Into the wild in Albania: Lake Koman, Valbone & Theth

Northern Albania is full of gems: the city of Shkoder, the dazzling Lake Koman (or Komani Lake) and the isolated mountain villages of Valbone and Theth. This area is one of my favourite in the world. I first visited in June 2017, and then passed through again in August 2018 on a larger tour of the Balkans.

In this post I wanted to cover a bit about what there is to see and do in Northern Albania and give some more practical tips on how to put your itinerary together; but first things first.

Why visit Northern Albania?

The main reason that drew me to this area was hiking Valbone to Theth. The one-day hike has gained a lot of popularity in recent years thanks largely to articles like this from Lonely Planet and travellers looking to get off the beaten track.

Both villages are located into the tantalisingly-named Accursed Mountains, which is one of the most remote regions in Albania, if not Europe. In fact, just getting there is an adventure in itself – and the best way is a leisurely journey aboard the Lake Koman ferry. The boat journey was described by Bradt as one of the best in the world and is another big draw in the region.

The entire area is incredibly beautiful and well worth visiting, with its isolated character making it all the more alluring.

My itinerary for Valbone, Theth & Lake Koman

Of course, travelling somewhere so fully ‘off the beaten track’ takes time, so it’s best to plan your visit to Northern Albania carefully – it’s not necessarily a place you can quickly arrive to or depart from.

I’ve actually been to this area twice now – in June 2017 and again in August 2018.

In June 2017, I spent the first five days of my trip in the area, choosing to spend an extra day hiking in Valbone. Luckily, it’s pretty easy to get from Theth back to Tirana in one day, but I don’t think it’s possible to get from Tirana to Koman in time for the ferry in one day without a private transfer from the capital.

Day 1: Arrive at Tirana Airport, bus to Shkoder (AM), day in Shkoder
Day 2: Transit to Koman, Koman Ferry, onwards to Valbone
Day 3: Full day hiking in Valbone
Day 4: Hike from Valbone to Theth
Day 5: Morning hike to waterfall, transit from Theth to Shkoder, onwards to Tirana

In August 2018, I passed through Northern Albania again on my way from Montenegro to Kosovo.

Day 1: Arrive in Shkoder early afternoon, after taking the bus from Budva
Day 2: Transfer to Koman, Koman Ferry, onwards to Prizren

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Shkoder / Shkodra in a day

I’ve actually been to Shkoder twice now and it is an absolutely lovely city. The city centre has a wide pedestrianised avenue and some narrow street, but overall it can’t be said to be the most attractive city. What it does have instead is a really chilled atmosphere (especially compared to Tirana), a handful of sights and one of my favourite restaurants in the world.

Read more: Things to see and do in 24 hours in Shkoder

The best thing to do in Shkoder is hop on your bike and check out the shore of Lake Skadar and the Rozafa Fortress. (The streets are really really safe for cycling – bikes are in charge on the roads here.) If you can time it right, head up to the Fortress around dusk and you will be treated to amazing views of the mountains and landscape around. At night, make sure to head to Rozafa Seafood restaurant in the centre for some of the best – and cheapest – seafood you will ever have.

In Shkoder, I’ve stayed in back the Backpackers Hostel and the Wanderers Hostel and while both were fine, I much preferred the Wanderers Hostel for its chilled garden and friendly staff.

Tirana Airport to Shkoder
On arriving at the airport, I hopped on the public minibus waiting in the car park and travelled to the centre of Tirana (ticket 250 lek). The last stop was Rruga Devijmi, just behind the main city square. From there, we walked around 20 minutes along Rruga e Durresit to the roundabout Zog I Zi Square. There, we looked confused enough that someone pointed us in the right direction of the bus station Zona e Veruit, just 500m in the same direction, on the right-hand side.
The bus from Tirana to Shkoder took two hours and cost 400 lek.

Shkoder to Lake Koman Ferry
2017: As is probably common practice, our hostel organised a pickup to take us to Koman. We departed pretty early (around 6.30am) and the journey took around two hours. The transit and the boat cost 700 lek each.
2018: On my second visit, we were given tickets at the Wanderers Hostel for a specific transit to the lake, a specific boat and then a specific pick-up on the other side. In the year between my visits, they had made some significant improvements to the road in sections, but be warned: this is a very bumpy ride. The road is largely unpaved, very winding and very, very bumpy. Scenic though!

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Journey to Valbone via Lake Koman Ferry

Koman Ferry: the boat

When I arrived here the first time, it became apparent my new friend from the hostel had done a fair bit more research than me – he told me there were two different boats, a smaller, faster boat with just one ‘storey’ and a larger, slower boat with an open-air observation deck. While our driver clearly had a partnership with the driver of the former, we nevertheless opted for the slower boat on my friend’s advice. The slow boat was the right choice. It did take an absolute age (four hours maybe?), but being able to enjoy the 360 views without compromise was completely worth it.

My advice would be to try and ask about the boat in your hostel when buying the tickets. On my second visit, swapping boats last minute wasn’t possible as there was only the one boat there when we arrived. This process seems to be becoming more professional and much smoother. However on this second journey, there was a lot of us piled into a smaller, faster boat. It seemed safe but not comfortable as you weren’t able to move around as much.

The scenery

The journey itself is almost indescribable; the alpine landscape is dramatic and the turquoise water is hard to believe. Now and again you can spot tiny cottages and farms, which serve as a stark reminder of just how many different ways of life still exist in forgotten corners of Europe like this. The Lake Koman ferry is the epitome of slow travel – you can simply let the scenery change before you as you sail along the lake. It really is pretty magical.

However, the weather is NOT guaranteed! In August 2018, we had dark cloudy skies, wind and max temperatures of about 20 degrees! I’m told this is very unusual and that most of the Balkans had an unseasonably cold summer in 2018.

Fierze to Valbone
Arriving in Fierze, there are plenty of cars waiting to take travellers to Valbone, most of whom have been paid by guesthouse owners, but are happy to take on stragglers. I simply got into the first car I saw and was dropped off at the first guesthouse in Valbone, owned by local tourism guru Catherine of the blog Journey to Valbona. There are plenty of cars and drivers waiting in Fierze in high season to ferry tourists to Valbone via Bajram Curri.

Fierze to Bajram Curri, Fierze to Pirzren
On my second visit, we were assigned to a specific pick-up in Shkoder for our transit after the ferry. We had stressed we were travelling to Bajram Curri, which was written on our tickets. Our driver then asked us if we were planning to travel on to Prizren (which is clearly a popular choice) and so he called a friend in the village who offered to take us directly for €15.

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Hiking in the Valbone Valley

Because hiking was a big part of Albania’s appeal to me, I decided to spend two nights in the Valbone Valley to be able to explore more of the area.

My own accommodation was in the Farmhouse Hostel, organised for me by Catherine herself. Located about a kilometre away from Rilindja, Catherine’s guesthouse, the Farmhouse is also located in the village Quku i Valbones (around 4km east of Valbone as it appears on Google maps) –  and has its own very good restaurant.

I spent a lot of time on Catherine’s website reading about the different tours, but still sought the advice of the hostel owner (Skander) on a good one-day hike. In the end, I chose the Potep loop or ‘Meadow loop’, starting in Maja e Rosit. I wanted to do a loop, as many of the mountain paths simply go up and then down the same way and was told that the meadow at the top was pretty nice. The hike was probably the best I’ve ever done in my life.

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Armed with the map I bought at the hostel, I set off. The start was rather uneventful; simply following the road along the valley, but even from here, the views were amazing. Turning off from the road, I crossed the Valbone river, filling up my water directly from the completely crystal-clear stream (I’m basically Bear Grylls) and then began the ascent.

And wow, what an ascent: it was basically two and hours of relentless uphill walking, steeper than I’ve ever hiked before. There was a nice little farmhouse offering drinks before the real mountain began (where a local boy tried to talk to me about girls in Tirana, but the conversation was stunted by his limited English and my even more limited interest), but apart from that, I didn’t see another soul.

It really did feel hiking into the wilderness.

So much so, I did convince myself I was going to bump into a bear, but thankfully I did not. Though I definitely saw evidence of them (bear scat and over-turned rocks).

The view from the meadow clearing at the top of the mountain was incredible. I had an unspoiled view of both sides of the valley – and had it all to myself. All I could think of was how in Austria or Switzerland, seeing a view like this would have cost me a small fortune and here I was, taking in natural surroundings that were even more spectacular, having had to pay a fraction of the cost. It really was an immense feeling of achievement for me.

Hiking in Valbone Valley or Theth National Park?
I chose to spend more time in Valbone rather than Theth on Catherine’s own advice and I’m really glad I did – Valbone Valley is much larger than Theth and feels less ‘discovered’. Being located closer to Shkoder and with the access road now tarmacked quite a lot of the way, Theth attracts more day-trippers looking to explore a bit of ‘authentic’ Albanian countryside. Although the town of Theth arguably has more going on in terms of sights and restaurants, if you’re looking for hiking in the wilderness, Valbone is probably your best option.

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The hike from Valbone to Theth

The next day, it was time for the main event: the hike from Valbone to Theth.

Starting from our hostel, four of us each paid 900 lek each for a ride to the start of the trail at the village of Rrogam. (You could easily skip this and start off from your accommodation on foot, but you’d be in for around 10km of fairly boring walking along a flat road.)

The hike itself was much shorter than I expected – from Rrogam, it’s actually only 5km to the Valbone pass, where you are treated to impressive views of both valleys. The hike on the way up is certainly not easy, but nothing that requires a superhuman amount of fitness.

In all honestly, I found the hike surprisingly easy – and much less taxing than my hike the day before. It certainly had challenging sections, but these are not very long and once you have reached the pass, it is quite literally all downhill from there. On the side heading down into Theth, there is a busy little café offering ice cold refreshments – we thought it would be rude not to treat ourselves…

Theth itself is a much bigger village than Quku I Valbones, and as such, took us longer to find our guesthouse (Bujtina Leke Gerla). Later in the evening, we headed to the Guesthouse Shpella for some beers under the stars.

Being in such a remote location at night was so strange – there were no street lights, nothing. We needed torches to find our way. As such, there stars were so bright! I’ve never seen them like that (as much of a cliché as it is to say) and the way back to our guesthouse was littered with tiny fireflies flitting around. The perfect end to a great day.

Hiking from Valbone to Theth: is it hard?

This is a hard one to answer. At home in Germany, I hike fairly regularly (probably twice a month), but not in such mountainous conditions. I found the hike entirely manageable, as I think most relatively fit people would.

The hike takes you up to the Valbone pass, before you descend on the other side. As such, it’s quite a steep hike, but not without flatter, more leisurely sections – it’s definitely not a constant slog and you can take your time.

I remember two parts being particularly challenging: one forested area very close to the beginning of the trail, and the second when you really begin to scale the mountain. However, neither of these sections are very long.

Why hike from Valbone to Theth and not the other way around?
The ascent coming from Valbone is certainly steeper than if you were to come to other way, but the advantage is that it is therefore quicker: we only spent around an hour and a half going up, versus around two and a half hours going down. However, there were plenty of hikers going from Theth to Valbone without much trouble.

Looking for more hiking in the Balkans?
Click here for a guide to climbing Montenegro’s Bobotov Kuk

Theth & the journey back to Tirana

On the final morning in Northern Albania, a few of us woke up early to do one last, short hike to a waterfall not too far from Theth – where I got a great Instagram shot, with an even better caption.

It pains me to admit, but my normally astute sense of direction let us down on this morning, and we ended up getting slightly lost. However, even with our short diversion, it didn’t take us too long to find the waterfall we were looking for (thanks to having the region downloaded on MAPS.ME in advance), where we were able to take some suitably cheesy instagram shots. Our hike in total was around 7.5km.

At around 11am, we were picked up by our private transfer, which had been arranged by our friend’s guesthouse. Four of us each paid 1700 lek for the journey to Shkoder, which took three and a half hours, including a thirty-minute stop at a small café. There are definitely cheaper options (1700 is a high price in Albania), but we were happy to pay more to leave the town at our own stipulated time, which allowed me to reach Tirana the same evening.

The drive out of Theth valley was by no means leisurely (think sheer drops and winding, unpaved roads) but definitely not as bad as I had been prepared for. Once out of the valley, the road is paved all the way to the city.

When reaching the top of the valley, our driver stopped for a few minutes to let us get out and take some photos – the view really was stunning.

Is it possible to get from Theth to Tirana in one day?
Definitely, but you’ll almost definitely need to pay for a private transfer to Shkoder from Theth. Luckily, there are regular buses from Shkoder to Tirana. We left Theth at 11.00, arriving in Shkoder at 14.30. I was on the bus to Tirana at 15.15, arriving in the city at 17.15.

 

In summary

So there you have it: how to explore the wildest reaches of Albania in five days.

I would absolutely recommend this journey to anyone, particularly those who enjoy the outdoors and getting off the beaten track; every part of the trip felt like a small adventure. The food and hospitality was great (particularly at the Farmhouse Hostel) and the natural scenery was just beautiful.

The rest of my time in Albania really paled in comparison to these five days and so if you find yourself pushed for time or torn between the mountains and the beach: pick the mountains, you won’t regret it.

If you have any questions about the trip, drop me a comment below and I’ll be happy to answer!

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3 top tips for hiking in Albania

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• Bring a small torch – at night, there is no light whatsoever, so you’ll need a torch to find your way around
• Make lots of noise as you hike – even if you are by yourself. This will scare off any bears that might be close by. They want to avoid you as much as you want to avoid them, so making enough noise will let them know you are near.
• Download offline maps from MAPS.ME before you go – and expect little to no phone signal.