Albania has license plates with a blue vertical stripe on both sides of the plate, but it also has secondary plates featuring a red vertical stripe in place of the standard blue European stripe. Albania is the only European country with red on the left side of the licence plate. Albania has a plethora of old model Mercedes cars, which contrasts the country’s general poor feel.
Albanian houses often have elevated water heaters that are visible on the roof. Unfinished Albanian houses are also a common sight. Although the houses are multi-storey, they are typically run-down and look unfinished and lack windows or are missing bricks. 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. 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 as Italy featuring a red or white rectangle in the black section of the bollard that extends to the top. However, Bollards are fairly rare to see in Albania compared to Italy. Black and white chevrons (road curve signs) are a common sight in Albania. Within southern Europe this chevron is also used by Italy, Greece, and Spain.


The backs of road signs in Albania are often painted black, which 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.

The numbers on speed signs in Albania are written in a bold font, whereas font is much thinner on speed signs in Montenegro.

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


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

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 mountainous and hilly landscape of Albania is 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.


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

If you see an urban/suburban area in Albania, you’re probably in the west or northwest. If you see farmland in Albania, you’re probably in the southwest. Forest, the northeast, east and south.


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, but they can be identified by their Taxi sign on top of the car or by their orange license plates. Most taxi’s that you see will be yellow, but they can be painted a wide range of colors including green and black.

Albania usuallyhas regular European all-white road lines, but there are some instances where Albania uses a yellow center line.

Albania has regular European white and red road signs.

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 and 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.

