Couples who travel together, stay together. That’s our opinion anyway as a company founded by an adventurous husband and wife. And it turns out there’s some science behind it; studies show that escaping everyday routine and sharing new experiences strengthen relationships. Sure, sipping cocktails on a beach with your honey is great, but you can’t beat the thrill of climbing a mountain, experiencing a new culture or learning a new skill together. "Travel as a couple is bonding. But it can also put your relationship to the test and (hopefully) make it stronger," says UB co-founder Emma, who met husband Ben in 2001. "I’ll never forget my first time in a kayak with Ben, not so long after we met. It was around Vis island in Croatia. I ended up banning him from speaking because he was being a real backseat paddler. "Our marriage survived, you’ll be pleased to hear, and now he's a trained kayak coach, I can accept he knows what he’s talking about. Kayaking together is our go-to activity for some time out in nature these days." Related: How to pack light for an adventure holiday in the Balkans When’s the best time to visit the Balkans? Where to find hot weather & adventure in the Balkans in September Adventures for couples in the Balkans Whether you’re devoted globetrotters or this is your first date with adventure travel, having someone else do all of the organising means you just focus on having fun. By booking one of our small group tours in the Balkans, you’ll sidestep the holiday admin, reap the benefits of having a local guide, and perhaps even make new friends to double date with. "We’ve seen lots of couples meet on our holidays and become lifelong friends, even returning to us the following year
Couples who travel together, stay together. That’s our opinion anyway as a company founded by an adventurous husband and wife. And it turns out there’s some science behind it; studies show that escaping everyday routine and sharing new experiences strengthen relationships. Sure, sipping cocktails on a beach with your honey is great, but you can’t
“Look up! Pelicans! Dead Ahead...” "Oh yeah? Wow!" Catching a glimpse of these extraordinary birds is a highlight for so many guests on our kayaking trips at Lake Skadar, but did you know that holidaying with us has helped fund urgent Dalmatian Pelican conservation work? Thanks to our Book to Give Back scheme, we have been able to make the biggest donation in our company’s history to help one of the world’s most threatened waterbirds continue to thrive in Montenegro at a time of crisis. We donated €3,000 to our charity partner CZIP, Montenegro’s equivalent of the RSPB, in April last year, and as a direct result, works completed in December to give vital new protection to the colony at Lake Skadar. A new nesting site they adopted last year is now safeguarded with buoys and signs to keep people at a safe distance and help these magnificent birds to breed undisturbed. The protection measures come just in time for winter breeding season — ornithologists counted 49 nests on the island in last week's winter count — and we’re all hoping to see lots of healthy chicks come March. On the brink The Dalmatian Pelican is the world’s largest pelican and heaviest flying freshwater bird, weighing in at 9.5kg respectively with a wingspan of up to 3 metres. They can be found in wetlands across southeast Europe, including a population of 71 breeding pairs at Lake Skadar, which is shared by Montenegro and Albania (Albanian name, Shkodra Lake). Sizeable colonies are also at Romania's Danube-Delta, Albania's Divjakë-Karavasta, and on Lake Prespa, shared by Albania and Greece. Sadly, the species is endangered. Irresponsible tourism and poaching near nesting sites are two of the greatest human threats, next to construction near their habitats and natural threats such as bird flu and extreme
“Look up! Pelicans! Dead Ahead…” “Oh yeah? Wow!” Catching a glimpse of these extraordinary birds is a highlight for so many guests on our kayaking trips at Lake Skadar, but did you know that holidaying with us has helped fund urgent Dalmatian Pelican conservation work? Thanks to our Book to Give Back scheme, we have
A tourism boom over the past few years means that, despite the hype, South Albania’s beaches can feel decidedly discovered — but that’s because most don’t know where to look. This summer, my family and I set off on a research trip to carve out our new South Albania itinerary and proved that even in the height of the holiday season, not everywhere along the coast has been mined by the package holiday giants. Our fact finding mission took us from secluded spots on the Ionian Sea inland to the twin UNESCO lakes of Ohrid and Prespa and rafting on the mighty Vijosa river. Here’s a look at what we got up to – and what’s in store for you if you’re joining us on our latest Albanian adventure. A scenic start: Lake Ohrid We landed in the capital of Tirana and set off towards the sleepy fishing village of Lin, not far from Pogradec, gateway to Lake Ohrid and beyond it, North Macedonia. The three-hour drive was no chore with such incredible scenery to enjoy all the way. Not long after leaving Tirana, the landscape shape-shifted from tower blocks to farming towns and distant hazy mountains. The views only became more glorious the closer we came to our destination. Lin is a place trapped in time with its stone houses, where fishing boats bob in place of a family car and strings of drying red peppers (for ajvar and other Balkan specialities) hang like bunting. After a homemade lakeside lunch of fish soup, carp and homemade chips at a restaurant built on stilts above the water, we set out to explore. Related: Albania: 7 things to see and do with kids - Undiscovered Balkans The Undiscovered guide to Ston, the quieter alternative to Dubrovnik The best things to do
A tourism boom over the past few years means that, despite the hype, South Albania’s beaches can feel decidedly discovered — but that’s because most don’t know where to look. This summer, my family and I set off on a research trip to carve out our new South Albania itinerary and proved that even in
Are you coming to find your zen on our Montenegro yoga retreat next year? Or considering it? Get a taste of what's to come as we catch up with our lead yogi Fiona Morris. Fiona is a yoga & pilates instructor and personal trainer based in Nottingham, UK. She turned to yoga after her corporate job left her feeling burned out and after a scary wake up call one night (which we’ll let her explain below), she turned to yoga full time as a teacher. And luckily for us she did because her first retreat with us at Villa Miela this year was a huge hit all around. Read on to find out more about Fiona and the retreat. Places are available now for one of the 2025 yoga retreats, book here. How long have you taught yoga for and what inspired you to do it? I’ve been teaching since 2016. Initially, I completed the teacher training to deepen my own practice after burnout from a hectic and unfulfilling corporate career. I was in a graduate management role that had me working a weekly rotation of 12-hour day shifts followed by 12-hour night shifts and I drifted off at the wheel one night. Luckily, I only curbed it before waking up but that was enough of a wake up call (excuse the pun), to know that I needed out. The plan initially was to teach one or two yoga classes a week around a full time job again, which I did in the beginning, but I just loved teaching so much. It felt like such an honour to hold a safe space for people for an hour or so, it all felt so right, so I took the plunge and went full-time freelance with it. How did you come to
Are you coming to find your zen on our Montenegro yoga retreat next year? Or considering it? Get a taste of what’s to come as we catch up with our lead yogi Fiona Morris. Fiona is a yoga & pilates instructor and personal trainer based in Nottingham, UK. She turned to yoga after her corporate
Often considered Montenegro’s answer to Lake Como, the glorious Lake Skadar in the south has no shortage of epic views, stunning wildlife and intrepid adventures to experience. That’s why so many of our holidays are based here. With our first Kayaking and Bushcraft trip of the season around the corner, we caught up with co-founder Ben who hand crafted this one-of-a-kind kayaking holiday in 2018. "These kinds of paddling trips are popular in Sweden, the US, Canada and New Zealand but no-one had ever thought to put one together on the largest lake in the Balkans, a place I've called home for 15 years," says Ben. "The staggering scenery and sheer variety of terrain practically demanded someone create this itinerary - so I did!" "It’s like a Lake Skadar Greatest Hits reel. Montenegro’s most famous viewpoint? Check. Paddling past waterlily fields? Check. Jumping off bridges? Check. Chasing kingfishers down water channels? Check. Learning to catch your own dinner and make fire with no matches? Visit a lake-side village only accessible by boat? See some Dalmatian pelicans? Check, check and check! And if you book this season, you’ll be some of the first visitors to see the new Dalmatian Pelican colony on Mali Moračnik island - one of the things I'm most excited about this year." It’s like a Lake Skadar Greatest Hits reel This adventure didn’t come together overnight. Once it was up and running, it did take a few seasons to get right; Ben had to make adjustments according to fluctuating water levels (some floodplains dry up in July) and how much ground - or rather, water could be comfortably covered by his fellow kayakers in various temperatures. Experience was key for Ben to string the best beauty and nature spots together into an epic 60-80km expedition. "I think
Often considered Montenegro’s answer to Lake Como, the glorious Lake Skadar in the south has no shortage of epic views, stunning wildlife and intrepid adventures to experience. That’s why so many of our holidays are based here. With our first Kayaking and Bushcraft trip of the season around the corner, we caught up with co-founder
This recipe for priganice dough balls is delicious! Unexpected, delicious new foods are one of the best bits of travelling. One dish which continually delights and surprises our guests is ‘priganice’ (that’s the name for these dough balls in Montenegro, but every country in the Western Balkans has their equivalent, from uštipci in Serbia to petulla in Albania). A main staple of any Balkan kitchen, these fritters are quick to whip up. Most often served at breakfast, priganice are equally good any time of day. Our friend Tanja, a talented cook, loves to serve them to our guests as a starter to a Montenegrin lunchtime feast, using them to showcase her family’s delectable home-produced honey. The reaction is always one of glee when essentially doughnuts appear first on the table! It’s rare a single dough ball is left. We're often asked for the recipe for priganice, so without further ado, scroll down to find out how you can make perfect ones at home. Of course, if you come on any of our adventures, we'll happily arrange a cooking class with locals to perfect your technique! You can also pay close attention to the video we made below, in which Tanja gives priganice masterclasses to some of our Lake Skadar guests. If you just want to get to the recipe, scroll down. Watch this video in which we take a priganice cooking class! Here's Tanja's recipe for priganice Serves 6-8 hungry people Ingredients Flour Yeast Sugar Salt Olive oil Vegetable oil (for frying) Instructions 1. Take a large mixing bowl and add some warm water to the bottom (about 2-3 fingers deep). The water flowing from Tanja’s taps and indeed most village taps in Montenegro is natural spring water, but mains water will do just fine. 2. Fill a wooden cooking
This recipe for priganice dough balls is delicious! Unexpected, delicious new foods are one of the best bits of travelling. One dish which continually delights and surprises our guests is ‘priganice’ (that’s the name for these dough balls in Montenegro, but every country in the Western Balkans has their equivalent, from uštipci in Serbia to
If you're reading this, you know what we usually get up to when we have a tourist season - but you might not be aware that Emma and I tend to be just as busy during the winters. It's not all skiing and cricket (yes, really!), finding new waterfalls, routes and locals to include in our eco-holidays in Montenegro; nor is it all marketing updates or putting our feet up. No, we like to get our hands properly dirty with what we call our "winter projects" at Villa Miela, the base for the multi-activity holidays we host ourselves at Lake Skadar National Park! Transforming this once-ruined stone farmhouse into stylish, eco-friendly accommodation back in 2008 inspired us to make constant improvements our guests will love - and we'll admit it, us too seeing as this is the amazing place we get to live. The Hot Tub Our first ever winter "project", back in the days when we were still starting out. I picked it up from the factory in Kettenacker, Germany (a first, apparently), and towed it back down to Montenegro with a £100 trailer bought off eBay and half a dozen ratchet straps. When we finally arrived back at the villa, only one strap remained. My first kilometre on French soil (where both trailer tyres burst) and our Croatia/Montenegro border crossing experience ("Is it for making wine?") have since become two of my favourite go-to anecdotes...and the tub was a real hit! A HOME FOR YOUR HOSTS After four summers of living in various dilapidated flats in and around Virpazar with our young children, we finally got together the funds and builders to construct a home for ourselves next door to Villa Miela. Respecting the architectural integrity of the centuries-old building was massively important to us, so our idea
If you’re reading this, you know what we usually get up to when we have a tourist season – but you might not be aware that Emma and I tend to be just as busy during the winters. It’s not all skiing and cricket (yes, really!), finding new waterfalls, routes and locals to include in
Despite the success of our yoga and sound healing retreat the other weekend, it's not all vegan raw food experiences at Villa Miela! Sometimes, you have to swing in the opposite direction and embrace the best dish to come out of the Balkans – peka - or sač as we call it in Montenegro. Ever since we bought our second home on Vis island and spent time with the legend that is Oliver Roki, we've loved a good peka. It's an ancient cuisine that sees you placing your ingredients into a deep dish with a cast iron lid, and then slow-cooking the contents with hot embers above and below the pot for 3 to 4 hours. The ultimate slow food! Montenegrin cooking also has a version of this dish, but here it's called pod sač, which I've sampled many times. Pod sač uses meat, potatoes, plentiful oil and vegeta (a catch-all, ubiquitous Balkan herb blend) and when done well is melt-in-your-mouth delicious – but Montenegrins prefer their food stripped back and simple. Peka on the other hand, takes this basic concept and adds generous levels of Mediterranean flavours. The Croatian version includes plentiful vegetables, natural herbs and wine - it's food as a luxury, something to fuss over and get exactly right, where every detail has to be just so as a matter of personal pride. That's the kind of cooking I identify with! Online tutorials and recipes can only get you so far and with Oliver sadly too far away to give me a Croatian cooking lesson, we enlisted instead our lovely friends Damir and Vanda, who as proud Croatians living in Montenegro were only too happy to pass on their tips for making the perfect peka. Slow Food Recipe for 'Peka' or 'Pod Sač' If you'd like to
Despite the success of our yoga and sound healing retreat the other weekend, it’s not all vegan raw food experiences at Villa Miela! Sometimes, you have to swing in the opposite direction and embrace the best dish to come out of the Balkans – peka – or sač as we call it in Montenegro. Ever
There is a special place I like to take people who are in Montenegro's mountains for the first time . One girl told me it reminds her of the end of the world. Are you familiar with a feeling when you wake up from a deep dream, and find yourself back in "reality"? For a few moments your back doesn't hurt, you cannot remember that your to-do list exists, and part of you is still there, in the warmth of a dream. That dream-like sense follows me every time I climb my favourite hiking trail on the Prokletije (in English, translated as the 'Accursed Mountains'). On the border between three countries, Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo, lies a huge mountain with a scary name. She is open to those who follow her rules and those who are seeking freedom and silence. Many people approach her amazing valleys and enjoy views of big rocky summits, but her real beauty lies when you get a little higher - above morning fog and low clouds, face to face with rugged ridges and amphitheaters shaped by the forces of nature. Today Vlado is with me. This will be his first ever real hike. After my stories, he has high expectations. We had to start early, as we expect rain in the second part of the day. The only noise you can hear is that from light wind on the top of the trees, and a few shy birds letting other forest beings know that we are here. It is not uncommon to see a bear in these forests, but I don't want to scare Vlado, so I tell him that they are on the other side. As my friend slept just a few hours last night, he keeps asking me - how much
There is a special place I like to take people who are in Montenegro’s mountains for the first time . One girl told me it reminds her of the end of the world. Are you familiar with a feeling when you wake up from a deep dream, and find yourself back in “reality”? For a
As the pandemic has forced us all to slow down and take stock, more of us are beginning to consider the food we eat, our supply chains and how we can produce and make things at home. Learning how to identify and harvest wild asparagus with our friend Ilija in woodland by Lake Skadar connected us even more closely with the goodness of nature. Not only did it taste delicious in the three ways we prepared it (scroll down for the recipes), but it's loaded with health-boosting nutrients, especially folate and the vitamins A, C and K, as well as antioxidants. Wild asparagus is a delicacy adored by foodies in Montenegro and all over Europe, so our volunteer and forager-in-chief Beth is going to show you two classic ways to prepare it Montenegrin-style - as salad and with egg - plus a French favourite, quiche. She writes: "So many of us live fast-paced lives and have widely stocked supermarkets at our fingertips, so never thought to spend time and energy outdoors seeking and collecting edible food. Here in Montenegro, foraging never went out of fashion. It's also commonplace to have a productive vegetable garden, cramming every bit of fertile land with edible plants. Home produce even commonly extends to cheese, honey, wine and the distilled spirit, rakija (a bit like Italian grappa). "Now the cooler days of spring are beginning to fade and the summer heat is gearing up, the foraging season for wild asparagus has drawn to a close, but this is a local secret guests are going to love on next Spring's lake activity holidays! Wild Asparagus Salad Recipe 1x bunch of wild asparagus 1x clove of garlic, finely chopped (or a handful of wild garlic flowers) Olive oil Red wine vinegar Salt Break the asparagus stalks at
As the pandemic has forced us all to slow down and take stock, more of us are beginning to consider the food we eat, our supply chains and how we can produce and make things at home. Learning how to identify and harvest wild asparagus with our friend Ilija in woodland by Lake Skadar connected
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