In short
Tirana is coming out of forty-five years of Stalinist isolation, and that remains the subject: the Hoxha regime's bunkers have been turned into underground museums — Bunk'Art 1 and 2 — that tell the period without flinching.
The buildings in the centre were repainted in bright colours in the two thousands, on the initiative of the mayor of the day. It is what strikes you on arrival, and it changed how the city is seen.
What it really costs
This is the cheapest capital on the continent. A flat in the centre costs a third of the equivalent in Lisbon, and the gap holds on food and coffee too.
The country is not in the eurozone: you pay in lek, and cash machines charge steep commissions. Withdrawing a lot, rarely, changes the budget.
What nobody tells you
The country opened fast and tourism is arriving faster still: prices on the coast, at Ksamil or Dhërmi, have doubled in a few years. Tirana has not followed.
Traffic is chaotic and pavements are often occupied by cars. The city is walkable, but not absent-mindedly.
There is no useful train. Connections run by furgon, minibuses that leave when full, and the network appears on no official timetable.