10 Tips For Traveling With Young Children In Albania

Traveling with young children can be challenging. Children get frustrated waiting in lines, sitting in seats and just being outside their normal environment. The in-between travel times are the best time to bond with your child. We enjoy playing games, having conversations, and quality interactions with our children while traveling.

Traveling to Albania can be an enormous opportunity to bring culture and unique experiences into your child’s life. They can learn another language and experience how other cultures live.

Albania may seem like a place that would be difficult to travel to with young children. The concerns are safety or if your child will enjoy the trip. Albania is very safe, but as with any other country you will need a basic understanding of your surrounding and yes, your child will enjoy the trip.

There are plenty of child-friendly activities and experiences they will enjoy. Below are 10 tips from our own experiences, trials, and tribulations in Albania that will be helpful when you travel with your children.

1. Discuss The Trip

Start discussing the trip with your children. Layout the itinerary, destinations and specifics about traveling. Tell them about what they will expect on the trip. Let them know what is in it for them. Plan excursions to playgrounds, pools, beaches, and other fun activities especially for them. Show them pictures of places that you plan to visit, help them visualize the trip. This will make them feel like this is a trip for them instead of feeling like they are just along for the ride on your trip.

2. Bring Or Rent A Child Safety Seat

Not all child safety seats are the same, my wife and I feel strongly about having the safest child safety seat protecting our children. We highly recommend bringing your car seat, it may seem like a hassle to travel with the seat, but it is worth the piece of mind on the trip.

Consider purchasing a durable child safety seat cover with wheels to transport the seat. Airlines do not typically charge to bring a car seat or a stroller, but you should notify the desk agent at check in.

If you prefer to rent a child safety seat it will typically cost around 12-18 Euro or $14.32-$21.47 per day.

You also want to check when renting a car in Albania that the vehicle has the correct Child Safety Seat hooks called the LATCH System (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children). The LATCH System is two hooks located where the bottom and back of the car’s rear seats meet. It makes the child seat easier to install and does not use the vehicle’s regular seat belt system.

3. Find Local Supermarkets

Kids eat a lot. My kids never stop eating, like all kids, they are incredibly picky. Albania’s food scene comprises local, organic, and traditional foods. If your child is not an adventurous eater, you might find it challenging to get them to eat traditional restaurant foods. It is best to have backup food with you or back at your vacation rental or hotel room.

The top three chain supermarkets are Big Market, Spar, and Conad. You can find anything you want, including some of your favorite global brands. Moreover, there are numerous neighborhood supermarkets, most likely within a block of where you are staying in major cities.

To find a local market, ask your host or hotel front desk agent. Albanians are extraordinarily hospitable. It will not be hard to find English-speaking people in major cities, but this could be another opportunity to test out the Albanian words you learned before your trip.

Translation:
Where is the supermarket? – Ku është supermarketi?

4. Visit A Playground

There are plenty of playgrounds in all major cities of Albania. There are plenty of playgrounds located indoors, outdoors, in malls and in restaurants. Albania has made conscious efforts to be more child friendly in the last ten years. Here are two of our favorite indoor playgrounds in Tirana.

Tirana Ring Center shopping plaza has a playground, an arcade, and an ice-skating rink. Ring Center was our favorite location because the playground is big with multiple sections. The food court is directly across from the playground and it is extremely easy to find parking in the basement of the shopping center.

Toptani Shopping Center also has a playground called Toptani Jungle and a Lazer Tag type game for older children.

For more information on playgrounds stay tuned for future post: Top 15 Playgrounds In Shopping Centers and Restaurants In Albania

5. Go Bowling

Go bowling or go to an arcade if your child needs playtime. If you are in Tirana, Taiwan Complex has bowling, an arcade, billiards, soccer tables, and three restaurants, including Le Caffé dhe Gelateri (coffee and ice cream shop). The price per bowling game was 250 Lek or $2.46 per person, per game. They have eight lanes of tenpin bowling located in Taiwan’s basement level called “Spare Time.”

6. Visit A Resort

There are resorts throughout Albania with multiple activities great for accommodating your child’s needs and your own. In Albania, it is normal to visit a resort to use the amenities without staying there. These are 3 of the top resorts in Albania for accommodating both child and adults.

Te Stela Resort – Located in Tirana, this resort has a playground, pool, restaurant, fitness center, and several other amenities. When we ate at the restaurant, the children were welcome to play on their playground at no charge. We also used the indoor pool, which cost 600 Lek for adults and 400 Lek for kids.

Palmanova Resort – Located in Elbasan, this is another beautiful resort with a playground, pool, and restaurant.

Grand Blue Fafa Resort – Located in Golem, this place has lots of entertainment and sporting activities for children, including a playground and a pool. Grand Blue Fafa Resort also has a full-day spa and is located on the beach.

For more information on resorts stay tuned for future post: The Top 15 Resorts For Fun And Relaxation In Albania.

7. Go To A Farm

Farms in Albania are an entire agricultural learning experience. As part of the Agroturizëm (translated: Agritourism), you can learn about how farms work, eat there, and even stay there. One of the best representations of Agritourism and the Slow-Food Movement in Albania is Mrizi i Zanave.

Mrizi i Zanave Agroturizëm is located about an hour and a half from Tirana, in the village of Fishte, Lezhe. Their on-site restaurant serves food harvested daily on the farm. They grow and produce products daily for the restaurant and their market including, fruits, vegetables, wines, cheese, jams, honey, smoked meats and cheeses. They have a hotel on site with 9 rooms.

For more information on farms stay tuned for future post: 7 Best Farms To Visit, Eat, And Stay In Albania.

8. Go To The Beach

Visit one of Albania’s many beautiful crystal-clear water beaches. We recommend family-friendly beaches in Vlora, Ksamil, Saranda, Durres, Golem, and Jale Beach.

You may want to visit beaches without excessive rocks or rocky waters, that do not require 15 minutes or more walking from automobile access, and beaches with restroom access.

Vlora has the best overall family beach. The beach area is on a strip with plenty of rentals, hotels, resorts, restaurants, and a beautiful bike/walk path which is surrounded by beautiful palm trees. We stayed at Hotel Nimfa, which is directly on the water with picturesque views from the seaside rooms. The on-sight restaurant is very convenient and provides a free breakfast with your stay.

For more information on the best beaches see blog post: Top 12 Beaches in Albania.

9. Give Your Child A Camera

Give your child their own camera to take pictures of the trip. The camera can be an old iPhone or a kids travel camera. The quality of the camera does not matter if you can download the photos. Your child will be able to record the memories of the trip in their own way.

10. Keep Them Entertained

Toys And Games

Bring a new toy to give to your child on the plane or when you arrive. Pack toys and games that can be played on a plane or in a car.

Amazon Fire Stick

An Amazon Fire Stick gives you and your family access to Prime TV, Netflix, Slingbox, etc., on any TV with an HDMI connection. You will also need a WiFi connection. Although not all content is available in foreign countries, there is more the enough for what you will need. During inclement weather spells and other unplanned downtimes, this trick came in handy, especially when my wife and I needed a little break after a long day of sightseeing and family visits.

Bring A Tablet

It is beneficial to bring an iPad (or tablet) with music, movies, and games loaded on it. Tablets are helpful during car travels, airplanes, or sitting in an airport during layovers. It helps to have games and content that your children can access offline.

Quick flying with children checklist:
Reserve airline seats so you and your family members are together.
Take an inflatable child seat to boost your child on the airplane.
Don’t forget a neck pillow for your child.
Bring extra snacks.

****

Traveling can be tough on children; I highly suggest you plan extra time for breaks and snacks. Schedule time in your trip for daily down time. Plan extra time for travel through airports and boarding flights. Travelers with children will typically be allowed to board planes before coach and move through customs; we suggest that you look for family lanes. Leave extra time when moving from destination to destination. If you plan, your children will have a better experience and you will too.

Traveling with children will be easier if you plan. Use these 10 tips and travel safer and easier while not losing valuable vacation time to problems that could have been avoided. Most of all, enjoy your family, your vacation, and Albania.