Hiking the Peaks of the Balkans Trail: Ultimate Travel Guide

The Peaks of the Balkans (POB) is a 10-day hike in the mountains of Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo which covers 10.000 meters of elevation gain, is around 185 km and is generally considered as a hard trail. The full trail is a significant undertaking with long, steep days, and while it doesn’t have technical climbing, it requires a good level of fitness and self-sufficiency due to its remote and rugged nature. What made it extra hard is that we decided to sleep in our tent and take food for 10 days. This pushed the weight of our backpack up to 17 kg…

Stages:

Theth to Valbona (19,5 km – 8 hrs)
Valbona to Ceremi (14 km – 7 hrs 30)
Ceremi to Dobërdol (15.5 km – 7 hrs)
Dobërdol to Milishevc (23 km – 8 hrs)
Milishevc to Rekë e Allagës (16 km – 6 hrs)
Rekë e Allagës to Restaurant Te Liqeni (23 km – 8 hrs)
Restaurant Te Liqeni to Babino Polje (16 km – 7 hrs)
Babino Polje to Plav (20 km- 6 hrs 30)
Plav to Vusanje (27,5 km – 8 hrs)
Vusanje to Theth (21,3 km – 7 hrs 30)

Preparation of the trip

Border Permits

Since you cross borders between Albania, Montenegro, and Kosovo outside official checkpoints, you MUST arrange cross-border permits in advance. This is not optional! We advise arranging this via a local agency at least 2 weeks before departure. Print your permits and keep them with your passport at all times.

Gear Rental

To save weight and costs, we rented top-tier gear (MSR Hubba Hubba tent, Osprey backpacks) at AS Adventure in Belgium. Pro Tip: Belgian employees can often pay for this with eco-vouchers! Aim for the lightest gear possible; every gram counts when carrying food for 10 days.

Food Stategy

We carried 10 days of food (approx. 5kg per person). Breakfast/Lunch: Nuts, muesli bars, Dextro Energy, and a daily Snickers (morale booster!). Dinner: 5x freeze-dried meals, 5x guesthouses. Water: Available at springs and guesthouses, but always bring a filter or purification tablets just in case.

Navigation & Getting There

The Guidebook (Rudolf Abraham) 📚

Although the Peaks of the Balkans trail is gaining popularity, reliable online information is still scarce. While looking for resources, we heavily relied on the Bradt Guide by Rudolf Abraham.

While strictly recommended, be aware that some practical details might be slightly outdated. However, the route descriptions are essential. Reading the guide beforehand can be confusing, but the route markings make much more sense once you are actually on the trail. We combined the book with GPS maps on our phone as a backup.

From Plan to Trail (The Taxi Hack) 🎒

Since we travel frequently, we wanted to be efficient: land in Tirana and start hiking the next morning. Public transport to Theth is cheap but slow (often requiring an overnight stay in Shkodër), so we opted for a private transfer.

We reached out to local taxi services, but prices were high. Then we found a great hack: Booking.com Taxis.

When we booked our transfer in April (for September), we paid around €230 for a return trip (Airport to Theth & Theth to Airport). Closer to the date, prices skyrocketed, so book this as early as possible!

Our Experience: The service via Booking.com was surprisingly smooth. Despite a delay at passport control (35 mins), our driver waited for us.

We had one crucial request: we needed camping gas. We asked our driver if we could stop in Shkodër. This was no problem at all! It was only a small detour, but essential for our trip. A big shout-out to our driver Irinos for the great service and dropping us right at our guesthouse in Theth!

What to Pack? (The 17kg Challenge)

We decided to go for the full hiking experience: sleeping in our tent and carrying food for 10 days. This pushed the weight of our backpacks up to 17 kg.

To keep the weight manageable, we knew we needed premium lightweight gear. Buying this is expensive, so we decided to rent our equipment.

💡 Tip for Belgians: We rented our gear (MSR Hubba Hubba NX tent & Osprey Atmos backpacks) at AS Adventure. Did you know you can pay for gear rental with Eco Vouchers? This was a perfect way to get top-tier material without breaking the bank!

Food Strategy: Fueling the Hike (5kg!)

Carrying food for 10 days pushed our backpack weight to 17 kg (approx. 5 kg of food per person). Since we burned massive amounts of energy, we had a fixed daily menu to keep us going:

Breakfast: oat with milk powder and chocolade pieces.
Snacks: Nuts, muesli bar, wine gums, Dextro Energy, and dry cookies with Nutella or jam (a heavy but necessary treat!)
Warm-up: A packet of instant soup (perfect for arriving at camp)
Dinner: We alternated: 5 nights of freeze-dried meals (lightweight) and 4 nights enjoying local food at guesthouses

🍫 The Snickers Rule I packed exactly one Snickers for every day. I made it a strict rule to save this treat for the very last part of the hike. Just when my legs were tired, that sugar rush gave me the final morale boost needed to reach the camp!

⚠️ What did I miss?

I debated for a long time whether to bring Flip-flops (Camp shoes). In the end, I left them at home to save weight.

Big mistake. After hiking for 8 hours in heavy boots, you really want to let your feet breathe. Next time, the flip-flops are definitely coming with me, even if it adds extra weight!

Day 1: Theth - Valbona (19,5 km - 8 hrs)

We left the first day from Molla Guesthouse which is directly on the route via a small path in their garden. We walked in the direction of Theth and shortly after we came to the point where the route goes up to the pass towards Valbona. We (well mainly me) wanted to take a picture of the iconic church and we went to the village center but the church was further away than we anticipated. Realizing that it was the first day and wearing a backpack of 17 kg, we didn’t go further and turned back to the point we passed earlier towards the pass.

It was a 6 km climb to the pass and it was steep but mostly linear and doable, even wearing our heaviest backpack of the trip. This etappe is by far the most busy one of the entire POB and you also see a lot of day tourists and many of them are not the typical hiker. We saw big groups of young people with music and clothes which you rather expect in a local gym. On this busy track you will pass 2 bars. The first one is a very local one which is more a shed but the cold Coca-Cola was very welcome. About 45 minutes later we reached a bigger bar with a big terrace, music and plenty of people.

When you reach the pass of Valbona, you can go up a little further which we strongly recommend as you will be able to watch in the valley, a view you won’t be able to see when you go straight to the descent. The descent is a nice one and not extremely steep. After a while you’ll cross a big rock which is famous for taking pictures as you have the mountain range as background. Once you reach the valley, you kinda assume you are close to Valbona, but what follows is quite a long part in a river. We came close to 20 km and it started to count. We were so happy we reached the normal road where we found Hotel Fusha e Gjesë for a refreshing drink. From there we followed the main road towards the centrum and this is the moment is really started to be heavy. In the morning you start all fresh and the 17 kg backpack is ok-ish but by the end of the day, the last meters became heavy.

Valbona has a longer city center and depending on your choice for the next day you want to pick your overnight place smart. If you go for the flat route, you can easily continue through the center but when you go for the high route you need to be aware you’ll have to turn back the next day. We ended our day at Jezerca Guesthouse which is around 750 meter from the start the next day. There is a nice flat gras area to put your tent, a good restaurant where we had a very good dinner. The building for shower and toilet looks very bad, but inside it was completely renovated (2025) and the showers were heavenly.

Day 2: Valbona to Ceremi (14 km - 7 hrs 30)

After a first good night in the tent we prepared our first onsite breakfast. All went smooth except connecting our gas canister to our stove. Although the canister was the right one, and fitted perfectly on the stove of our friends we struggled a bit with ours. We were unable to get it connected to the canister. After several tries we used the stove of our friends on our canister. This is one of the advantages to be with more people and have crucial gear doubled. When done we kicked it off for day 2.

You have 2 options for the day. Either you take the route through the valley which covers roughly 7 km of asphalt or you go for the ‘high’ route via the Prosllopit pass, which we strongly recommend. From our campground we returned around 750 meters till the point we could go over a bridge and start to hike going up. The climb of this day is around 6 km and besides a meadow the only way is up. Once you reach the top, you will be close to cross a first time the border with Montenegro, although only for a short period. What follows is a quite intensive downhill and certainly the last part through the forest is steep at moments and with all that heavy backpack near the end it really started to be felt in our knees.

When you reach the 4WD track you need to decide what to do. When going to the left (and following the orange arrows) you will come across a guesthouse called Kujtim Gocaj which is almost the only one in that direction. You can also go to the right towards the city center and find more places. After 7 hours of hiking we decided to call it a day when we learned we could set up our tent and take a shower! In the evening we decided to spare our freeze-dry food for days in more rural areas. For 10 euro per person we could join what was served in the evening and that was a lot of tasteful food! The hosts kept on bringing more plates full of delicious food.

Day 3: Ceremi to Dobërdol (15.5 km - 7 hrs)

From the first meters you start to climb and the first 3 km on the 4WD are steep! After roughly 9 to 10 km you will reach the highest point of the day and what follows is a little more than 7 km with more up and down to reach the isolated Dobërdol. After about 1 hour or 4 km after the start you will pass by a local bar where you can buy fresh drinks or snacks. Don’t expect anything fancy, it’s more a shed where a local person sells but the drinks were already very welcome given the nice weather. We arrive at this small bar via the 4WD drive, but we spotted several people that came up to that point from a small path. They came from the city center so there are 2 options. Hard to judge which is best but it means you’ll have a little more to cover to reach the center of Cerem.

Once you leave the 4WD track and enter the forest the route is really nice. Once you reach the highest point of the trip you’ll have a kind of plateau which goes up and down passing by 1 or 2 very small villages where you could buy a drink. The last part towards Dobërdol goes up gently again and might start to weigh after day 3. We were happy to reach the village and selected the very first option to camp. (Guest House Bashkimi)

Day 4: Dobërdol to Milishevc (23 km - 8 hrs)

A steep start of the day up the border ridge of 3 countries: Albania, Montenegro and Kosovo. From the ridge the view is marvelous as you can overlook the valley of Dobërdol but also towards the other side into Montenegro. After the steep climb it’s around 7 km up and down before you reach the highest point at 2255 meters.

Shortly after the highest point you have 2 options to continue. Either you take the high route where you stay above 2000 meters and near the end you’ll have a steep descent or you go through the valley which is a more gentle downhill. The high route is partially the same as the route on day 7, however in the opposite direction, so we selected the route through the valley and went gradually down towards Roshkodol. We passed a guesthouse with a nice terrace in the sun and decided to eat a pasta. After a great pasta arrabbiata we continued our journey and around 1.8 km later I realised we forgot our book with details on the route. Marie-Claire volunteered to go back up resulting in an extra 3.6 km of trailrunning, luckily without backpack. After the extra part, what followed was still a heavy part towards Milishevc so we were so happy we reached a guesthouse but for Marie-Claire it resulted in 23 km and for myself 20 km.

Day 5: Milishevc to Rekë e Allagës (16 km - 6 hrs)

We started the day almost immediate with a climb and then a bit up and down before starting on the real descent of the day. The first parts were quite steep and the path wasn’t the best maintained so sometimes a challenge. After a while we ended up on a 4WD track where they did some forest works. The path was in bad condition and steep downhill. When we thought we were almost there and we only had to decent a shorter path, the slope became even steeper. A misleading sign of 800 meter to the bar and taxi made us think we were almost there, but it was quite a bit further…

When we reached the bar we had some lunch and decided to take a taxi towards Rekë e Allagës because a 6 km hike uphill over asphalt was not something we were interested in. During the ride it was confirmed it was the right choice. We spend the night in the last guest house of the small village. There were a few places for tents and only limited horizontal parts. When starting early in the morning and arriving on time, it’s a first come first served approach.

Day 6: Rekë e Allagës to Restaurant Te Liqeni (23 km - 8 hrs)

On day 6 the weather changed and shortly after we packed our tent it started to rain. We could have breakfast under a pergola but the rain kept on pouring. After 30 minutes of waiting we decided to just go for it, after all we didn’t pack our rain clother for nothing. We at once started with a climb through the forest and afterwards through a meadow. After 2,5 to 3 hours the rain stopped and the sky started to clear up! What a relief to put away the rain clothes and enjoy back some sun. In the end these were the only hours of rain we had on a trip of 10 days with close to 200 km of hiking. We couldn’t have been more luckier with the weather!

Once we reached our top of the day, we could starting going down in the direction of Drelaj. In our guide there was suggested to take a transfer to skip the asphalt but at first we wanted to see what it gave and continued our journey on the road. However, after 2 km on asphalt and 15,3 km hiking, we realised this wasn’t too much fun and we decided to hitchhike and the first car, luckily a jeep, could carry us for the next 6 km of asphalt. After the drop off, we started hiking for another 5 km. This was again a nice part which finished with a nice descent through the forest before we reached Kućište. With roughly 20 km of hiking for this day we still had to go up towards Te Liqeni, again on asphalt and uphill. We saw a car and tried our luck but it was a kind of van and only 1 person could sit next to the driver. We wanted to go in the back, but inside it was with a bed and not suited for passengers. We still convinced the driver to take us and 3 of us and the backpacks went in the back and one in the front. Totally not comfortable, nor safe, but for 5 km on an deserted road we gave it a try and were so lucky it worked out. Kudos go to the young French driver that dropped us at Te Liqeni.

What a day! Starting in the rain, hiking 20 km in total and take two short rides to reach our destination. The location was not ideal to set a tent and when we learned that a cabin was only 40 euro we closed the deal promptly. This night we go for some luxe instead of our tent! We concluded the day with a nice dinner in the restaurant of the guest house. Travelling is always an adventure.

Day 7: Restaurant Te Liqeni to Babino Polje (16 km - 7 hrs)

After 5 nights in the tent, our night in a small cabin was very much welcome. The freedom of space, a bed and private shower were highly appreciated. After a breakfast on the porch we started hiking and we had immediate a heavy climb of close to 6 km. This was one of the top parts of the route. A lot of people don’t come here as they take a shorter variant of Peaks of the Balkans and skip the part deeper in Kosovo by already returning from Dobërdol towards Babino Polje as these aren’t that far from each other. However, if you don’t have the time, it would make sense to still go towards Te Liqeni (or at least the lakes closeby and then simply return to your route). We really enjoyed the way up and the views very so beautiful. We went up and often looked back so coming down enjoying the views and then simply return is definitely worth it! The last parts of the climb towards the border are really steep but you will be rewarded with views in the both valleys and certainly the mountainrange with the rocks are so beautiful. Unless you have done some peak-bagging along the route, this will mark the highest point on the POB trail.

After the top it first goes a bit down and then you’ll keep for a while on a plateau. When you watch to your left you will see the valley where you walked on day 4, if you also took the lower route like we did. If you took the high route, you will now walk in the opposite direction of a couple of days ago. We were happy we took the lower route, so we had new views to enjoy. When you reach the Zavoj pass, you might notice it gets a little more crowded as the people on shorter variants for 3 or 4 days are getting on the track. The downhill towards Babino Polje starts gentle, but then it quickly gets quite brutal. This might be a test for your knees, but as you are on day 7, your backpack might be a little lighter as you consumed already quite some food.

When you reach the end of the descent you are close to the end of the day and will reach Maslo. We can strongly recommend to go and try their delicious food. While getting more energy we decided not to end our day here but already do a few kilometers of the next day so it would be more manageable in distance. We hiked till Katun Bajrovic where you’ll find Samelova Koliba, a guesthouse opened in 2016 and situated on an open hillside with nice views. When we arrived they opened the new sanitair block with toilets and showers (2025). We called it a day after 19 km and enjoyed a fresh beer and dinner. There is a nice porch which can be closed on colder days and is perfect to make your day a little longer as it gets quickly colder in the evenings.

Day 8: Babino Polje to Plav (20 km- 6 hrs 30)

With our headstart of a few kilometers we hit the road early towards Plav. Shortly after leaving Samel’s cottage we entered the forest and continued our journey towards Hridsko Jezero. It was around 1 hour so we were happy we called it a day at Samel’s cottage. Bear in mind that there aren’t that many spots to put your tent near the lake, either. When we passed the lake there was a little bit of scrambling on the rocks to get up, from where you have some nice views on the Lake. We continued up and quickly reached the top where we had to turn right on a 4WD path. After a little while you’ll reach a shelter for cyclists and here we didn’t pay attention as we wanted to explore the cabin. There were clear signs we had to turn left up to the mountain again, but with the exploration we didn’t notice and continued on the 4WD track. After 1,5 km we realised it was too long we didn’t see signs and that we were getting more and more away from our GPS track. We decided to turn back and go figure it out. At the cabin we immediate noticed the signs and went up the hill. While we would have reached Plav via another route, it would obviously have been a less nice one due to the continuation of the 4WD track. Now we had a great hike path with views in another valley.

From the top it will be around 10 km down to Plav of which the first 5 are quite intense but they it flattens out and it goes gently down into the valley. After 20 km of hiking we arrived in Plav center where we treated ourselves to a well-deserved pizza. We read in our manual that the start of day 9 wasn’t the best part as it was first a lot of asphalt and then a 4WD road in a forest. Just before we entered the center we saw a phone number of a taxi service and we decided to book a 4×4 transfer to skip this part of the hike. The super friendly driver drove us about 7 km up the track where we could continue our hike with the nicest part of the track. On the top of the hill we would be able to have a nice panorama and we could also sleep on the top. Although it was only roughly 3 km, it was extremely steep and exposed. We were happy to walk up and not have to come down here as it would be very technical. On the top we found a nice spot for some wild camping and enjoyed the last bits of sun. Be prepared that the minute the sun goes down the temperature drop very quickly so you want to have your dinner while the sun is still out and then you can go and hit the bed early.

Day 9: Plav to Vusanje (27,5 km - 8 hrs)

In the morning we decided to hike first a bit before having breakfast to avoid the morning cold. We hit the road by 07:00 and we didn’t know at that moment that it would be the longest stage of the trip… The views on the mountains were insane beautiful and the weather got better and better after a grey start of the day. After about 2 km we already started with the descent towards Vusanje. It was mostly gentle and we started to see more and more people getting up the mountain. In Vusanje we took a break and decided to already take a headstart on the stage of the last day, so we would arrive sooner the latest day. We entered the National Park and for the first time of our trip, there was a guard and we were ordered to pay an entrance fee. The plan was to go up the climb of the next day and see where we could find a spot to sleep. After a while we crossed the last border of our trip by entering back in Albania. We had to pass through a forest and this was again a steady climb!

We found great spots at Fusha e Ruinices, but we were quite early. Arriving at 13:30 at your camping spot, without a fresh beer this time, wasn’t tempting either. On the other hand, doing a second descent on one day wasn’t tempting either for my knee, as I suffered IT band syndrome since day 3…

But before thinking about the descent we had another 6km to go up. Once we came out of the forest we again had good views on the mountains and we could confirm our book was right, that this stage was one of the fines on the POB trail. It’s hard to capture the beauty in a photo, but the last parts of the climb were so beautiful I had to pause several times to let it sink in. If you follow our blog already for a while, you know we have seen a lot, but this was truly admiring. You just need time to absorb and enjoy it in silence.

Back to the question of the day. Shall we sleep on the top or go down. We knew that once we started going down, we had to continue as it was a very steep descent so you could predict there would be no places to put your tent. It was also at this moment I started to think that if we did go down, we would be able to go visit the famous church in Theth, something we failed to do before starting our journey. So, we went for it… Roughly 3,5 km to go down, but it was steep, tricky and narrow, so the speed was low. I think it took us more than one hour to go down and by the time it flattened out, we had more than 25km. A little later we saw a small bar with a campground and we didn’t doubt for a split second! This was the final part of our stage. We had in the meantime reached 27, 6 km with 1095 altitude meters but with more than 2000 downhill meters. Heavy.

We are Sporty Travellers and in good shape, but doing such a hike on day 9 can count… The shower, beer and food were very much welcome and our body was happy to be able to rest. It’s also crazy to see how quickly you recover.

If you do stick to the normal days, you would also had 27 km to hike, but it would be including the part we covered with a 4WD car. You would not have been sleeping on the top of the mountain and still had to do 21 km on the last day. With that distance it would have mean that we would have had to rush on the last day to get an early taxi out of Theth and maybe did not had the time to absorb the beauty of this stage. Nevertheless, we did hike 27 km on day 9 🙂

Day 10: Vusanje to Theth (21,3 km - 7 hrs 30)

We survived the last day in our tent and prepared the last breakfast on our stove. We were very close to Theth and the fact that we started in Molla Guest House meant that we only had to hike 4 km to end our trip. We arrived via the small path in the back of their garden, how we left 10 days before, and people who were having breakfast in the garden were looking surprised. They all looked regular tourists, ready to go to Theth center or maybe a day hike. We looked like we didn’t fit there with our extensive gear. We took a coffee and enjoyed the views, the sun, the mountains and the company of our friends who joined us on this incredible journey.

Before heading back we decided to hike to the center to visit the iconic church. We took the main road this time and this gave us an extra 5 km and hence we ended the day with just below 10 km. For the return we decided to hitchhike back up and two friends in the very first car already took us and dropped us on the driving way of Molla guest house. What a service. Time to put away all the hiking gear and clothes, take a shower and put on regular clothes.

Our taxi was able to make it early and we were ready so we left around 13:30 and left the mountains behind us. The last 3 days we were trying to get ahead of the schedule to arrive on time in our final destination: Paradise Laguna Vain, the hotel were we also concluded our previous visit to Albania.

Conclusion

In the last couple of years, we have done several multi-day hikes in Kyrgyzstan, Nepal or the Inca trail to Machu Picchu in Peru. But there was always a difference: on those trips, we had porters or horses to carry our main gear. We hiked with just a small daypack containing water, a snack, and a camera.

The Desire for Autonomy Those were awesome experiences, but I had a burning desire to go ‘all the way’ for once. To be completely self-sufficient. I also realized: why wait another 15 years? Let’s do it now.

The Reality Check (17 kg) I had the idea to do it once, and I can confirm: it will stay with this one time. 😅 The math was simple but brutal: food for 10 days was roughly 5 kg per person. Add the tent, mattress, and sleeping bag (2-3 kg), and you are carrying an extra 7 to 8 kg compared to a hut-to-hut hike.

While our general fitness was fine, that extra weight killed my knees on the endless downhills. I suffered from IT band syndrome starting from Day 3, making every descent painful. I had to slow down significantly. Looking back, hiking the trail while sleeping in guesthouses (and carrying a light pack) is the better option for enjoyment.

Was it worth it? Absolutely. Despite the struggle, the experience was magical.

The Stats: We conquered 185 km and 10,000 altitude meters, arriving back at the exact same spot 10 days later.
The Luck: We were incredibly lucky with the weather in September, facing only 2.5 hours of rain in total.

Going back to basics makes us realize how lucky and privileged we are in our daily lives. We are thankful for this adventure, pain and all!

Camping gear overview

MSR Hubba Hubba NX

A fantastic choice! It has two side entrances, which is super convenient compared to traditional tents. It’s freestanding, extremely quick to set up, and lightweight. Highly recommended rental.

Osprey Atmos AG LT 50

Spacious enough to fit 10 days of gear, but limits you from overpacking. Very comfortable carrying system. Minor con: You can only access the main compartment from the top (no front/bottom access), which makes organizing a bit harder.

Sleeping Bag

We rented bags with a 5°C comfort limit, which was perfect for September. Our own bags (-10°C) would have been too heavy and bulky. Hygiene Tip: If renting scares you, just bring your own silk liner to sleep in.