Travel at your own pace
Flexible & stress-free
Detailed roadbook
GPS navigation
Self-guided tours
Book one of our self-guided or self-drive trips to enjoy flexibility without any of the stress or planning.
Go your own way
Self-guided adventures suit independent-minded hikers and cyclists who look for the flexibility to travel at their own pace when and with whom they want without the stress of planning and making reservations. Our individual trips come with everything your adventure-filled holiday requires: Accommodation, transfers, optional luggage transport and an extensive information package for a carefully planned itinerary with the best routes. Leave the details of your self-guided tour of the Balkans to us.
In 2015, Zbulo pioneered self-guided adventure travel to Albania. Since then our portfolio of individual trips has grown to cover the majority of trails. Our detailed roadbooks provide an overview of the journey, each of the routes, logistics and hosts. An outdoor GPS unit, turn-by-turn directions and overview map help you navigate stress-free on mostly marked routes. Although you will travel independently without an accompanying guide, our team is there to support you and we’re only a phone call away when you need assistance during your trip.
- Travel whenever and with whomever you want.
- You're free to move and spend the day at your own pace.
- A budget-friendly alternative to a guided private tour.
- Perfect for couples, families or small groups of friends.
- We take care of the planning and reservations, you're free to focus on the journey.
- Accommodation, transfers & luggage transport.
- A detailed roadbook provides details on routes, logistics and hosts.
- A handheld Garmin GPS unit aids your navigation in the field.
- GPX files to load into your preferred GPS navigation app are also available.
Frequently Asked Questions
No, unfortunately that’s not possible. While solo travelers are very welcome to join our small group tours, we require a minimum of two travelers on our self-guided tours for safety reasons.
In the cities, you will always sleep in mid-range, centrally located B&Bs and hotels, mostly family-run and/or boutique. In the rural areas there’s a mix of accommodation types from mountain inns, to guesthouses, homestays and huts. The available room type varies by the itinerary, in the Albanian Alps and on the Albanian Coastal Trail, all overnights are private ensuite. On the Peaks of the Balkans, Hidden Valley Trek and High Scardus Trail, we strive to provide private rooms throughout the trip, but not all are ensuite. For some huts overnights, rooms might be limited to shared dormitories.
All our human-powered trips include active elements of varying grades. They’re never pure sightseeing tours and not for everyone. You will want to have the appropriate level of fitness and motivation to make this an enjoyable experience, even for our lowest graded trips. Our trip grading explained (LINK). On a self-guided tour you’re free to move at your own pace, that might mean racing up the mountain, moving at a very relaxed pace, or anything in between – anything goes, as long as you arrive at the next accommodation before dark.
While most of the trails are marked and some are signposted, the quality level and trail maintenance is likely not be on par with that of the Central European Alps. For that reason, all our self-guided trips include a handheld Garmin GPS unit, maps and a detailed roadbook (40-80 pages in A5). While the device user interface is fairly straightforward, previous experience with digital navigation is beneficial.