Albania Travel Guide - Communications

Country code: 355. City codes: Tirana 04, Durresi 052, Elbasani 054, Shkodra 022, Gjirokastra 084, Korça 082.

Coverage is good, except in the most remote, mountainous areas.

Almost every sizeable town in Albania has public Internet access, usually via an Internet cafe. Some hotels, especially in Tirana, have broadband connections in the guest rooms; a few have Wi-Fi.

The Albanian postal service is not 100% reliable, although it is not especially bad either. Important documents should be sent by courier. DHL and Federal Express have offices in Tirana and a few other cities. An internal courier service called ACS operates within Albania.

Post office hours: The central post office in Tirana is open from 0730 to 2000 Mon-Sun.

Albania has a good diversity of print and electronic media, although the market is undeveloped which means that all privately-owned outlets are dependent to at least some extent on government advertising. Newspapers are often very partisan; indeed, three widely available papers are published by political parties. Political parties, religious groups and state bodies aren't allowed to own private TV and radio stations.

• Rilindja Demokratike, the organ of the ruling Democratic Party, has a circulation of 50,000.
• The Albanian Daily News and Tirana Times are English-language newspapers.
• Some Albanian newspapers contain a few pages in English; these include Gazeta Shqiptare.

• In addition to the state-owned public broadcaster, TVSH, several privately owned stations are licensed to broadcast in almost every district of the country.
• TV Arberia (TVA) is a private network.
• Some hotels in Tirana and elsewhere have satellite television in the bedrooms.

• There are many radio stations; most of them are music channels.
• The BBC World Service broadcasts in Tirana on 103.9 FM, and of course on its usual short-wave channels elsewhere in the country.
• The Voice of America broadcasts to Albania on medium and short wave.