Closer than anyone expects
Podgorica Airport is the most convenient airport in the western Balkans for northern Albania, and almost nobody realises it. The Bozaj crossing is 35 km from the terminal, half an hour of straightforward driving, and Shkoder is another twenty-five minutes beyond it. Terminal to Shkoder is about an hour when the queue is light.
This is about the drive rather than the destination. Shkoder is well covered elsewhere; what is not is what it actually takes to leave the car park at Podgorica Airport and end up on the Albanian road network.
The one thing to arrange in advance
Standard Montenegrin cover does not follow the car into Albania. You need cross-border cover selected as an additional option during booking, and a Green Card issued for the vehicle, endorsed for Albania specifically. It is a paper document, carried in the car, produced at the border if asked.
Two things follow from that. Declare the intention when you book rather than at the handover, because it cannot reliably be added on the day and never at the barrier. And check the endorsement covers Albania, since some cards list EU countries only and Albania is outside the EU. The border crossing guide sets out the requirements for each country.
Airport to the border
Out of the airport you turn right and head south, then pick up the road signed for Tuzi and Albanija. It drops across flat country, passes Dinosa, and reaches Tuzi about twenty kilometres from the terminal. Fuel before you go: Albanian fuel is cheaper, but the first stretch inside Albania has nothing, and queues at the border are not the place to discover you are low.
From Tuzi the road runs another twelve kilometres to the crossing, climbing gently onto low karst with Lake Skadar appearing to the right. Bozaj is a small post, a pair of cabins and a canopy, one lane each way.
The crossing itself
Off-peak, five to ten minutes. Weekends and shoulder season, fifteen to twenty-five. A Saturday in July or an Albanian public holiday can mean an hour. Montenegrin officers check passports and wave you through; the Albanian side checks passports, glances at the registration, and sometimes asks for the Green Card. There is no fee for cars.
Coming back is usually quicker, since Montenegro processes returning traffic faster than Albania processes arrivals. Keep the documents to hand rather than in a bag in the boot.
The first half hour in Albania
The road changes character immediately. For about ten kilometres the surface is patchy, with potholes and loose edges, and the limit drops. After Koplik it widens and improves into decent two-lane road for the run to Shkoder. Budget for slow going at the start regardless of what the map suggests.
Koplik has the first practical stop, including a cash machine if you want Albanian lek. In practice euros are widely accepted in Shkoder and the tourist areas at a rounded rate, but smaller villages, some fuel stations and the motorway tolls further south are lek only.
Driving there
Fuel is consistently cheaper than in Montenegro. Limits are 40 in towns, 80 on rural roads, 110 on the motorway network, enforced by fixed cameras on the main roads and occasional patrols. Stay within ten of the limit and you will not have a problem. A fine on a hire car is passed on to you later with an admin fee, so it is not the sort of thing that goes away.
Bozaj is the default crossing for anyone collecting a car at the terminal. Sukobin, sixty kilometres south, is the one to use if you are heading for the Albanian coast instead.
