You’ve booked your flight. Your apartment is waiting. You’ve done the research. And then you land and realize none of that really prepares you for what it actually feels like to be there. Everyone’s experience is a bit different, but this is generally how the first month tends to go.
Before You Land
Set yourself up properly before you get on the plane. Download Google Translate offline and learn a few basic phrases. Grab a taxi app like Patoko. Join expat groups before you even arrive so you’re not starting from zero. Bring enough medication if you need it and get health insurance sorted before you go. Do the boring prep work. It pays off fast once you’re there.
One thing to be clear on before you book: Canadians are allowed 90 days within any 180-day period in Albania without a visa. That’s three months, not six, and not a year. Americans get different terms. If you intend to stay longer than 90 days, you need to apply for your Type D visa or Unique Permit almost immediately after arrival, not at the end of your first three months when you’re already running out of time. Get this process started in the first few weeks. Don’t wait.
Day One: You’re Here
The airport is small. Tirana International handles most arrivals and you’ll be through it quickly. Hit an ATM and pull out some cash before you leave the terminal. Albania still runs heavily on cash. Cards work in plenty of places, but smaller businesses, taxis, and random day-to-day stuff often don’t take them.
Sort out your phone early. Either have a plan before you arrive or grab a SIM at the airport. The main providers are Vodafone Albania and One Albania. Plans are cheap, data is solid, and your phone becomes your lifeline while everything else is still up in the air.
Don’t lock yourself into an apartment right away. Book a hostel or Airbnb for the first week. You need time to see neighborhoods, get a feel for things, and not get stuck in a place that looked great online but doesn’t work in real life.
Days Two to Five: The Honeymoon Phase
Everything feels good. The weather’s better. The food is cheap and actually good. People are friendly. You’re walking around Tirana noticing the chaos, the traffic, the noise, the half-finished buildings, but it all feels exciting instead of annoying. Coffee is everywhere and costs next to nothing. Mountains in the distance, coast not far away. This is exactly why you came.
You’ll meet people quickly. Tirana has a ridiculous number of cafes and people actually use them because that’s where everything happens. The expat scene is active. WhatsApp groups, meetups, random connections. Within a few days you’ll know a handful of people.
Week Two: The Cracks Show
The excitement starts wearing off and you begin noticing things. Tap water isn’t generally considered safe to drink, so you’ll be buying bottled water. Stray dogs are around, especially at night in quieter areas, and they bark. Construction noise is constant in cities. Sidewalks can be uneven or broken in places so you actually have to pay attention when you’re walking. Some areas flood when it rains heavily.
Apartment hunting hits now too, and the prices you saw online don’t always match what you’re being quoted. It’s common for foreigners to get higher prices. Not every time, but often enough. So you adjust. You negotiate. You start figuring out what things actually cost instead of what the internet told you.
Language starts to hit as well. Albanian isn’t like anything you’re used to. In Tirana and bigger cities a lot of younger people speak some English, but outside of that it drops off quickly. You can get by, but not always smoothly. Even a few words makes a difference. Faleminderit, po, jo. That alone changes how people respond to you.
Regarding banking: you’ll want to get a local account started but know that in 2026 most Albanian banks including BKT and Credins now require your Unique Permit application number or the permit itself before they’ll open a full account for a foreigner. You won’t be able to walk in on day two with just a passport and walk out with a functioning account. Get your residency paperwork moving first and the banking follows. Plan for this delay rather than being surprised by it.
Weeks Three and Four: The Frustration Phase
This is where it gets real. Things take longer than you expect. Bureaucracy can be slow and confusing. Setting things up, dealing with paperwork, trying to understand how certain systems work, it doesn’t always go the way it’s supposed to. Sometimes knowing the right person matters just as much as having the right documents.
The cultural differences hit harder now. Cash is still heavily used even though modern banking exists. Traffic feels aggressive. People are friendly, but sometimes they stare. You start noticing the rougher edges more. Outside the main areas there’s visible poverty and buildings that haven’t been maintained.
You’re tired. The excitement has worn off. You miss home. And at some point you’re going to have a what the hell am I doing here moment. That’s normal. Pretty much everyone hits that wall around this time.
The First Month Reality
Healthcare is decent in Tirana but more limited outside of it. Infrastructure is improving but still a work in progress in places. Summers get chaotic, prices go up especially in coastal areas, things get crowded. Winter hits and some of those same places feel half empty.
But there’s a flip side. People are genuinely helpful once you build even a small relationship. The scenery is incredible, the mountains, the coastline, all of it within reach. Food is cheap and good. Internet is fast and reliable most of the time, which matters if you’re working remotely. The cafe culture is real and the expat community is easy to plug into. If you’re feeling isolated, it usually doesn’t stay that way for long.
By the End of Month One
You’ve probably found a place or you’re close to it. You’ve started your residency application. You know where to go for decent wifi. You’ve met a few people. The banking is in progress, waiting on your permit paperwork like everything else.
And you’ve figured out something important. Things don’t run on systems the way you’re used to. They run on people. Once you understand that, things start getting easier.
Months Two to Four
Most people start adjusting somewhere between three to six months. You stop comparing everything to home. You stop expecting things to work the same way. You stop getting as annoyed by the little stuff. You build routines. You find your spots. You get comfortable.
By month three or four it doesn’t feel like you’re visiting anymore. You’re just living there. That’s the part that actually matters, not the first week when everything feels new, but the point where it stops feeling foreign.
What happens when the adjustment hits its hardest point is covered in the Month Four article. Read that one too.