How to spend 4 days exploring Albania's Accursed Mountains
May 20, 2025 • 8 min read
Hiking from Valbonë to Theth in Albania's Accursed Mountains. Jeroen Mikkers/Shutterstock
Albania’s natural beauty will take your breath away. For most people, this small nation in the Western Balkans is an enigma – a place that’s in Europe, but not quite like the rest of Europe. Less polished. Perhaps wilder around the edges. And that’s what makes travel here so appealing. There are also few places where you can start your day by the sea and end it in the mountains.
Your hiking adventure begins in ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù, a sizable coastal town in the far north and gateway to Albania's Accursed Mountains. Plan your visit with this four-day itinerary.
When to arrive: Arrive in ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù as soon as you can to see its interesting museums and walk around the colorful little city.
How to get from the airport to ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù: From Tirana International Airport, take a bus to Skanderbeg Square (400 lekë/US$4.60), then grab a municipal bus (40 lekë/US$0.50) to the Regional Bus Station where a furgon (shared minibus) can take you the hour and a half (94km/58 miles) to ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù (330 lekë/US$3.80). Alternatively, rent a car at the airport and drive straight there.
Getting around: Walk, or join the locals and cycle around ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù – you can rent a bike almost anywhere or from . The rest of the trip involves furgons, a ferry and a full-day hike over a mountain pass. Accommodations in ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù can book all your transport, or do it yourself at the .
Where to stay: In ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù, is ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù’s first hostel and its owner, Alma, is a wealth of knowledge and stories. In Valbonë, will leave you feeling rested, full from dinner and breakfast the next morning, and ready to take on the big hike the next day. In Theth, has an excellent location in the center of town across from the town’s landmark church.
What to pack: Bring layers as the Albanian Alps can still have snow on the mountains in June, while at the same time being super hot during the day. Wear solid hiking shoes and breathable attire. Also, bring plenty of cash (Euros or lekë) as card payment remains very rare in Albania.
Day 1: Explore ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù
Morning: More than 4000 years old, ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù is one of Eastern Europe’s oldest cities, and it’s certainly one of the most attractive, with streets lined with pastel-shaded houses. If you happen to arrive before 2:30pm, check out the Site of Witness & Memory Museum, which occupies a former prison and interrogation center for political detainees during Albania’s nearly half-century-long dictatorship. The museum features interesting explanations detailing how ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù was a particular target for the Enver Hoxha regime, as it had so many university-educated people and artists.
Don’t miss ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù’s Marubi National Photography Museum, which celebrates the work of Pietro Marubi (1832–1903) and his heirs, who documented Albanian life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A highlight is the sepia gem taken in 1858: the very first photo ever taken in this photogenic country. It depicts the Italian consul dressed to impress (and, judging by the number of swords he is carrying, dressed to kill as well).
How to spend the day: Rent a bike and pedal 4km (2.5 miles) south to the Rozafa Fortress, a former Illyrian stronghold (you might have to walk your bike uphill). The fortress is fairly barren these days, but the views from its remaining ramparts – across farming countryside, the city itself and the estuary on which ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù is located – are wonderful. Bike downhill to cross the and find a spot to watch the sunset over Lake ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù, the largest lake in the Balkans.
Dinner: Not far from the Buna Bridge is , a beloved seafood restaurant perched on a hilltop that overlooks Lake ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù. The speciality here is carp, freshly fished from the lake, served as a steak or, if you reserve ahead, in a tavë casserole. Try the corn bread in yogurt sauce, best eaten with a heaping Greek salad.
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After dark: Cycle back to the center of ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù and drop off your bike. One of the most popular bars in town is , a loud club-pub – it’s much quieter when seated at tables on the pedestrianized street if you just like people watching.
Day 2: Take the Lake Koman ferry
Morning: We know you’re on vacation, but we’re afraid you’re going to have to get up early today. At 6:30am, a minibus will collect you from your hotel (the entire ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù-to-Valbonë trip is sold as a package by all hotels in ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù) for a windy hour-and-a-half drive to the small lakeside town of Koman where you’ll catch the ferry along much of the length of the huge Lake Koman, a reservoir created as a part of a hydroelectric project in the 1970s.
While the ride takes at least three hours, gliding in the shadow of looming mountain peaks, and past unfeasibly remote villages and farming cottages, is a simple pleasure made even more enjoyable by chatty locals offering to share their snacks (bring some to share as well). The boat putters to a halt in tiny Fierzë, where you’ll board another minibus for an hour-long journey up, up, up a road that bends and turns like a demented serpent, until arriving in the village of Valbonë. Valbonë is little but a spread-out collection of homestays and guesthouses, but it’s backdrop of stark mountain peaks and plunging conifer forests that hem in the valley will have your eyes bulging.
How to spend the day: You’ll arrive in Valbonë around 1pm with little to do the rest of the day. Either relax at your guesthouse, bathing in the tranquillity of cool mountain air, or get your legs warmed up with a short afternoon hike. An easy trail is up to the tiny stone village of Kukaj, where there’s a small cafe open during high season.
Dinner: Every accommodation we’re aware of in Valbonë serves traditional Albanian food for dinner. Expect such treats as tavë e kosit, a kind of lamb, egg and yogurt stew. In other words, perfect mountain food. After dinner, rest up! You’re in for a big hike tomorrow. If you need help getting to sleep, a shot of local raki (fruit brandy) always helps.
Day 3: Hike from Valbonë to Theth
Morning: Day three is the high point – in every sense of the word – of your trip. Wake up early, wolf down a bit of breakfast and then get those hiking boots laced up. Ahead of you stretches a beautiful five-to-seven hour hike (the total time depends on your fitness and the location of your accommodation) up and over the (1800m/1900ft), then down to the village of Theth. It’s not an especially challenging hike – plenty of first-time mountain hikers tackle it – but it is quite long and certain sections in summer can be very hot and sun-exposed (especially the first leg out of Valbonë, which takes you along the edge of a stony, semi-dry riverbed). Ask your accommodations to drive you to the trailhead if you’d like to skip the boring riverbed bit.
How to spend the day: The hiking route is reasonably clear, and there are frequent red and white trail markers along the way. It takes about three hours of upward slog through wrinkled old-growth conifer forest to reach the pass, and its memorable view over an ocean of gray, jagged and snow-streaked mountains. On the way up, you’ll walk by several small stone tea houses selling drinks and snacks, with the farming and shepherding families who run them (most of whom speak decent English) happy to tell stories about life in the Albanian Alps.
Heading down the western side of the pass, the trail runs through shaded forest almost all the way. Up high, it’s all stern-trunked conifer; lower down, the trees turn to beech, with glowing green leaves in early summer turning fiery orange and red in October.
Dinner: After a long but fairly gentle approach to Theth, you’ll find a proper village filled with solid stone houses with slate roofs set amid an amphitheater of dramatic rock peaks, with a small stone-and-shingle 19th-century church at its center. Find your guesthouse and clean yourself up for dinner. Dinners are often taken communal-style, and after the buzz of walking over from Valbonë there’s always a contented chatter between guests. Considering that you just did a serious hike and you’ll be staying in a cozy stone and wooden guesthouse with thick blankets calling your name, we reckon you won’t last long after dark.
Day 4: Return to Tirana or explore Theth National Park
Morning: Most people return to ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù via the 11am bus that takes you for two and a half hours on a road that corkscrews up and down mountain slopes and over passes before a final whirlwind drop down to the coastal plain. From ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù, you can get back to Tirana by car or bus.
How to spend the day: Alternatively, take the 5pm bus from Theth and spend your day exploring Theth National Park. An easy 30-minute walk takes you to the impressive , where you can have a refreshing dip. If you go quickly, you can hike to Theth’s amazing (not to be confused with the one in the country’s south), an electric blue natural pool fed by a small but gushing waterfall. It's a half-day (17km/11-mile) hike from Theth, but well worth it to jump from the bridge into the chilly 7–10°C water. On the way back, it's possible to taxi back to Theth from Nderlysaj.
Dinner: Back in ³§³ó°ì´Ç»åë°ù, have a white tablecloth meal at , which does excellent pasta, pizza and grilled meats (don’t let the fancy decor fool you, the prices aren’t bad). Afterwards, toast your Albanian Alps adventure with cocktails at the stylish bar .