Hiking the 192km Peaks of the Balkans trail with wild camping

September 2019

A couple of years ago I made a conscious decision to actively start going on more hikes. As I was searching for a long-distance hike in Europe as I stumbled upon the 192 km long Peaks of the Balkans trail. It made perfect sense to take on this trip because:

Located in the Balkans, an area that I hadn’t discovered that much.
The trail crosses country borders in the mountains, which means it is possible to visit 3 countries during the same trip! And 2 of them would be my first time visiting.
Affordable! Comparing to hiking in the crown jewel of Europe, the Alps, the price levels are a couple of times cheaper.
An adventure! There was not too much information about wild camping along this trail on the internet. Also, we would be spending time in countries like Kosovo and Albania which usually do not have the highest reputation among people. The last time the region was experiencing an armed conflict was in 1998-1999. While it was pretty recently then the Kosovo War took place actually already 20 years ago and the area is peaceful these days.

The chances are that if you are reading this post, then you are interested in making this or similar trip yourself, so I will try to answer some questions you might have based on my personal experience.

The trail and where to start from?
The trail and where to start from?
Maps, trail markers and navigation
Maps, trail markers and navigation
Camping and accommodation
Camping and accommodation
Drinking water resources and food
Drinking water resources and food
Crossborder permits
Crossborder permits
Route that we hiked
Route that we hiked

The trail and where to start from?

The Peaks of the Balkans trail crosses 3 territories/countries – Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania. The official length of the whole trail is 192km and takes around 10-14 days to complete. As there are a couple of small towns on the way it is possible to enter and exit midway as well. A good description of the stages can be found on the official Peaks of the Balkans website.

If you start searching for flights into the region you will see that you have options to fly into the capitals – Pristina in Kosovo, Tirana in Albania or Podgorica in Montenegro. Besides these options there are also many flights to a popular holiday destination in Croatia – Dubrovnik, which is not that far. We actually left the trail through Dubrovnik after spending a couple of days exploring and taking time off in Montenegro.

The easiest to get on the Peaks of the Balkans trail is probably from Albania or Kosovo.

Personally, we flew into Priština, spent 2 nights there and then took a bus to Peje (Peć). From Peje you can take another smaller bus which takes you close to the trail in Rugova or Kucishtё.

I recommend visiting the tourist office in Peje before heading to the trail. You can buy the trail map from there and the bus to Rugova leaves directly from in front of the office.

Maps, trail markers and navigation

You probably won’t find the PoB trail map in your local book store, but it is possible to order it online or buy it when already in the region. We bought this paper map in the tourist information centre in Peja.

The trail is usually really well marked as well with traditional red-white trail markers.

Other than that, I personally use a phone application called MAPS.ME for trekking/hiking trails. Download the country map before you go and have all kinds of little trails in your phone offline. You can also use your smart phones’ GPS positioning to know where you are at all times. Just by switching the phone into a flight mode, and not using it that often you can get days of battery life.

Camping and accommodation

It is possible to hike the trail without camping out. We met a couple of people on the trail who were just carrying Daypacks. There are hotels and mountain lodges at the end of each stage. Some websites say that you need to book in advance, but the couple of times when we used the comfort of an accommodation we managed to get a room by just walking in. We slept in a hotel in Plav, Montenegro and in a guest house in Valbone, Albania.

Wild camping is technically not allowed in Montenegro and Kosovo, but it is not a big problem as well if you do respectfully. Find a spot which is out of sight as much as possible and take absolutely everything with you when you leave. Wild camping in Albania is allowed.

Even though it is possible to camp out, it was not always easy to find a spot where to stay. We were using the military tarps for camping out. The best way to use this one is attaching one side to the trees and another to the ground, but it usually took some time to find a flat surface spot hidden away next to the trees.

Drinking water and food

If you stay in accommodations then you will have your dinner and breakfast sorted out. It is only necessary to carry some food and snacks for lunch. Also take enough water with you to get through the day. I prefer to carry at least 2-3 litres of water with me and fill the bottles up every possible option.

It is possible to fill your water bottle in streams and fresh water taps along the way. There are a couple of options for that on each stage. But don’t count on getting fresh drinking water all the time. I was using water purification tablets from time to time and my friend had a Life Straw with him. Upon walking to Albania we were counting on refilling our water bottles in some spots that were marked on the map, but when reaching there, either the taps were not working or the lake had been dried up. Since the weather is hot during summer months, dehydration can get to you fast. We were pretty glad when we finally found a water tap which was working.

We were carrying enough food for 2-3 days with us and stocked up in bigger villages/towns like in Plav and Theth. There are not that many other good options for buying food.

Important to know about the cooking is that you might not find a gas canister with a suitable screwtop for your stove. We did not manage to find a gas canister in Pristina for out stove and so we had to buy a new cheap one from the market. Luckily we managed to find something.

Cross border permits

Since you are crossing country borders in the mountains, it is necessary to acquire some permits before your trip. You need to apply 15! days in advance for the permits and mark your border crossing dates in them.

There are actually no border points in the mountains and no-one is checking you when you cross, but it is necessary to check yourself in when you reach the next bigger town. For example, we went to check ourselves in when we reached Plav in Montenegro.

Read all about the border crossings and required procedures in here.

Route that we hiked

We had a 2-week holiday to spare so we wanted to mix hiking with some beach time as well. So we opted for a 7-day hike and spent some time after in the beaches in Montenegro. We joined the trail in Kucishtё, Kosovo and hiked counter clockwise to Valbone, Albania.

Day 1 - Kucishtё to Lake Leqinat, Kosovo

We were planning to join the trail in Rugova camp, but the tourist office suggested to skip some of the trail and take the bus directly to Kucishtё. Apparently the trail between is mainly roads and not that picturesque. As we had started the day in Pristina, it was already late afternoon when we started to walk.

That evening we camped out next to Lake Leqinat. A morning swim was pretty refreshing.

This leg of the trail is pretty popular among tourists in Albania. It is easily accessible and offers amazing views throughout the whole day.

Day 7 - Valbonё, Albania - Zla Kolata – Valbonё, Albania

On the last day of our hike we decided to tackle the highest peak in Montenegro, Zla Kolata. The peak lies right on the border between Albania and Montenegro and it makes for an excellent day trip from Valbona.

The Peaks of the Balkans trail continues back to Kosovo from here. We were actually told by the tourist office worker in Kosovo that this part of the trek is not the most scenic and does not have many accommodation options available. I can’t say anything about that since we actually did not hike that part.

Also, we wanted to spend some time in the towns of Albania and Montenegro as well, so it made for a perfect place to exit the trail. On the next we took the Komani lake ferry and made it to Shkoder by the evening.