Ten years ago, the path over the Valbona Pass was a shepherds' route between two isolated villages, walked mostly by locals and the occasional determined backpacker. Today it's the most famous trek in Albania and one of the best known in the Balkans. Theth, a village of around 200 residents, now welcomes something like 15,000 visitors across the four months it's properly accessible, and its old stone tower houses have become guesthouses run by the families who grew up in them. That's a remarkable thing for a valley that was almost empty a generation ago. It has also made those few hours over the pass the busiest walking in the country, which is good news if you like the idea of spreading that success a little further. The valleys and ranges either side of Theth have the same limestone peaks, the same shepherd hospitality and a fraction of the footfall, and the guesthouses there are just getting started. This is a country with the Accursed Mountains in the north, gentle monastery-dotted hills in the south, and a new long distance trail along its eastern borderlands. Walk the famous trail, then keep going. The Valbona to Theth pass is also far from the only route worth lacing up your boots for. Our Albania itineraries take in everything from a sacred mountain outside Berat to homestay hiking in rural Zagoria, and the trails in between are just as rewarding. Here are more, each one already part of an Undiscovered Balkans trip. 1. Theth to Valbona: the introduction to hiking in Albania The hike from Valbona to Theth has become Albania's best known trail for good reason, a high mountain pass through the Accursed Mountains with views that live up to the name. The trail climbs from one glacial valley over a high
Ten years ago, the path over the Valbona Pass was a shepherds’ route between two isolated villages, walked mostly by locals and the occasional determined backpacker. Today it’s the most famous trek in Albania and one of the best known in the Balkans. Theth, a village of around 200 residents, now welcomes something like 15,000
