Valbona in the heart of the Albanian Alps is a hidden gem in the tourist guide book of the balkans, but is arguably one of the most stunning and picturesque alpine valleys anywhere in Europe. But its status as a hidden gem is not only because of it being relatively unknown, but also because it is quite hard to get there. In this guide I want to present two routes that are your go to options, when travelling to Valbona.

By Ferry across Komani Lake

This first option is the less strenuous option, as you don’t have to travel by foot at any point of the journey. Depending on where you start out, you have to travel by bus to Lake Komani, then across with the ferry to Fierze and at last by bus right into Valbona. The entire route takes about 8-9 hours depending on the traffic, for which you should plan an entire day. First you start from either Shkoder or Tirana and take the bus up to Koman. Keep in mind that the buses up to the ferry start early in the morning at 5:30am in Tirana or 7:00am in Shkoder respectively, as the ferry departs at 9:00 am. The buses will cost you about 12€. Down below, you can find a link, where you can book all necessary connections. You can also book them in Shkoder or Tirana just go to one of their locations in Shkoder or Tirana.

Once you take a turn from the main road onto the road heading towards the mountains, the real adventure begins. That is because the ferry departure point is situated far into the rugged and underdeveloped countryside. Road conditions are abysmal to say the least as asphalt only partly covers the street and most of the times makes the ride even bumpier, due to all the cracks and potholes. Safety precautions are non-existent, the driver will drive very close to the edge of the road at breakneck speed. At many points the steep mountainside drops of right behind the street to the valley 100m below. This shorts stretch of about 32km alone will take about 1,5 hours to traverse and will wake you up in case you are still sleepy from the early departure. If you easily get motion sickness I would recommend bringing a vomit bag with you just in case.

After the bus arrives through a short tunnel to the ferry departure point, get of the bus and get onto the boat. The terminal, at least when we were there, was bustling with people, but everything seemed to work out at the end. When choosing a place to sit, make sure to sit outside facing the inland side of the boat (away from the dam), as there you can get the best views in my opinion. The ferry ride takes about 2,5 hours and costs 10€, which is a steal for something, that in other countries would be considered a scenic tourist ride. The rugged cliffs of the mountains with almost no human influence (except for some garbage floating on the water surface from time to time) made this boat ride into one of the highlights of my trip. The steep mountains rising on either side of the canyon are already your first glimpse into the landscape of the Albanian Alps, though the character is still quite mediterranean, no comparison to the alpine character of Valbona valley. 2,5 hours later you will arrive in Fierze. Both the Koman and Fierze ferry points are not located in their respective villages, but are secluded at the lake front. But don’t worry, at either ferry point is a café/restaurant.

The last part of the trip is taking the bus from Fierze to Valbona. This is also the shortest part of the journey, taking only about 1h. It is also much less adventurous as the road is paved all the way through. It costs 8€. Keep in mind that this journey will take an entire day of your travel schedule to complete and is in my opinion only worth it, if you really want to have the boat experience or want to reach Valbona from Tirana, which is otherwise not possible in one day (except with a rental car of course). Before planning check out the second option of travel, which is hiking into the valley from Teth.

Valbona on foot

I would not recommend taking the boat across Lake Komani both ways just to get to Valbona, as not only does it take an entire day, but is also quite expensive (30€ for the entire journey. If you want to cut down on costs or just have your vacation in the Albanian Alps start a day earlier, I would recommend trekking on foot into the valley from Teth. Teth is the other very popular and scenic valley in the Albanian Alps, which is arguably more touristy, as it is much easier to reach. But keep in mind that this journey starts in Shkoder at 7:00 am, which does require a night’s stay in the city (not a bad option, as the city is quite lively and we really enjoyed our short stay there), but only costs you 12€. The bus takes you up a mountain road paved all the way to Teth and makes several stops on the way, as it also transports supplies from supermarkets and hardware stores into the valley. The entire trip takes about 2,5 hours and makes a rest stop at the mountain pass into Teth, where we enjoyed some coffee. I’d imagine that on a clear day, views would be epic from there as you’d have direct sight of the highest mountain in the area, Maja e Jezerces, but in my case it was all foggy and no visibility beyond 100m. The bus arrives into Teth at around 9:30 right at the main supermarket of the village, which you can use to stock up on supplies before heading to the start of the trail, which will take you to Valbona. Don’t worry it is easily doable in one day. We departed on it at around 10:30 (we stayed a couple nights in Teth) and it took us about 9 hours with some detours, stops for photos and waiting out the rain. For more information on this hike and the journey to get to Teth, click on my blog posts below.

Overall I would recommend you to take at least one part of the journey on foot through Teth. Not only is it cheaper, but the extra hike, though arduous, gives you breathtaking views of the even more secluded back part of Valbona valley. In our case we took the route through Teth on our way to Valbona and the ferry route on our way back.

Website to book your connections:

https://northalbaniaalps.com/