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Tirana has hot dry summers, cool wet winters with some snow, so the best time for a trip is between April and October, thereby avoiding the hot summer months of July and August. Try June for a beach holiday on the nearby Adriatic coast as it's empty of crowds then, and August is good for visiting the mountains. Visit the Tirana Film Festival at the beginning of December, or the Tirana International Jazz Festival, which is usually in July. Albania celebrates an orthodox Easter, and the date is sometime in March/April, usually between 0 to 5 weeks after the Northern European Easter.
Routine vaccines should be up to date, and additional recommended ones are: Hepatitis A. For longer stays, also consider Hepatitis B and rabies. Best avoid tap water as it may not be suitable to drink. The cost of living in Tirana is around 60% lower than in London, and a basic meal out is around 700 lek. Street food: e.g. sufllaqe, doner, gjiro costs 200 lek or so.
Tirana International Airport, 'Nënë Tereza' is 17 km from central Tirana, and taxis cost about 2,500 lek per journey taking 25 minutes or so to get to the city centre. There are taxi ranks are in front of the terminal. Or try the Rinas Express Bus, which runs from 1 am till 6 pm, every hour. Single tickets cost ca. 250 Albanian lek. The shuttle service to Durres port, on the Adriatic, takes around an hour, and costs around 500 lek. There is an accommodation tax on all hotels, which is around 1000 lek per person. Budget accommodation in shared rooms is around 1400 lek. A single room in a mid-priced hotel is around 4000. Local lek. Buses, are around 30 lek one way. "Unaze" buses travel along the city's ring road, but be warned, the buses are slow. Taxis are metered: A flat rate is roughly 250 lek (daytime) and around 50 lek more at night.