Albania

Eating Well in Vlorë: Markets, Home Cooking and What It Actually Costs

I expected to eat affordably in Albania. I didn't expect to eat this much healthier. After a month in Vlorë, I was cooking fresh ingredients more than I ever did at home, spending less than I would in the UK, and eating better food. Here's what that actually looks like.

The Fresh Market

The market changed how I ate.

It's right at the top of the high street, near the clock tower, open most mornings, and the produce is the kind of quality you'd pay a premium for in the UK. Vegetables that look like they're fresh from the garden. Olives sold loose by the scoop.

It's tucked away in the back streets. Head north until you reach the clock tower then just after on the left is the street Rruga Tasin Jonuzi. Behind the fishmongers (Market Peshku), worth a visit in its own right, is access to the back street markets. This is the fresh food section, the rest is clothes and hardware.

What stood out most was the herbs. Fresh bunches of mint, basil, parsley, dill, all for almost nothing. In the UK, a small plastic packet of herbs costs £1 or more and it's wilting before you eat it. Here, I'd grab a handful for pennies and use them that evening.

The local atmosphere matters too. Vendors serving their regulars. There's an experience that supermarkets can't replicate. If I had lived closer I would have visited almost daily because I found the best fresh produce for the price.

What it costs: A carrier bag of fresh vegetables, fruit, cheese, and herbs runs about £5-8. The same quality in the UK would be double.

Supermarkets and Grocers

For everyday basics, there are several supermarkets. Market IM is the most convenient near to the big roundabout on the high street. Conad is pricier but stocks more imported items. Particularly expensive was the one at the start of the Lungomare. Pronatyra MD had good value wines.

They cover what you'd expect: bread, dairy, cleaning products, toiletries, pasta, rice. The local cheeses and yoghurt are very inexpensive. A small bakery loaf is around 71p. Ten toilet rolls: £1.74.

The pattern is clear. Anything locally produced is significantly less than the UK. Anything imported (Earl Grey tea, Gillette razors, Guinness) costs more. The lesson: adapt to local products and your costs drop. Cling to British habits and you'll pay for the privilege.

A practical note: I didn't risk drinking the tap water in Albania. Therefore an important consideration is access to large bottles of water. I didn't find a delivery service so had to haul them. You need to consider how close your nearest place is. Being close to Big Market Skela provided my water and other groceries when I needed to pop out.

The small grocers dotted around the city are worth knowing about. They're the places for quick top-ups: eggs, milk, bread, a bottle of wine. Less selection, but can be closer to home than the main supermarkets. Less English spoken but small businesses you're supporting.

Home Cooking

Here's what surprised me most. I cooked more meals from scratch in Vlorë than I had in years back home.

Not because I was trying to save money. Because the ingredients deserved it. When you can buy tasty fish it deserves a meal, you don't reach for the microwave. The quality of the raw ingredients pulls you into cooking.

My apartment kitchen was more functional than many rentals. Most evenings I'd prepare something simple: grilled chicken with a Greek salad, fresh fish with tzatziki and olives, or rice with whatever looked good at the market that morning. Set it out on the balcony with the Lungomare view, and that was dinner.

The shift from convenience to intention was one of the unexpected changes of living here. Cooking became leisure, not a chore.

What a home-cooked meal costs: A proper dinner for one using fresh market ingredients starts at £3. The same meal from a UK supermarket would be double. The same meal at a UK restaurant would be £20+.

Bakeries and Birek

Birek deserves its own mention. It's a flaky pastry filled with cheese, spinach, or meat, and it's everywhere. Bakeries sell it fresh from early morning. It costs almost nothing and is very tasty.

Maybe not the healthiest but it's very tempting to grab one when out and about. For under a pound it's a tasty eat.

The bakeries themselves are worth exploring. Every neighbourhood has at least one, and the bread culture here is strong. Fresh loaves, pastries, and birek are baked daily. The quality is consistent and the prices are low.

Eating Out

Eating out in Vlorë is affordable enough to do regularly without thinking twice about it.

The Lungomare promenade has restaurants for its full length. Most serve similar menus: grilled meat, fish, salads, pasta. You can see the Italian influence here most. The setting is what makes it special. There's something about a meal with a crisp white wine on the Lungomare, the bright light, watching the sea and old guys cycling past on their bicycles. The food is worth a little extra money when the context is that good.

For something more distinctive, two places stood out.

Sofra e Lakrorit is a small family-run restaurant with a wood oven. You need to book because there are only a few tables, and they pre-prepare the food. What arrived was truly authentic Albanian cooking: a special pie similar to pizza, freshly made in front of you accompanied by fresh Greek salad. The price was great. I shared a lovely experience with someone from the USA I met there. If you want one restaurant that feels like a genuine local discovery, this is it.

Dodo Bar and Restaurant sits at the back of the port. Good food, good service, and a relaxed setting.

What eating out costs: A full meal with a drink starts around £5-12 depending on the restaurant. A beer at a bar starts at 97p. An espresso at a cafe: 80p to £1.

Coffee Culture

Coffee in Vlorë isn't a purchase. It's a way of spending time.

An espresso costs less than a pound. The cafe culture here runs deep. Old men group together in cafes. People sit for hours, watching the street, talking, doing nothing in particular. It's a mystery to me how the locals can sleep drinking it until the late hours.

For someone coming from a country where a coffee costs £3.50 and you drink it while walking to the next appointment, this takes some adjusting.

My favourite was INI, a unique stylish cafe in the city centre. In the UK, a cafe with that kind of design and atmosphere would charge accordingly. Here, I'd sit for an hour with a Çaj Mente and spend very little.

The Monthly Total

After a month, I added it all up. My total food spend was £416. That covers everything: groceries, market produce, eating out, coffee, even a takeaway pizza.

For context, the equivalent lifestyle in the UK would be at least £600. The difference isn't just the price. It's what the money buys. Better produce, more variety, more meals cooked from scratch, and more meals out without watching the bill.

The spreadsheet captures the numbers. What it doesn't capture is the shift. I ate better here because the food made it possible to.

What's Surprisingly Expensive

Not everything is value. Some items cost more than the UK:

Earl Grey tea (20 bags) costs about £4.50. If you're a dedicated English tea drinker, bring supplies. Sun lotion is around £12 for a small bottle. Razor blades, imported beer (Guinness at £11 for a four-pack): all carry an import premium.

The pattern: anything Mediterranean or locally produced is far less. Anything British or Northern European costs more. Adapt your habits and the savings are real.

More on this: Supermarket Prices: UK vs Vlorë

The Honest View

The restaurant food along the Lungomare is worth it more for the views and experience. Many places serve similar menus. The real food story in Vlorë is what you cook at home with what's available at the market.

If you're the kind of person who likes to browse a market, pick your own ingredients, and cook something simple with a sea view, this place will reward you. If you want fine dining and culinary innovation, there are good restaurants but it's not the main reason to come here.

For everyday eating, the quality, the cost, and the pleasure of it all work together well. The food here didn't just save me money, it changed my daily routine.