From Macedonia, you can enter via Qafë Thanë or Tushemisht border crossings.
The railway service to Pogradec is listed as one of the 'Great Railway Journeys of the World'. There is one train a day from Tirana that leaves at 6.00 and gets in at 13.00. The train line stops a few miles short of Pogradec so when you get off the train there is a rush for the buses which take you into the town. If there is not enough room in the buses, start walking to Pogradec and hail a minibus that passes.
The train takes a lot of time because it makes a enormous detour via Durrës. After four hours it arrives at Elbasan which is mere 35 km as the crow flies from Tiranë, and because it only runs about 25 km/h for most of the time. Carriages are quite OK now (2011) except that all windows were broken like they were hit by bullets, so select a window where the view is best.
A faster option is to take a bus or minibus (furgon) from Tirana: the departure points of these change regularly so check with the hotel or hostel. These take 3 to 4 hours but the roads in the East are largely good. Buses cost 500 Leke, while minibuses are 600 Leke.
It is possible to cross the border to the Republic of Macedonia by foot or by car to the south of Lake Ohrid, but major coaches to Ohrid town take the northern route from Tirana.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Pogradec
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Pogradec - updated May 2024
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Pogradec Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
