Ohrid to Berat by bus

Walking to junction to catch a bus to Elbasan

Ohrid to Berat by public bus.
How we did it on Aug 30, 2023.

There are three options to go from Ohrid to Berat.
See map below for details.

1- Orhid to Elbasan via Struga (northern part of lake) to Berat.
20 to 25 euros/pers. Depending on how you do it.
Approx. 5 hours to 6 hours

2- Ohrid to St. Naum (southern part of lake).
Cross border on foot to Pogradec to Elbasan by bus to Berat. (Best option in my opinion)
Approx.13 euros/pers.
Approx. 6 hours

3- Pivate minivan transfer for tourists.
Leaves at 8 a.m. from city center (only during high touristy season.
35 euros/pers.
Approx. 4 hours.

Option 1: How you can do it. (Ohrid – Elbasan - Berat)

Take the 8am bus from Ohrid to Tirana (18 euros).
You must pay the full fare, even if you get off before in Elbasan.
Get off in Elbasan roundabout (see map below) and take a bus or furgeon to Berat (5 euros).

Option 1: How we did it. (Ohrid – Struga – Border walk – Junction – Elbasan - Berat)

A) Take a minibus or furgeon to Struga from the bus station OR from the bus stop close to the roundabout on Boulevard Turistichka (see map).
The bus will take 35-45 minutes to Struga (130 MKD or 2.2 euros) or a metered taxi will cost you 12 euros.

B) Buses for Tirana leave Struga only at 8:15am or 1:20pm. There are no buses at 9:30am as stated on some blogs, including some bus sites like Viator (this time doesn't exist since COVID). Note that the 8:15am bus is the same bus leaving Ohrid at 8am., making a stop later in Struga. You must pay the full 15 euros to Tirana, even if you get off at Elbasan. This was confirmed by the ticket office clerk in Struga. Because we missed the morning bus in Struga, we took a taxi from Struga to the Albanian border for 10 euros. A metered taxi from Ohrid to the border will cost you 15 euros.

C) You walk across the border and get your passport checked or stamped and it is a 2.8 km walk to the junction on the Albanian side.
Grab a furgeon or bus coming from Pogradec (300 Leke or 3 euros) going to Elbasan or Tirana. Our bus was going to Tirana, but this was a local bus (not a long-distance coach).

You don't want to get off in the center of Elbasan, but at the roundabout of routes SH3-SH7. Grab a Burek 15m away from this point if you are hungry.
We waited approx. 15 minutes and a mini-bus to Berat picked us up.
The cost was 5 euros/pers. or 500 Leke.

Cost of our journey: 16 euros/pers. including a taxi ride shared between 2 persons
Time of journey: 6 hours

Option 2: How we should have done it (Ohrid - St. Naum – Pogradec - Elbasan - Berat)

This option involves going south of Ohrid and following Lake Ohrid on the Macedonian side down to St. Naum (the Eastern side of the lake).
In my opinion, this is the option I would choose if I had to do this journey again. There is a pretty accurate blog that explains it well:
https://www.kathmanduandbeyond.com/travel-lake-ohrid-macedonia-berat-albania/

I will add up-to-date information as of September 2023:

PUPE company (name on bus) goes south at these times: 5:22, 6:17, 8:32, 11: 32, 13:32, 15:32, 18:32, 20:32 from a bus stop right by Ohrid City Bakery (see map). The bus cost is 130 MKD or just over 2 euros.

We can confirm these times as we took a bus to the border to visit St. Naum and walked to the border.
The bus coming back to Ohrid is 40 minutes after the times stated above.

From there, you can visit St Naum and walk a total 3 km to cross the border up to Pogradec from where you can catch a bus to Tirana or Elbasan. This is the same local bus we took from the junction in option 1 described above.
After this, the journey is the same as listed in option #1 on how we did it. Get off at the roundabout of routes SH3-SH7 in Elbasan and get a bus-furgeon to Berat.

Good luck in your journey!