Where is Valbona?

Valbona is a village/valley in the Albanian Alps in Northern Albania, situated in the middle of the Valbona Valley National Park. If it where not smack at the border between Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo, it would probably be a tourism hotspot for it’s natural beauty but the isolation from the rest of Albania’s tourism centers due to the sheer lack of adequate infrastructure keep it a hidden gem.

What can you do in Valbona?

Valbona Valley National Park is renowned for it’s beautiful, untouched mountains and traditional way of life. Apart from a few guesthouses, there is not a lot in terms of human footprint in the valley, keeping it as authentic as can be. From here you can hike the famous „Peak of the Balkans“ long distance trail or climb the highest mountains of Albania and Montenegro, the Jezerca and the Zla Kolata respectively. You can also go on several easier hikes in the mountains, go swimming in waterfalls and enjoy traditional albanian cuisine in authentic and welcoming guesthouses.

How can you travel there?

By Ferry across Komani Lake

This first option is the less strenuous one, 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 and you should plan an entire day for the journey. The trip itself is a highlight, as the trip across lake Komani is one of the most stunning ferries I have ever travelled on.

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€. All necessary connections can be booked across the website of NorthAlbanianAlps or in person at their office in Tirana or Shkodra. For the location in Tirana it depends, where you want to go specifically so head to their website and find the route you want to take.

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 which 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 besides 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 get motion sickness easily 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 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 ferry ride into one of the highlights of our trip. The steep mountains rising on either side of the canyon are already your first glimpse into the landscape of the Albanian Alps, though they still are quite mediterranean in character, no comparison to the alpine sceneries 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, to wait out the time.

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, if you dare to take a rental car into the mountains). 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 one way). 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 Theth. Theth is the other very popular and scenic valley in the Albanian Alps, which is arguably more touristy, as it is much easier to reach by car. But keep in mind that this journey starts in Shkodra 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 15,30€/22€ from Tirana. 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, Jezerca, but in our case it was all foggy with 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. For more details visit my blog post about how to get to Teth from Tirana. 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 I have a full guide describing everything you need to know.

Recommendation

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. It is also very practical to do it that way, as you can book the busses and ferries needed for the entire thing right then and there in Shkodra.

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