February 2025 Budget Report (Sarande, Albania)
The end of February marks our first full month in Sarande, Albania. Did having out-of-town visitors and a trip to Corfu, Greece bust our monthly budget?
Let’s find out.
Accommodation: $752.65 USD
February was a pretty normal accommodation month for us by Balkan standards. That said, things were slightly on the pricey side since we needed to rent a 2 BR Airbnb for most of the month.
Our accomodation total comes from 5 nights in our first 1 BR Airbnb ($110.04 USD) and 23 nights in our second 2 BR Airbnb ($642.39 USD).
But considering what we got for our money, we thought we did well!
Activities: $57.41 USD
Considering all the entrance fees we paid, we are happy with this result.
The most expensive entrance fees were at Butrint National Archaeological Park at 1000 Leke (~$10 USD) each, but the remaining entrance fees were the Euro/Leke equivalent of $2 – $3 USD per person. We thought they were reasonably priced, all things considered.
Alcohol: $70.88 USD
When you hang out with friends that enjoy the occasional bottle of wine, rakia, or ouzo, some alcohol purchases are bound to be made.
The biggest challenge was finding decent wine for good value in Albania, which generally is imported from Italy.
And by good value we mean the Leke equivalent of $5 – $7 USD per bottle – usually on sale. Most wine in Albania is well over $10 USD per bottle, which is a lot of money by local standards!
Eating Out: $468.19 USD
A pretty expensive month eating out, which makes sense for all the times we socialized.
And we didn’t hold back at all.
Our total includes all the cafes, bakeries, and restaurants we visited – there were many!
But still, eating out was not nearly as expensive as in other countries we visited, presuming you avoid the touristy places.
Groceries: $307.69 USD
We had a fairly modest month worth of grocery expenses, but honestly we’ve gotten pretty good at finding decent bargains.
Sarande, Albania groceries aren’t exactly cheap, but we’ve found the sweet spots for the kinds of food we like (local and imported).
Miscellaneous: $43.72 USD
Nothing too crazy here. Just some cat treats and a couple of pairs of replacement reader bifocals from the USA.
Supplies: $187.88 USD
A pretty huge supplies month for us, but $175.45 USD of this total was purchases our friends brought over from the USA.
Some things you simply can’t find in Albania, or you can get MUCH cheaper back home!
Transportation: $185.20 USD
A big transportation month for us, by our standards.
This comes from multiple car rentals ($76.01 USD total for 8 days), gasoline expenses ($18.76 USD for our share of a 5 gallon top off), and ferry tickets ($90.43 USD total for all Corfu and Butrint ferry tickets).
Utilities/Upkeep: $51.36 USD
Most of these expenses were for general personal care stuff, eSIM data top-offs ($10.74 USD), our MyRVmail mail holding fee ($20.75 USD), and a haircut ($4.22 USD).
Total Expenses for February 2025 = $2,124.98 USD
Here is a summary of our February 2025 expenses:
Considering the visitors we entertained and all the outings with friends we made, we were happy with this result.
Being ~$375 USD under our monthly budget goal of $2,500 USD is never a bad thing!
Our average monthly spend is now $2,016.33 USD (August 2024 – February 2025) for our third year of travel. For the curious, here are links to our expense summaries for Year 1 and Year 2.
We have one more full expense month in Sarande, Albania in March, and then we are off to new destinations. We will see how our time, and budget, in Albania finishes out.
Until next time…
Thanks for reading!
If our posts have saved you time, money, or are enjoyable in some other way, BUY US A COFFEE! It helps cover the costs of our blog, keeps our blog ad-free, and motivates us to continue posting about our experiences.
And leave a comment below and subscribe to get email notifications whenever we post!
Follow Two Travel Turtles on Facebook and X.
