Tirana Travel Forum

I need to do this trip, and after some research, this is what I know:

1. There is a bus that leaves a certain bus stop in Tirana EVERY DAY?
2. It leaves at 9pm?
3. It goes via Struga.
4. It takes ages, and arrives in Skopje around 4am.
5. It costs about 20 Euros one way.
6. It is the main way of travelling between these cities.

Okay, are there any errors in the above?

Also, I have some further queries.

Me and a friend will have an expensive hotel waiting for us in Skopje, so we don't want to waste our money, so...

1. Does the bus actually leave every day?
2. Does in leave at 9pm on the dot, or is this say, quite flexible?
3. Will there be space on the bus, or is it just turn up and hope for the best?
4. How much luggage will we be allowed? We will have a rucksack each.
5. Are the Macedonian/Albanian border formalities a pain, or fairly straight forward?
6. If we miss the bus, or it's full, is it possible to catch a taxi to the border, then cross on foot and then catch either a bus or another taxi to Skopje? If this is possible, how much would it cost?

Many thanks!

By the way, I'm not doing this trip until next May!

Jason

i just know that (in case there is no bus to skopje) if you make it to POGRADEC you can take a taxi (it shouldn't be that much) or hitchhike to the border where's sv naum on the macedonian side. from there you have connections to OHRID from where you have lots of busses to SKOPJE (cause many macedonians use to spend their holidays there at the lake). it's a bit complicated but it should work.

I actually went from Tirana to Skopje by bus on 2 July, 2008.

There are 2 companies that operate buses between these 2 cities. The trip takes about 9 hours.

I took the bus operated by Drita Travel and Tours. www.dritatravel.com
eurodrita@yahoo.com tel +355 4 2251 277/2235 444 fax +355 4 2257 663/2253 444
This firm has 1 bus a day; not sure if it's everyday.

The other company is Agjensia Turistike Pollogu. There is no website listed on their card. Their email is pollogu.tirana@yahoo.com. tel +355 4 2235000. They have 2 buses a day; one at 9:00 and one at 21:00.

The trip was very inexpensive. The stop for Customs was not too long. The bus stopped at a restaurant that wasn't too bad. The bathroom didn't have a conventional toilet.and it might be a good idea to bring your own t.p.

The women I spoke to at both bus companies spoke excellent English.

If you're going next May, I think that contacting these companies next April would be a good idea, as schedules, prices etc. change. I bought my ticket at the ofice the day before the trip.

I was in macedonia beginning of this month and there is a bus form agency pollogu as the friend explained before me at 9:00 and 21:00. The bus is macedonian and it is every day. It leaves sharp at 9 o' clock coz i left morning and goes first in durres to take other passengers and then for the border. In skopje we arrived 18:00. In the border there was no problem at all. As for the luggage u can have as much as u want. The ticket was 25 euro 2 ways. The nice part of this trip is that the bus leaves you at the bus station in tetovo and from there u take the bus for skopje and without paying u just show ur ticket from Tirana.my advice is to take the bus coz with taxis will be more expensive.
I hope i have helped somehow.