Viaggiare in camper in Albania

The single most useful number for planning an Albanian campervan trip is your vehicle length. Under 6 metres, the whole country is open to you. Between 6 and 7.5, you will give up a handful of coastal lanes and mountain villages. Over 8 metres, plan a corridor route and accept that Theth, Himarë’s terraces and most of Zagoria are not for you.

Llogara is the pass everyone talks about, and it deserves it: a thousand metres of altitude in eleven kilometres with hairpins tight enough that long vehicles use both lanes. It is entirely doable — slowly, in low gear, in daylight, with cool brakes.

LPG is widely available for vehicle fuel because a large share of Albanian cars run on it, but bottle refill and exchange is a different problem. Bring adapters and expect to ask around. The service points in Saranda, Tirana and Shkodër are the reliable ones.

A route that works in two weeks: Shkodër and the lake, up to Theth, back down and across to Valbona, south through Kukës to Tirana, Berat, Përmet and the Vjosa, then over Llogara to the coast at Himarë, down to Ksamil, and back north along the Riviera. No backtracking except the Theth valley, which has only one road in.