What this cost of living breakdown covers

In 2026 we spent just over two months living in Sarandë, Albania – to see if if could someday be our home; here’s our cost of living report:

A few things to know up front:

• Length of stay: 72 days
• Household: two adults
• Travel style: slow travel, not luxury
• Season: off-season, which matters a lot in Sarandë
• Monthly living-expense target: $2,700 (relocation costs tracked separately)

These are real expenses from daily life—rent, groceries, eating out, healthcare, and everything in between (plus the cost for us to relocate from Pogradec to Sarandë. )

Quick snapshot: monthly cost of living in Sarandë (for two)

Based on our 72-day stay, here’s what the monthly reality looked like:

• Average monthly living costs: about $2,520
  • Housing: about $607/month
  • Food (groceries + eating out): about $736/month
  • Activities & local travel: about $300/month
  • Healthcare: about $103/month
  • Technology: about $385/month (inflated by prepaid items — explained below)
  • Miscellaneous: about $387/month

This came in under our $2,700/month target, even with a few categories running higher than expected.

Where we stayed in Sarandë

We rented a furnished apartment in the Kodrra area of Sarandë. The apartment itself was comfortable and well-equipped, with a kitchen that made cooking at home easy.

Location matters in Sarandë. While we were within walking distance of downtown, many nearby restaurants in Kodrra, were closed during the off-season, which meant more walking toward the promenade when we wanted to eat out.

Housing costs in Sarandë

Housing was one of the strongest budget wins during our stay.

• Total housing cost (72 days): $1,457.30
• Average nightly cost: about $20
• Monthly equivalent: about $607

These numbers would almost certainly be higher during summer for our short term stay – however we also talked with locals who said that finding year-long leases could be had for under the $900 a month we budgeted for.

Food costs: groceries vs eating out

Dining out in Sarandë

We’re not eat-out-every-meal people, but we do enjoy going out regularly.

• Meals out: 25 meals at 17 different places
• Total spent eating out: $602.22
• Monthly equivalent: about $251

This included casual restaurants, a few coffee stops, pizzas, local dishes, and even a burger one day.

Eating out in Sarandë can be very affordable if you’re dining where the locals eat and not exclusively in tourist hotspots.

Groceries and cooking at home

Most of our meals were at home – especially breakfast and lunch.

• Total grocery spend: $1,154.47
• Monthly equivalent: about $480

Groceries also included household items like cleaning supplies, toilet paper, and toiletries.

Fresh produce was easy to find, and there were several large grocery stores within walking distance.

Overall, food costs averaged about $736 per month, combining groceries and eating out.

Activities and local transportation

We didn’t really do much in the way of stereotypical sightseeing or visiting attractions while we were in Sarandë . Our favorite way to “see the sights” is to wander the streets and see neighborhoods like a local.

We did visit the Museum of Tradition and the Museum of Archeology as well as the 40 Saints Monastery and the Ancient City of Butrint.

The big money spend was on our 3 days, 2 nights trip to Corfu.

Our cost for activities and local transporatation covered:

• Museums and local attractions
• Short outings around town
• A few bigger-ticket activities mixed in (like the trip to Corfu)
• Total spent (72 days): $720.23
• Monthly equivalent: about $300

Sarandë is fairly walkable, which helped keep transportation costs low.

(Check out our Saranda Playlist on YouTube to see videos about specific activities)

Healthcare costs

Healthcare costs stayed modest during our time in Sarandë.

• Total healthcare spend: $246.93
• Monthly equivalent: about $103

Our international coverage ended mid-November and we will be joining the local service soon. We risked a couple of months with no coverage at all because paying cash for anything less than a catastrophic incident here in Albania would be a negligible expense. Most routine care is affordable when paying cash in Albania, which keeps this category manageable for many retirees and long-term travelers.

Technology costs (important context)

This category looks high at first glance, and context matters here. As “content creators’ we have expenses related to web hosting, video editing tools and those sort of things that a lot of retirees wouldn’t have.

• Total technology spend: $924.69
• Monthly equivalent: about $385

This includes prepaid annual and multi-year expenses, such as phone service and web hosting.

These are not recurring monthly costs, so a typical month would normally be much lower.

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Miscellaneous day-to-day expenses

The miscellaneous category covers everything that doesn’t fit neatly elsewhere.

• Car Insurance for a vehicle in storage back home
  
• Life Insurance policies
  
• Ongoing commitments back home
  
• Odds and ends that show up in real life
  
• Total miscellaneous spend: $930.18
  
• Monthly equivalent: about $387

Every real-world budget has this category, whether we like it or not.

Total cost of living in Sarandë: the monthly reality

• Total spent (72 days): $6,046.17
• Average monthly living cost: about $2,520
• Average daily cost: about $84

This level of spending supported our comfortable, low-stress lifestyle with a mix of home cooking, regular meals out, and room in the budget for activities.

Relocation costs (tracked separately)

To get from Pogradec to Sarande we wound up taking a taxi (rather than a bus) because the combination of buses we needed would have required:

• an overnight stay in Tirana,
• plus taxi rides (or mile long walks dragging all of our gear) at three different stages of the journey.

It could have been about $100 cheaper to use one of the furgons but it would have also been a right pain in the ass, and we would have had to leave some food stuff behind.

Going by taxi, which cost $240.73, allowed us to just empty the cupboards and fridge into our two big grocery bags and throw them in the car with us. We figured the stress-to-dollar ratio was well worth it.

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Is Sarandë affordable on a retirement budget?

Based purely on numbers, Sarandë can be an affordable option for retirees and slow travelers – especially outside peak season.

Affordability depends heavily on:

• When you rent
• Your housing expectations
• How often you eat out
• Your overall lifestyle pace

For us, Sarandë fit comfortably within our $2,700 monthly living-expense budget.

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Over to you

If you’re considering Sarandë, ask yourself:

• Would this level of spending work for your budget?
• Which category surprised you most?

If you have questions about specific costs – let us know.

If you want to see how Sarandë stacks up against other cities check out our other Cost of Living posts.