North Macedonia Albania
North Macedonia 
AlbaniaLast reviewed July 2026
Crossing the border
North Macedonia and Albania share a land border you can cross by car. Keep your passport, national driving licence and International Driving Permit together, and check opening hours and any toll or vignette requirements before you travel.
Driving rules in Albania
- Drive on the right; overtake on the left.
- Headlights on at all times, day and night.
- 0.01% alcohol limit — effectively zero tolerance.
- Seatbelts mandatory for all occupants.
What to see when you arrive in Albania
- the beaches of the Albanian Riviera
- the Ottoman town of Berat
- Butrint's ancient ruins
- Gjirokastër's stone city
- the capital Tirana
Once you're driving in Albania
Destination-specific detail sourced from national road authorities, motoring clubs and rental policies — the things that catch cross-border drivers out.
Driving on a foreign licence
EU/EEA licences are accepted for short visits without an IDP; non-EU/EEA visitors should carry an International Driving Permit together with their national licence, and rental firms generally expect it.
Tolls & road charges
There is no vignette; instead the A1 motorway (notably the Rrëshen-Kalimash 'Nation's Highway' tunnel section toward Kosovo) charges a per-passage toll paid in cash or card at barriers, while most other roads are free.
Parking in the cities
In Tirana and larger towns parking uses colour-coded zones - free white, paid blue-line bays (pay at meters or by app), and restricted red areas; central spaces are scarce and wardens are active.
Fines & camera enforcement
Speeding, no-seatbelt and handheld-phone fines are issued, often on the spot in cash; drink-driving limits are low and enforced, and camera/police fines on rentals are passed to your card by the hire firm.
If you have an accident
Call 112 (general emergency) or 129 for police and 127 for ambulance; do not move vehicles after an injury crash until police attend, and get a police report for any insurance claim.
Driving in the capital
Tirana's central Skanderbeg Square area and its ring roads see chaotic merging, frequent illegal parking and assertive drivers; lane discipline is loose and scooters weave between cars.
Sources: rac.co.uk · tyremap.com · internationaldrivingpermit.org · lovinalbania.com