The formats, and what they cost
Three formats shape the Albanian night. The boat party leaves Saranda harbour in the late afternoon, runs for several hours, and tickets start at 40 euros with open bar included: it is the most expensive item of the week and the only one where drinks are not added on top. Pool parties start at 15 euros and run into the evening. The clubs and beach clubs of Ksamil work mostly on spend, with a low or free door. So the maths changes completely by format: on a boat party you pay everything upfront, elsewhere you pay as you go.
What is never in the advertised price
Transport. Ksamil and Saranda are twenty minutes apart, and that is the trip everybody makes twice a day. The local bus is negligible but stops early, so the ride home at night is a taxi. Over a week those trips add up to as much as a night out. The second forgotten item is the sunbed. A day at a Ksamil beach club is rented, usually with a minimum spend, and that is a daily cost, not an occasional one.
Why it is cheaper than Malta or Greece
The difference is not in the party tickets, which are comparable, but in everything else: the meal, the drink at the bar, the taxi, the hotel night. It is the local cost of living that creates the gap, not the price of the night. In practice two people going out the same number of evenings will spend noticeably less in Albania than in Malta, and the gap with Mykonos is not even comparable. That is also why Albania draws a younger crowd.
Paying on the ground: lek, euros and cards
The currency is the lek. Euros are accepted in many tourist spots in Saranda and Ksamil, but at the trader's rate, which is never the best one. Cards work in established venues and much less in small bars and taxis. The rule that avoids surprises: keep cash in lek for daily life and save the card for larger spends. Withdrawing locally usually beats changing money before you travel.
A week's budget, honestly
It comes down to two choices: how many boat parties, and where you sleep. A week with two big nights out, beach club days and simple accommodation stays very affordable. The same week with a night out every evening, a sunbed every day and a seafront hotel doubles it easily. It is not Albanian prices that blow a budget, it is frequency.