Shokder, Albania

Our first two days were spent exploring the town and getting our hike details in order. The center of town has some nice streets to walk with lots of little shops and nice restaurants to eat at. There is a main strip that is pedestrian only where we assume most tourists go to eat and drink, the road is called Rruga Kole Idromeno. You can also find a photography museum and some souvenir shops there. We met some friends for dinner on the first night at a place called Restaurant PURI, a popular spot for good food. The meal was very inexpensive and the portions were very large. We had to work on day two so we only took a relaxing walk around the neighborhood in the afternoon.

Day three is when we started the hike. Basically, it’s a 9-mile through-hike from one town to another, Valbone to Theth. You end in Theth, which is only a few hours away from Shkoder in the Albania Alps. We set everything up through our hostel (Wanderer’s Hostel). They booked us transportation to a guesthouse in the mountains and the one night in the guesthouse.

At 7:30 am, we started our journey from Shkoder to Valbone. First, you take a 2 hour bus ride north where you change over to a ferry. The ferry took us 3 hours up a big river. When we got off the ferry, we took another small bus one more hour up the road where they dropped us off seemingly in the middle of nowhere. I guess the bus drivers are pretty familiar with the area because once we looked around, we found a small sign that pointed up a trail with the name of our guest house on it. We followed it and came up to an incredibly beautiful guesthouse that sits next to a shallow creek.

It’s a long journey to the guesthouse but every step of the way is full of beautiful views. If you end up chatting with a local, you won’t regret the time spent en route.

We arrived in the afternoon so we had time to take a long walk from the property to explore the area. We came across a little lake along a small trail. The whole place was breathtaking with giant mountains all around.

The guest house fed us dinner, breakfast the next morning, and gave us a little food for the hike. It was such a beautiful spot, we thought about staying an extra night but we only brought one day’s worth of clothes, so alas, we went on our way the next morning.

We began our hike before the sun fully came up. The trail starts along an older river bed and makes its way up one of the mountains at the end of the valley. Once you summit the peak, you come down the other side and follow it all the way down to Teth. The hike took us just less than 6.5 hours and we walked a total of about 9.5 mile. It was glorious. I really love hiking so this experience was incredible. The views never disappointed and knowing we were in the middle of nowhere in the Albanian Alps was such a cool feeling. The trail was very easy to follow and there were a few sparse cafes along the way where we could fill up our water bottles, use the restroom, and buy other drinks, food, snacks, and most important, beer (which is required when celebrating a good hike). This made the hike quite enjoyable.

When you set up the logistics of the hike, you don’t prebook your way back because people’s plans change too much. It’s possible to stay an extra night in Theth after you arrive or before you start, and there are multiple trails in the area which you can take, so you are supposed to book your way back whenever you get there. We heard it was really easy to do this and the last bus would leave for Shkoder at 4 pm. Well, it wasn’t so easy.

Right at the end of the trail, you come across a large parking lot where buses take off from and a big outdoor cafe with lots of seating to refuel after the hike. As soon as we arrived we started asking around but nobody seemed to know what we were talking about. The tourism office sent us right back when we went to ask them for instructions after exhausting the locals in the cafe. I’m still perplexed about the situation years later— surely enough people do this hike that the staff know just what to do when people show up…

Luckily, we met some other travelers in the same position and a local offered us a taxi ride back to town for a decent rate. We took it and got back to Shkoder that day. I’m guessing this is just as common— just find someone willing to taxi you back.

The fifth and final day we were in town we rented bikes from our hostel (this time Mi Casa Es Tu Casa) and road the bikes up to Rozafa Castle, the main landmark in Shkoder. It was an easy ride and the sunset view from the top of the castle was beautiful.

On the way back, the chain fell off my bike so we had to stop on the side of a road. A small kid came out of nowhere and offered to help me fix it. When I turned around, suddenly there were many kids. Some in the window, some who had come outside. They were so friendly and sweet. One even took my water bottle and filled it up.

In broken english, one asked us where we were from. They were so excited to hear we were from England and the United States. It was a very random moment, and it was so heart warming that this group of little kids wanted to know about who we were and wanted to help us in whatever way they could. After a few minutes, the kid fixed my bike on we went on our way.

That night we dined at one of the most popular restaurants in town, which we heard about from the hostel, called Fisi Restaurant. They serve traditional Albanian food and even had a huge vegetarian plate that my boyfriend and I shared.

We left the next day after eating breakfast at a very trendy brunch cafe called Stolia Coffeehouse &Brunch. I couldn’t believe that I got a fancy plate of avocado toast with an egg and nuts and things for only $2! And it was delicious!

We really loved our time in Shkoder. There was so many good places to eat, the hostels were comfortable, and everything was very inexpensive.