // $0.80

Drinks: €2.75 // £2.50 // $3.00

The Best Cafes And Bars In Pristina, Kosovo

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Ohrid (North Macedonia)

Currency: Macedonian Denar (MKD)

Total spent in Ohrid over 2 days: £89.25 // $107.20 (including accommodation)

Average daily cost: £30.90 // $37.10 (excluding accommodation)

Most expensive day: 23 August, where I spent £36.50 // $43.75 – this is a slight outlier as I bought my bus ticket/transfer to Tirana on this day, which cost 950 MKD (£14.10 // $16.90)

Cheapest day: 22 August, where I spent £25.35 // $30.50

Random Daily Budget Breakdown: 22 August

Bus in Pristina to the bus station: €0.40 // £0.35 // $0.45

Bus to Skopje: €5.50 // £5.00 // $6.00

Bake rolls: €0.25 // £0.20 // $0.30

Bus to Ohrid: 500 MKD // £7.40 // $8.90

Snacks: 40 MKD // £0.60 // $0.70

Ice cream: 70 MKD // £1.05 // $1.25

Dinner and tip: 725 MKD // £10.75 // $12.90

Tirana (Albania)

Currency: Albanian Lek (ALL)

Total spent in Tirana over 3 days: £93.45 // $112.30 (including accommodation)

Average daily cost: £20.20 // $24.25 (excluding accommodation)

Most expensive day: 26 August, where I spent £21.25 // $26.85

Cheapest day: 24 August, where I spent £17.90 // $21.50

Random Daily Budget Breakdown: 26 August

Bus to Bunk Art 1: 40 ALL // £0.30 // $0.45

Bunk Art 1: 500 ALL // £3.75 // $4.50

Dajti Express: 1000 ALL // £7.50 // $9.00

Beer: 180 ALL // £1.35 // $1.60

Bus to the center: 40 ALL // £0.30 // $0.45

Cake/Bakery: 165 ALL // £1.25 // $1.50

Beer (Komitet): 250 ALL // £1.85 // $2.25

Cocktail (My Way): 360 ALL // £2.70 // $3.25

Hostel Dinner: 300 ALL // £2.25 // $2.70

Beer (Hostel): 150 ALL // £1.10 // $1.35

Water: 27.50 ALL // £0.20 // $0.25

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Shkoder (Albania)

Currency: Albanian Lek (ALL)

Total spent in Shkoder over 3 days: £81.65 // $100.75 (including accommodation)

Average daily cost: £18.10 // $22.60 (excluding accommodation)

Most expensive day: 29 August, where I spent £37.55 // $45.05 – this is slightly an outlier though, as I spent £36.65 (almost all of the money I spent that day) on the daytrip to Blini Park.

Cheapest day: 28 August, where I spent £7.15 // $8.55

Random Daily Budget Breakdown: 27 August

Water: 27.50 ALL // £0.20 // $0.25

Bus to Shkoder: 400 ALL // £3.00 // $3.60

Laundry: 185 ALL // £1.40 // $1.65

Soft drinks (supermarket): 55 ALL // £0.40 // $0.50

Hot dog: 150 ALL // £1.10 // $1.35

Beers (hostel): 275 ALL // £2.05 // $2.45

Souvenirs: 187.50 ALL // £1.40 // $1.70

A Daytrip From Shkoder To Blini Park And Lake Koman: The Craziest Day In Albania!

Hostel Review: Shkodra Backpackers (Mi Casa Es Tu Casa), Shkoder

I had one day in Tirana (30 August) at the end of my time in Albania, before I flew out. I spent 1060 ALL // £7.95 // $9.55 this day excluding accommodation. Including accommodation, I spent £20.25 // $24.70.

Kranj (Slovenia)

Currency: Euros (EUR)

Total spend in Kranj over 1 day: £30.95 // $37.25 (including accommodation)

Average daily cost: £18.80 // $22.65 (excluding accommodation)

Most expensive day: 31 August, where I spent £18.80 // $22.65

Cheapest day: 31 August, where I spent £18.80 // $22.65

Random Daily Budget Breakdown: 31 August

Bus to airport: 300 ALL // £2.25 // $2.70

Water (airport): 85 ALL // £0.65 // $0.75

Taxi from the airport to Kranj: €10 // £9.10 // $10.95

Tourist tax: €2 // £1.80 // $2.20

Hot dog and mozzarella sticks (shared between two): €4 // £3.65 // $4.40

Waffle (shared between two): €1.50 // £1.35 // $1.65

Interesting Facts From My Trip

Most expensive day: 29 August (Shkoder), where I spent £37.55 // $45.05. This was my daytrip to Blini Park, which was nearly all of the money I spent this day.

Cheapest day: 28 August (Shkoder), where I spent £7.15 // $8.55

Average daily cost (17 days, including flights and accommodation): £48.85 // $63.30

Average daily cost (17 days, excluding flights and accommodation): £18.45 // $23.90

Cheapest public transport: City bus in Berat, 30 ALL // £0.20 // $0.25

Most expensive accommodation: Ohrid (double bed private room), £13.70 // $16.50 per person per night

Cheapest accommodation: Shkoder (10-bed dorm), £9.15 // $11.00 per person per night

Wondering how much my costs were for each category? Here is each category’s specific cost:

Accommodation: £170.50 // $220.95

Food/Drink: £129.60 // $167.95

Miscellaneous: £8.40 // $10.90

Sightseeing: £72.65 // $94.15

Transportation: £449 // $581.85

What about the things I booked in advance—flights, trains, etc.? How much did they cost?

Flight from Luton to Skopje: £100 // $129.60

Train ticket from York to London: £9.15 // $11.85

Airport hotel: free with credit card points! (Sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred here!)

Flight from Tirana to Manchester (via Ljubljana): £222 // $287.70

Train ticket from Manchester Airport to York: £14.90 // $19.30

The Takeaway

If you hadn’t noticed by now, the Balkans is (thankfully) an extremely affordable region. It is not expensive for those of us lucky enough to be traveling with pounds, dollars, or euros. Meals out and transportation are very cheap compared to other places in Europe. This is an incredible part of the world and the prices make it even better for backpackers and budget travelers.

One of the main ways that we saved money was by using public transportation the entire trip in the Balkans. As cliche as it sounds, we traveled like the locals do, and a lot of that was spent on a bus or a minibus (called a furgon in Albania). We took taxis when we needed to out of necessity, but even then it wasn’t very expensive taxi rides. Despite the hot weather, we walked almost everywhere, and took local city buses to get around town if it was too far to walk. We didn’t book any ground transport in advance, instead deciding which bus to get that morning (or, for our bus from Ohrid to Tirana, the day before).

Our flight back to the UK was much more expensive than we would have liked to pay. We flew with Adria Air (who have now collapsed!) from Tirana to Ljubljana, and then from Ljubljana to Manchester the next morning. Originally we were eyeing up doing the same thing but flying with Air Serbia and going via Belgrade, which was £134. We waited to book anything as I was still waiting on my visa, and could have saved money on flights if we had booked the Air Serbia flights as soon as we saw them. However, those would have gotten us into London Heathrow, and we would have had to have spent a lot more money on a train to get us back to York from London. So I guess everything swings in roundabouts.

I could have done this trip to the Balkans for MUCH cheaper. We ate out for almost all of our meals. Not once did we cook our own food—something I always try to do to keep costs down. Food was so cheap, we didn’t feel bad about eating out. Almost all of our accommodation included breakfast as well, which was a godsend. While it wasn’t enough to take with us the next day, it meant that we had something to eat each morning. We also went to a lot of cool bars and I drank a lot of mojitos. I have no regrets at all! But we could have saved even more if we had been more stringent about going out for food and drinks.

I also switched to drinking bottled water in Albania. I’ve (unfortunately) learned the hard way that my stomach can be a bit sensitive to filtered tap water. So while Adam was fine to drink the water in Albania, I started to feel a bit funny. So I drank only bottled water, and while it wasn’t expensive, it was also an additional cost to the trip.

Sightseeing was one area where we saved a lot of money. We didn’t spend very much (at all) on sightseeing—the biggest cost was our daytrip to Blini Park, which was about half of all the money we spent on sightseeing. A lot of the things we did were outside so they were free. Swimming at beaches was free, and the museums or places we did visit were either free or really affordable.

We spent what felt like next to nothing for accommodation on this trip to the Balkans. On average, we our accommodation cost us just over £10 per person per night. This is SUPER cheap!!! Even when we stayed in private rooms, it was either cheaper than both sharing a dorm, or slightly more expensive. But this is because we stayed in dorms for the vast majority of the trip. We only had 5 nights out of 16 in private rooms. So we “dormed” it for most of the trip. We did however pay more for air conditioning and chose to stay in places that had air conditioning. While yes, this did cost us more money, for the sake of €1 per person per night, it did make a big difference in our comfort and sleep. If only our dorm room’s A/C had worked in Tirana!

So how much was my 2.5 week trip to the Balkans? How much did I actually spend in North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Albania?!

GRAND TOTAL: £830.60 // $1076.15

If you look at my spending habits on my trips over the years, I have gotten smarter about traveling on a budget. I now know that it’s better to pay a bit more for A/C in a dorm room and be able to sleep, than sweat it out in a restless fit all night without it. If the bus won’t show for hours, I’ll take a taxi—but I’ll try to find someone (either Adam or a random person) to share it and split the costs with me. I know how to pinch my pennies, and I know what I personally need to spend a bit more on to enjoy myself. If I wasn’t a budget traveler, I would have spent a whole lot more on this trip.

There are so many amazing online resources to help you find the best deals. I always use Skyscanner to find the best deals on flights. I also use Trainline to book trains in Europe (on this trip, it was just my trains to/from airports in the UK). For accommodation, I book all my hostels through Hostelworld, and I use Booking.com to search for hotels. Occasionally (not on this trip, but on others) I’ll book accommodation through Airbnb.

I have travel insurance on all my trips. Considering travel insurance for your trip? World Nomads offers coverage for more than 150 adventure activities as well as emergency medical, lost luggage, trip cancellation and more. Thankfully, there were no close mishaps on this trip for me—while I needed to switch to bottled water in Albania, I never got sick enough to need a doctor.

The Balkans is an incredible region, and this corner of the world is one of my absolute favorites. North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Albania are all very fascinating and beautiful countries to visit. They’re also very affordable for those with pounds, dollars, or euros. Your money can go very far here! While we could have done this trip a lot cheaper, we could also have easily spent a lot more money if we had wanted to splurge. I hope this helps in planning and budgeting a trip to the Balkans and visiting North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Albania!

Have you visited any of these places? What was your budget like? I’d love to know about your experience in the comments below!

You might like my other budgeting posts:

How Much Does It Cost To Travel Eastern Europe For 6 Weeks?

How Much Does It Cost To Travel The Caucasus And Istanbul For 2.5 Weeks?

How Much Does It Cost To Travel The Baltics For 5 Days?

How Much Does It Cost To Travel Iceland For 3 Days?

The Budget Travel Bible: 101 Tips For Cheap Travel

How I’ve Saved Thousands Of Dollars To Travel The World

All North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Albania posts!

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