Hiking in the Albanian Alps

The hikes were too short and the guide did not voluntarily give much information. He left two people at one point and said they could find their own way back! The tip kitty was too much and the food not great. A shame as much to learn and experience.

This is a superb holiday, with fantastic scenery throughout - especially the sailing up the lake and the walk over the pass to Theti. Our guide Albi was very attentive whilst maintaining a great sense of humour and enjoyment. The accommodation is a little basic - but then we were in a remote part of Albania, and that was part of the appeal. Visiting Albania was an eye-opener in itself.

We were unlucky with our weather for this trip, the week before had been wall to wall sunshine but we had all 4 seasons and -2.c some nights. The hikes were lovely and well paced with some lovely stops for coffee. The accommodations were mostly poor though. On our first night, when everyone was exhausted and wanted to sleep, the hotel had a singer outside the rooms until 11pm. The stay in valbone was the best, clean, welcoming and nice. The homestay in Theth was really poor though, people had been smoking in the rooms so they really smelt and the bathroom smelt of sewerage. With the cold weather they didn't have any heating and the hosts appeared annoyed when we asked for extra blankets. So we ended up paying for somewhere else to stay. Some of the transport vans didn't have working seat belts too, which was a bit daunting given how some people drive in Albania! Our guide Albi was lovely and told some interesting stories. However, he also drifts off into conspiracy theories so you never really knew if what he was saying was accurate 🤣

The Albanian mountains provide beautiful walks and we found the local people to be friendly and helpful. Our guide was young and enthusiastic and very knowledgeable. We were unlucky to have unexpectedly cold conditions with winter seemingly arriving early. The evening after crossing the high pass to Theth it snowed with the snow settling on the pass. We would have been poorly equipped to cope with this had it come a day sooner. The guest house was cold, initially with no heating. After the first night they installed a wood burner stove in the dining area, so that was ok, but the bedrooms remained unheated. We were underprepared for this. There were some annoying mix ups with accommodation too. In Valbone we checked into our guest house for a 3 night stay, freshened up and went to a restaurant by minibus for dinner. During dinner our guide received a message informing us that we had to repack and move to a different guest house due to an office error. On return to Tirana we found that the hotel for the final night of the tour had been changed. This was annoying for us because we had booked a second night in the expected hotel where Explore had confirmed we would be staying, so we had another room move to do. The new hotel was of a significantly lower standard. So, although we enjoyed the tour, there were difficulties which could have been avoided. For future visitors, we felt that staying an extra day in Tirana was worthwhile to see some of the museums about the communist era. The cable car was a bit of an expensive tourist trap though and had to be paid for in cash. Outside Tirana we needed cash nearly everywhere on this trip. Take Euros as these are widely excepted instead of the local currency.

Lovely trip to the Albanian Alps and lucky to have a great bunch of people in the group too. The treks were correctly graded at moderate. A good level of fitness and confidence walking on uneven terrain is needed. Accommodation was basic but better than I had anticipated. Albi was a great guide, who had to juggle the capabilities of quite a diverse group. He needs new jokes though ;-) Transport to and from guesthouses wasn’t always great. We didn’t always have working seat belts and one occasion there wasn’t evening seats for everyone. If eating in the evening as a group with vegetarians/intolerances, I’d recommend steering away from fixed menus as they really aren’t catered for. The individuals are left with basically a veggie soup and salad ending up being relatively expensive for what they had.