Money
The local monetary unit is the Lek.
Especially in shops you can pay with euros. However you can change money every-where in the street. As being a foreigner they recognise you immediately and people with their hands full of banknotes accost you frequently. For 50 euro you get 6,200 Lek (August/September 2004), which means 100 Lek is 0.80 euro.
Some banks at the boulevard have cash-machines.

Health
If, unhoped, you need medical care in Sarande, you can always pass by the local hospital. Do not expect a hospital you are used to in your own country. The doctor on duty help with everything even when he is specialised in something else.
Medical help is for free.

You better not drink water straight from the tap but buy plastic bottles with water. Often ice-cubes are made from water from the tap. I never had problems with it, but try to use as less as possible by taking them out of your glass before they are melted. Better drink a coke that is not that cold.

Electricity
The voltage is 220. Sarande takes care of their own electricity using hydro-electric stations which are obsolescent. Fall-out of electricity or a lower voltage for several hours is not an exeption.

Transport
At this moment it is not possible to hire a motor-cycle or bicycle in Sarande. If you are there in the tourist-season there are organised bus-trips to several places of interest.
From the centre there are busses going daily to the surrounding towns and villages and even to Tirana. In May 2007 we have been with the bus from Sarande to Butrinti. In the morning there are going buses every 1-1,5 hour. You can buy a ticket in the bus, which costs 50 Lek a person.
Also in the centre you find a lot of taxi's. Because we always used cars of relatives/friends during our stay we haven't used taxi's so I can't give prices.
However I heard a taxi to and from the Blue Eye costs 35 euro (and the driver will wait for you over-there).

Since 2008 there are 2 offices close to the harbour where you can rent a car:
Sipa Tours
Lagjia Nr 3
info@sipatours.com or arben@sipatours.com
www.sipatours.com
Tel & fax: 0035585226675
Mob: 00355682035250

Terini
Lagjia Nr 4
terini@albmail.com or terinitravel@yahoo.com
www.terini-travel.com
Tel & fax: 0035585224985
Mob: 00355692094030

Food
As in many Mediterranean countries you have to be careful with food. The hygiene is different from the one our stomach is used to. Be sure you bring enough medicines for stomach- and intestine-problems; just in case of.

In the town you find several small supermarkets in almost every street were you can buy everything. The bread they sell is most of the time not in slices and is getting old very quickly. We haven't seen pre-packed meat-products, but you can buy a kind of sausages you cut in slices to put on the bread. Beside marmalade you can hardly find other things to put on your bread. But you can always make scrambled eggs with tomato and union.
Having breakfast in a restaurant is almost impossible. Nowhere signs with English or Continental Breakfast. I never saw local people having breakfast at a terrace; neither lunch. But they do drink frappe (cold coffee) from early in the morning till late at night.
After a long search we finally found a restaurant that could serve an omelette with bread as a breakfast.

For lunch you can get a pizza in most restaurants. If you want an extensive lunch you have to be lucky the cook is in. The tourist-season in Sarande actually lasts from July 1th till August 31th. We were there early September and they told us frequently, even in the night-time, they didn't have a cook anymore. You can have a drink in every restaurant at night, but having dinner, especially out-side the season, isn't possible every-where.
The menus are seldom translated in English so every-time it is a surprise what you will get if you don't know anything about the language. If you are lucky you'll find a waiter who speaks at least a few words English. In most cases you have to use your hands en feet to explain what you want. It sure has its charm.

The number of dishes and the quality vary from restaurant to restaurant.
You can get salad, pizza and paste almost every-where. Besides you can get dishes with chicken- or pork-meat and sometimes beef. Of course there are special fish-restaurants where you can order dishes with shrimps, mussels, kalimares and frog-legs.

Drinks
Beside Amstel, Heineken, Mythos and the local Tirana beer (4%) there is a variety of soft-dinks and wine. You can also order water with or without bubbles ('me gaz' or 'pa gaz').
Don't drink water from the tap!

Prices
The prices in restaurants are much lower then we are used to in out own country and most popular holiday-destinations.
P.e.: a small bottle of beer (33 cl) costs 100 Lek; a large one about 150 Lek. Soft-drink about 100 Lek and a bottle very nice dry Albanian wine (Riesling, nut the German one) 600 Lek. A pizza costs about 450 Lek and a plate with chicket-filet (3 large pices) with fries and salad 400 Lek.

Going out
During the season they have live-music in several restaurants. The are also places where they play modern music at a more higher volume. Most people however spend their evenings strolling along the beautiful boulevard and having a drink at one of the terraces.

Trips
As already told there are organised bus-trips during the season. It is also possible to go by (a small) boat to nearby sandy beaches. We didn't had time to do this, but we certainly will next time.