It has license plates with the blue vertical stripe on both sides of the plate, like Italy. It also has secondary plates featuring a red vertical stripe in place of the standard blue European stripe. Albania has a plethora of old model Mercedes cars. This contrasts the country’s general poor feel. Albania is one of two European countries that sometimes has the rift in the sky if you pan up, the other being Montenegro. Albanian houses stand out for a few reasons. They regularly have elevated water heaters that are visible on the roof. Unfinished Albanian houses are also a common sight. The Albanian landscape is almost entirely hilly and mountainous. There are many rocky hills. The main Albanian roads are well-maintained but the rest of the roads are largely falling apart. The Albanian language has many j,k and q letters. It also has ç as well as ë. Albania’s most common license plate has one blue vertical stripe on each side of the license plate. Italy also has these plates. Albania’s aerial is visible. After the two blue stripes plates, Albania’s second most common license plate has a red vertical stripe on the left. Old model Mercedes cars are found abundantly in Albania. Parts of Albania have the rift in the sky if you pan up. Montenegro is the only other European country that can have a rift. Albanian utility poles vary but their most common poles have a crucifix style horizontal part near the top of the pole. They also tend to have several pine cone shape bulbs pointing upwards. Albania has the same looking bollards at Italy featuring a red rectangle in the black section of the bollard that extends to the top. Bollards are fairly rare to see in Albania compared to Italy. Albanian bollards have a white rectangle on their rear and have the same look as Italian bollards. Black and white corner signs are a common sight in Albania. Another one of the easiest ways to recognise Albania is via the plethora of water heaters on houses. Half-finished houses are another common sight in Albania. Although the houses are multi-storey, they are typically run-down and look unfinished and lack windows or are missing bricks. Almost all of Albania is hilly or mountainous. The mountains are often fairly rocky. The main roads such as the one pictured are well-maintained however most Albanian roads are poorly-maintained. Minor Albanian roads are often poorly-maintained. The country is green and hilly. Note the water heaters on the houses. The Albanian language stands out for having lots of q, j and k letters. It also has the rare ç as well as ë. In general, the Albanian language reminds me most of Turkey. 

Albanian licence plates either have blue strips on both sides or a single red strip on the left side.

Albania is the only European country with red on the left side of the licence plate. Furthermore, Italian licence plates also have blue strips on both sides, however Italian front plates are distinctly shorter.

‘Rifts’ can commonly be seen in Albanian coverage, due to poor stitching.

Rifts are also equally common in Montenegro, and can rarely be seen in various other countries.

Albanian bollards have a black top with a red and grey reflector. The bottom is painted white.

Italy uses the same kind of bollards.

These pole tops, with an upside down triangle shape, are a good clue for Albania.

Serbia, Czechia, Slovakia and Romania use similar pole tops.

Other, more simple Albanian pole tops will often have horizontal bars.

If you are not sure between Montenegro or Albania and see these poles, guess Albania.

Albanian chevrons are white on black.

Within southern Europe this chevron is also used by Italy, Greece, and Spain.

Montenegro uses two chevrons, both of which are different from the Albanian chevron: black on white and red on yellow.

The backs of road signs are often painted black.

This is also common in Italy and Romania.

The “S” on Albanian stop signs feature a distinct shape; the ends of the S are quite short and have the same angle as the middle, rather than being vertical. This is also sometimes seen on directional signs.

Italian stops signs and directional signs have the same feature.

The numbers on speed signs are written in a bold font.

The font is much thinner on speed signs in Montenegro.

These flat and wide guardrail endings that bend away from the road can often be found in Albania.

The same endings are found in Italy.

Albanian is not very closely related to any other European languages, and therefore has a fairly distinct look.

Words often contain the letter Ë, ë, and sometimes Ç ç.

The Albanian word for street is rruga.

Albania is generally a mountainous country, with a Mediterranean climate and vegetation. In between the hills and mountains, you can sometimes find more flat, agricultural valleys. The mountains are usually quite green, sometimes with patches of exposed rock visible.

Albania has a lot of exposed red soil next to roads.

This is less common in Montenegro. Greece on the other hand also has a fair amount of similar-looking red soil, especially closer to the Albanian border.

You will see a lot of cylinder-shaped water tanks on the roofs of buildings.

This is less common in Montenegro.

Some parts of Turkey also have a lot of similar-looking water tanks.

Albania has a lot of Italian-style buildings: pastel colours, orange tiled roofs, and blocky shapes with lots of balconies.

Mercedes is the most popular car brand in Albania, by quite a margin. The specific style of sedan pictured here is particularly common.

This map shows the population density of Albania. Its from 2012, so it may be a bit outdated, but it shows larger population’s towards the coast lines and more forest and agricultural towards the north, central and south.
If you see an urban/suburban area, you’re probably in the west or northwest. If you see farmland, you’re probably in the southwest. Forest, the northeast, east and south.

Albania is really easy to recognize. The double blue license plates are only Italy and Albania (Although France has updated their plates to contain a double blue, they are not that common in the current coverage). When you have rifts in combination with the license plates, it has to be Albania. You can also occasionally see red bars on the plates. The only places that have a red stripe are the Isle of Man, Kyrgyzstan and Albania.

Google Car:

No visible car, except the antenna, which can be long or short.

Bollard:

Albania has several bollards which can be seen occasionally.

Road side barriers can often be concrete blocks or concrete arches, in addition to regular metal barriers:

Unique Vehicle:
Taxi’s in Albania are generally rare. Some will have a crest on the side (which have been spotted in Tirana), and some will be painted a wide range of colors, like Yellow, Green, Black and Silver. The main factor here is the Taxi sign on the top of the car. It can be short like the pictures, or long (covering the roof from side to side or Front to back).
Most taxi’s that you see will be yellow, although the color doesn’t seem to indicate much besides green. A Green taxi will be a company from Tirana called “Green Taxi”, and they use electric vehicles. All taxi’s in Albania will have an orangish colored plate.

Albania is one of several countries which has a recognizable “rifts” in its camera. These can be found the majority of the time in the country but not 100% of the time.

Road Lines:

Regular European all-white road lines:

There are some rare instances that Albania uses a yellow center line. This can be found over on SH97 and SH3 (E86) by Lake Ohrid. The yellow line at Lake Ohrid is currently white, but when the photos were taken, it was yellow.

Road Signs:

Regular European white and red road signs:

White not necessarily signs, the highway system of Albania is relatively simple. You should be able to find these signs listed on your travels.

License plates:

Albania has two license plates. The most common is the newer, Italian inspired plate with blue strips on each end of the plate. The second plate has a single red strip down the left side.


Vegetation/Landscape:

Albania is a very mountainous country. Its mountains often have a rocky feel, typical of the Balkan area. The soil and rocks often also have a red tint. All of Albania’s coverage was taken between April and June 2016, so the country looks very green and often quite luscious.

Architecture:

You will often see these water barrels on the rooftops of houses in Albania. They are used to heat water.

General look:

This is the north of the country, over near the border of Montenegro. It has a very Mediterranean feel to it. Often, you will see rifts in the sky here.

The middle of the country seems to contain a lot of farm land, as well as these mountains that can be seen in the distance.

Southern Albania feels a bit more Mediterranean than other parts of the country. You can often times find palm trees and other tropical plants. It can sometimes be mistaken for Turkey, Jordan, or other countries with similar climates.
Albania is one of the poorer countries in Europe and some of the economic disparities can be seen. Some roads can be rather poor looking while other larger roads are in better shape. There are many unfinished houses made of brick or concrete which can be found alongside the road. Looking past this, it has lots of high rising mountains and cutting valleys, with a luscious but also rocky look.

