Coronavirus (COVID-19) and travel: The situation around the world is changing dramatically. Various governments have changed their travel warnings to restrict travel during this time. To understand how this may impact cover under your policy, please go to our FAQs and select your country of residence.
For the latest travel warnings and alerts around the world, read about lockdowns and border restrictions.
While Albania is a fascinating country to visit, there are a few health concerns and other things travelers should know. Here are our tips to avoid getting sick.
Photo © GettyImages/Ben Pipe Photography
- Vaccinations for Albania
- Medical Facilities in Albania
- Hepatitis E
- Tick Borne Encephalitis
- Sandflies
- Can I Drink Tap Water in Albania?
Vaccinations for Albania
Visitors to Albania are advised to ensure their routine vaccinations are up to date. Hepatitis A and B are also recommended.
Medical Facilities in Albania
The public health service infrastructure in Albania isn't of a high standard particularly outside the capital, Tirana. There is a general lack of medical equipment and hygiene levels can vary.
It's recommended that anyone traveling to Albania has comprehensive travel insurance including medical coverage. There are private clinics in Tirana with English speaking staff however travelers should be aware that they could be expected to pay in advance regardless of whether they have insurance or not.
If you are on medication, bring what you need from home along with a doctor's letter as obtaining replacements in Albania could be difficult or not of the same quality. However, there are pharmacies available for basic medical supplies.
Similarly, the dental facilities are also not recommended.
Hepatitis E
Hepatitis E is highly endemic in Albania according to the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travellers (IAMAT) and can be transmitted person to person via contaminated food and water. There is currently no vaccination available for Hepatitis E so precautions must be taken to avoid contaminated food and water.
Tick Borne Encephalitis
There is a risk of tick borne encephalitis for travelers walking or hiking in forested areas. The ticks are mainly active in spring and autumn. To avoid being feasted upon, make sure you take preventative measures such as wearing light, long sleeved clothing, tucking your pants into your socks, sticking to marked trails and applying deet based repellent. Inspect your body and belongings when you leave your walking/hiking spot in case of hitchhiking ticks.
Sandflies
In the coastal areas of Albania, sandflies can be a problem as they can carry the diseases leishmaniasis and sandfly fever. As you would for ticks, take bite preventation measures.
Can I Drink Tap Water in Albania?
It's recommended not to drink the tap water in Albania, instead use treated or boiled water. Check out our article for further tips on water sanitation.
Get a travel insurance quote for Albania
You can buy at home or while traveling, and claim online from anywhere in the world. With 150+ adventure activities covered and 24/7 emergency assistance.
Related articles
Simple and flexible travel insurance
You can buy at home or while traveling, and claim online from anywhere in the world. With 150+ adventure activities covered and 24/7 emergency assistance.
Get a quote
8 Comments
Albania is safe place. My home land. Is very pissful and serenity, and people is not very healthy but still happy anyway. Albania cannot into vaccination but make up for it with low price brothels and good natural looking women who doesn't wear makeup because look good natural style.
This page makes Albania sound horrible, they need to change it. I was there through knowing contacts in Esreke, and stayed in Libonik in 1998. Even then it wasn't nearly as bad as this article makes it sound. This is a sensationalist article at best. The people are warm and it has it's beautiful places too.
I can not believe how such an article is going around the net, really... it is crazy how the albanian government does nothing to delete this idiotic articles that this guy Phyl Sylvester has written.
I mean who are you dude and who payed you to write such a thing???? Do you understand how far away are you from reality and that almost every word you have written is a lie??
This is almost crazy.
There is no Hepatitis A or B in Albania and never was. There is no typhoid and Tuberculosis was eradicated as an illness 50 years ago or 60 years ago and never appeared again.
Some other disaseas there about rubies or what ever that i can not even remember or spell that have never existed or danger from dogs or what ever.
Even your description about the public health is far from reality and nothing like you describe it.
The least that should be done is for your article to be removed from the net, at least.
Vaccine Congress 2017 invites all the participants from all over the world to attend "19th International Vaccine Congress & B2B Meeting" during October 30-31, 2017 at Chicago, USA. We cordially welcome all the eminent researchers, students/delegates and sponsor/exhibitor to take part in this upcoming conference to witness invaluable scientific discussions and contribute to the future innovations in the field of Vaccine & its Technology.
Vaccine Congress 2017 a two day event consisting of a lettered scientific program, laudable talks by the top notch of the global scientific community, sterling workshop sessions, oral and poster presentations of peer-reviewed contributed papers and exciting and innovative research products which can be exhibited for further development of Vaccine Technology.
For more Visits: http://vaccinecongress.alliedacademies.com/
For any further query, please revert.
What is this article for the sake if the Mighty God??????
What is the garbage written here???
Even if you would have been paid by 100 agencies to write lies about Albania, you would have not written so many lies and idiocies here...
I also feel bad that how does the albanian givernment and albanian state agencies allow the circulation of such asticles on the net like this???
Just to inform the other people here, none of these diseases exist in Albania and some illnesses such as Tuberculosis has been eradicated 65 years ago and none of the kinds of Hepatitis exist in Albania.
Even the description about the health sector is far from the truth.
The health sector might not be like in London but has nothing to do with what you described here.
This year Albania received 5.3 million tourists .
Such articles must be deleted from the google search engine.
Please remove your article.
To the commentor above ' jimmy russel''
It is obvious you are not Albanian.
Everything is vaccinated in Albania since 70 years ago and not a single of these illnesses exists.
Health wise Albanians are very good. The least obese people in Europe actually and living according the europan average of long living .
I tried to go here when it was Communist but my U.S. passport was not valid there. The border guard was friendly and we traded some Kennedy half dollars and he gave me a bottle of Skanderbeg cognac. Would like to go before I die.
As if the same illnesses didn't exist in other countries! And I don't drink tap water, period, not even at home. By the way, Albanian tap water is not dangerous, it just doesn't taste very good due to old pipes and heavy chlorination which, surprise! Is done to make it as microbe free as possible. This is true for the majority of Eastern Europe.