8-day self-guided Peaks of the Balkans trek

Eine tolle, gut organisierte Reise. Alles hat für uns gepasst. Nach Valbona über den Koman See unglaublich schön. Die Unterkünfte gut ausgewählt und sauber (Doberol etwas einfach, aber ok). Wir wurden überall lecker/üppig versorgt. Wanderetappen perfekt.

Insgesamt war ich von Albanien fasziniert. Beeindruckende Berglandschaften, freundliche Menschen, modernes und sauberes Tirana. Erschreckend fand ich, vor allem auf dem Land, die Mengen an Plastikmüll in der Natur, in den Flüssen und entlang der Straßen.

I would absolutely recommend this trip! The experience was magnificent from beginning to end and exceeded all of my expectations.

The route is breathtaking, and the whole experience of doing the trek was truly special. Everything was incredibly well organized, from the itinerary and self-guided materials to the transfers, accommodations, meals and support along the way.

Even though it is a self-guided trek, I always felt supported and safe. Every reception we had was warm and welcoming, and all the people involved were extremely kind and helpful.

I was also pleasantly surprised by the food. At first, some of the meals looked a little unusual to me, but once I tried them, I absolutely loved them!

I honestly loved every single part of this experience. If you are considering doing this trip, go for it — you will have an unforgettable experience!

Excellent logistics, great accommodation, fantastic hospitality, delicious food, incredible walks and views, and high quality self-guiding materials made this a brilliant holiday. Go to Albania now to experience pristine forests, quiet trails and fabulous local hospitality.

The whole thing was incredible, a true once in a lifetime trip. The organisation, accommodation and meals were all brilliant and the route and scenery were also fantastic. Zbulo’s self guided materials were impressively comprehensive. Albania is a brilliant country from the cities to the mountains and is well worth the experience.

Everything was fantastic. I was initially concerned about how things would work when we arrived in Albania but everything was covered. The information was superb, materials were spot on. Transfers were all on-time and excellent. Accommodation choices were really good in context, generally excellent. Communication was also excellent throughout. The key take-away for me is that Zbulo had everythnig covered and you were able to rely upon them. In fact, it was a much more sophisticated operation than I was expecting.

It was an amazing trip, very well organized with Zbulo. The Hikes are beautiful, the GPS really self explenatory. The hosts were all really friendly with great hospitality. If you had questions you could contact Zbulo easly and they could help. I am really happy with the trip!

We had a great experience with Zbulo’s 8-day Peaks of the Balkan self guided trek. The logistics worked seamlessly, everyone was super helpful and we truly enjoyed the trails. We didn’t use the the small gps device at all, Gaia GPS app in our mobile phones was perfect.

Precisa l’organizzazione, l’assistenza pre-viaggio con un dettagliato libro che descrive gli itinerari, il tragitto e la pianificazione. Consiglio comunque di scaricare la traccia nello smartphone e aprirla con applicazioni che permettano una navigazione offline. Per noi è stato molto più facile seguire la traccia in questo modo.

It was a perfectly organized trip—from our arrival and the warm welcome to the drives, transfers, and accommodations. I could list countless things, but truly everything was organized to perfection. Every single detail, no matter how small, was thought of. For example, we received luggage tags for the baggage transport that clearly stated our next destination, ensuring that nothing could get lost. We were also provided with detailed itineraries including contact phone numbers for everyone assisting us along our tour. Everything went flawlessly, and the drivers were always punctual to the minute. I highly recommend this agency. We have taken many trips to countries all over the world, and this was by far the best organization we have ever experienced.

Self-guided trip with Zbulo was well worth the money spent. Zbolu uses their experience, knowledge and relationships to take the guesswork out of booking this trip independently. All the staff were met and dealt with were professional and freindly.

Excellent coordination by Zbulo from preparation to end. We were not entirely aware that our main bags would be transported FOR us from hut to hut. While this was great, I would have prepared a little differently, making sure I had a proper day pack and then packed all else in a duffle. The food was pretty good and varied throughout, so no complaints there. And all hosts were accommodating and lovely. This was an great 8 day trip!

Best trip ever!

We absolutely loved our trip. Zbulo were amazing from start to finish and we commented to so many people that even through little niggles in transport/scheduling, Zbulo were so responsive, helpful and friendly. We felt like their only customers at the time!

Before we left, the team were outstanding in helping plan our trip, accommodating our extra nights to achieve the extra walks we wanted to include (outwith the self guided tour). Answering even what we know now were silly questions with detail and politeness.

On the trip, the team were always on hand and sorted out any issues we had really quickly

While the kit given was good, we preferred to use the Gaia app (recommended by Zbulo) with the GPX files provided as this worked best for us.

The guesthouses were all immaculate and the most welcoming people ever! The food and accommodation was way above what I expected with great meals, towels, comfy beds – exactly what tired walkers needed

Highly recommend the self guided option. They took care of all the logistics which left us free to concentrate on the hike. The self guided option provides support but also allows us to be flexible. It was reassuring to know Zbulo were there for support whenever we needed, and we needed it. Highly recommend!

Special thanks to Arsina, Ricardo, the drivers and accommodation hosts for their exceptional service. We can’t thank you enough

Overall, I was extremely satisfied with the trip and the organization!

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You have to be aware that Albania is still under development, and not everything is the same as in Germany. Some cars are very old and no longer roadworthy by German standards.

The food isn’t very varied either, but you get beautiful scenery, super friendly and reliable people, and a very fair price.

From first contact to the final day of our holiday, Zbulo Communications, logistics and arrangements worked perfectly. . Email contact was very good; we slightly tailored the holiday and Zbulo helped. All the staff, whether drivers or those at the base, were respectful and quick to respond. All of us in the group, six friends, would utterly, without any reservation, recommend Zbulo

Zbulo catered a great experience for our small group. All the accomodations were very comfortable, and the trail itself was amazing. We appreciated the value of the Zbulo experience compared to other companies we looked into. Would highly recommend!

Die Wanderreise “Peaks of the Balkans” war wunderschön, die Natur wild und die Menschen sehr gastfreundlich. Die Organisation rund um die Unterkünfte und den Gepäcktransport funktionierte einwandfrei. Die Wanderungen selbst sind teils gemütlich, teils anstrengend und herausfordernd, aber immer gut machbar. Alles in einem eine tolle Erfahrung, welche wir absolut weiter empfehlen können.

We went on a family trek along the Peak of the Balkans route, and everything was absolutely perfect thanks to Zbulo.
The accommodations were carefully selected, the food was delicious, and the equipment and instructions for doing the strek independently were perfectly suited.
The suggested itineraries were varied, stunning, and a real pleasure to hike.
We shared wonderful moments together as a family.
A huge thank you to the whole team — we highly recommend Zbulo without hesitation!

Wow, this self-guided Peaks of the Balkans Tour by Zbulo completely exceeded our expectations. The actual trekking, remoteness and beauty of the location was breathtaking from beginning to end. It’s amazing that places like this still exist. The Autumn colors were as if out of a painting. It was my first time doing a self-guided tour, and I must say Zbulo did a 10/10 job. Everything ran so smoothly from start to end that even I was surprised. The transfers were prompt, the staff were friendly, the accommodation was cozy, and the food delicious. The GPX tracks also make life much easier out in the wilderness. We had one day with heavy rain where Zbulo immediately made alternative arrangements for us. They were also available via phone or WhatsApp. So thank you Zbulo for this trip of a lifetime. And folks before it’s too late, don’t miss out.

Zbulo is the best! They always answered my emails with stellar response times, and bent over backwards to create a custom itinerary that fit our needs. On top of that, half way through the trip we asked to extend our itinerary by a day (because we needed to squeeze in one more beautiful hike), and they pulled the strings to make it happen. Their coordination of details was flawless and made it so we could just relax and enjoy the amazing food, scenery and people. I would highly recommend trusting your itinerary to their capable staff. Albania is amazing.

I would strongly recommend booking a hiking tour with Zbulo for the following reasons:
-Very responsive communication, both before the, during and after the trip.
-Very receptive to tailoring the trip to your needs and preferences.
-Their expert understanding of the region, in both Albania and beyond, ensures you going to the best places, both in terms of walking but also accommodation and restaurants.
-Helpful materials given for the trip such as paper guides, maps and a Garmin ensures there was a balance on our self-guided trip of doing it ourselves with expert support in the background.

I would strongly recommend booking a hiking tour with Zbulo for the following reasons:
-Very responsive communication, both before the, during and after the trip.
-Very receptive to tailoring the trip to your needs and preferences.
-Their expert understanding of the region, in both Albania and beyond, ensures you going to the best places, both in terms of walking but also accommodation and restaurants.
-Helpful materials given for the trip such as paper guides, maps and a Garmin ensures there was a balance on our self-guided trip of doing it ourselves with expert support in the background.

The Albanian travel company Zbulo organised all the pick ups and luggage transfers seamlessly. The scenery and walking were absolutely superb, with wonderful wild flowers on the way. The walking was challenging at times mainly due to the unusually hot weather. We were unwell for a day or two and met quite a few other walkers who had also been unwell. We were worried that this might have been the water that we were encouraged to drink. We were a bit disappointed with the site at Doberdol where we stayed. We had walked all day and arrived at a construction site! The owners were adding to the accommodation. The existing facilities were not great and probably need an upgrade. Also we actually checked into another guesthouse when we arrived at Babino Polje as the site owners were in the middle of building works and renovations and the site was a bit of a mess, so we spent the night at the next door guesthouse. The owners of the guesthouses were on the whole charming and very welcoming and we met some interesting fellow travellers. Navigation was at times difficult. The route is not always reliably way marked, the GPS supplied is very small. Fortunately we managed to navigate using the Outdooractive App that you recommended and the GPX files you sent, so thank you for that. The only published map is not great. Your info pack was very helpful and the printed copy you gave us was very useful as you cannot always reliably use your mobile. Overall an amazing and unforgettable experience.

Diese Wanderung war ein fantastisches Erlebnis. Die Etappen waren wunderschön und abwechslungsreich. Die (Gepäck-) Transfers verliefen reibungslos. Die Unterkünfte waren teilweise sehr einfach, jedoch stets sauber und gepflegt und zeichneten sich durch grosse Gastfreundschaft aus. Die Verpflegung war hervorragend, immer traditionell und hausgemacht, und es gab reichlich zu essen. Wir können diese Tour wärmstens empfehlen. Danke Eurotrek! Zur Info: Die Angaben zu Etappe Tag 6 von Vusanje nach Theth, die schönste der ganzen Tour, weichen stark von unseren aufgezeichneten Daten ab. Laut diesen ist Etappe 25 km lang und hat 940 Höhenmeter.

The friendliness and hospitality of the people/hosts we met. It was nice to be in a country that is not yet jaded by over tourism. Trails were in great shape . Scenery of course- next time I would add some more peak bagging to the agenda- this trip we had time restraints

Organization is superb, POB can easily be done self guided for those with experience but definitely recommend that they have your company do the logistics re accommodation and transport

hier meine Rückmeldung zu unserer Tour. Es war alles super organisiert und insgesamt eine schöne Route. Auch die Guesthouses und das Essen waren mit einer Ausnahme sehr gut. Nun zur Ausnahme. Die Unterkunft in Doberdol ist ein absolutes No Go mit unsauberen, runtergekommenen und zu wenig Sanitäranlagen. Obwohl in einigen aktuellen Rezensionen bereits die Probleme mit zahlreichen Duchfallerkrankungen benannt werden, auch unser Guide wusste davon, wurden wir trotzdem dort eingebucht, obwohl es weiter oben eine schöne Alternative gegeben hätte. Die Folge war, dass es mir danach einen Tag so schlecht ging, dass ich eine Etappe abbrechen musste und mich am nächsten Tag über die Tour geschleppt habe. Das hätte wirklich nicht sein müssen, ist nicht akzeptabel und hat mich sehr geärgert.
Anders als von Ihnen angekündigt, hatten wir zudem fast jede Nacht ein Dreibettzimmer.
Thema Guide. Genti kannte den Weg, klar, und hat uns nach der Tour sogar noch mit bis in den Süden zu unserem Guesthouse gebracht. Das war sehr zuvorkommend. Ansonsten waren Erklärungen eher die Ausnahme und Fragen eher unerwünscht bzw. wurden sie zuweilen auch abgebügelt. Der Begriff dafür lautet „schnöselhaft“. Das war manchmal nicht so schön. Fazit: Insgesamt eine ganz gute Tour, aber buchen würden wir wohl nicht mehr.
Grüße, Matthias und Katharina

The Peja pass from Montenegro crossing back into Theth.

The valley circuit walk (can’t remember the name).

The peak of the mountain that is where the 3 borders meet

The hotel in Vusanje (super clean, good food, amazing views)

It’s very beautiful and is fun and challenging trekking. You meet great people and its fun all sitting down to dinner together in the evenings. The place is being developed fast so get there quick. Some of the accommodation and food is quite basic and some of the driving is dangerous (no seat belts or head rests driving fast on mountain roads). Overall I’d recommend it for people looking for an adventurous trip.

It’s so hard to choose!! For me the trails were just perfect. The routes are stunning, the aspects are gorgeous, the climbs are strenuous but rewarding. Hiking from Cerem to Doberdol was probably my favourite day – so varied and truly beautiful. The wildlife and biodiversity we saw was amazing and made us feel so happy and appreciative. We also appreciated the sensitivity to some of the conflict heritage that is still visible.

The majority of the accommodation is carefully chosen and the hosts are tremendously welcoming and relaxed. Our night in Theth was particularly special. The food (except the food poisoning) was great.

We loved how quiet some parts of the trails are – sometimes we could walk for several hours and not meet anybody. The level of effort, detail and consideration in the guidebook was very clear and we felt like we had chosen a company with a deep passion and love for this region, which really was special. The company is clearly very organised and with large and comprehensive networks.

We’d say it’s absolutely perfect if you are not very experienced hikers and you would benefit from the levels of organisation that are provided, and the sense of safety and wellbeing that we received from knowing there were people out there somehow looking out for us who we could contact in an emergency. We are fairly fit (usually bikepacking) but not experienced with hiking, so we felt confident with the physical challenge but not so much with the environment. This really gave us more confidence that in the future we can approach through-hiking ourselves and also where our knowledge and competence needs to improve. We travelled in a pair but we could see how so many families and groups were benefitting from the expertise of Zbulo – and sometimes we could see the big group tours and for a solo traveller I would recommend this in a heartbeat.

The downsides are a relative lack of flexibility and independence. When I became sick, if we had been independent then we probably would just extend our stay in the accommodation so that we could continue hiking and save some money, instead of needing to keep up with the tour. This isn’t at all a criticism of the company (!) as Ricardo was brilliant and so helpful, it’s just a reflection of some of the ways that there is a flipside to all the great positives 🙂

Vusanje (even though we were ill we were absolutely grateful to have had an additional night there), hike to Doberdol and hike from Vusanje to Theth

Bring travelsheets for Doberdol and Babino Polje and give nearly everything into the transported luggage

Hiking in Albania is absolutely stunning. The hike was more navigable, beautiful, and safer than we had imagined. My partner and I did the self-guided tour, and it was a great option. The trails are easy to follow, and the route zbulo sends you on differs from what the majority of hikers are doing. It was very nice to have a few day hikes away from all the other hikers. Zbulo does a great job at providing detailed information for you to travel on your own stress-free, without much work. I can not stress how gorgeous Albania is.
-As a side note, we saw other group tours, and that would NOT have been a good fit for us. If you feel comfortable outdoors and prefer a more peaceful hiking setting, I highly recommend doing a self-guided tour over a group tour.

My partner and I were blown away by Ricardo and the team. There is so much co-ordination and organisation that went into our trip but it went so smoothly. Even when we felt sick we were offered alternative routes in order to continue our travel. All the guest houses were well run by lovely families with delicious food. The peaks themselves were absolutely awe-inspiring. We would not hesitate to book again.

From the moment we booked The Natural Adventure Company kept in touch all the way. Met with delightful local company who gave clear directions . Luggage transfer was spot n. Accommodation as expected… wonderful local hosts who made us so welcome. Walking tough bit graded as expected . I would recommend to this holiday to fit walkers

A fantastic experience exploring the Balkans. Incredible food, wonderful people and spectacular views. Loved the guesthouses a along the way. Enrich was wery helpful when we needed to change plans due to weather. Saw lots of fantastic flora and fauna on the trip.

The friendly Albanian people

The exceptional scenery

The camping in Doberdol was superfun

The dayhike in the national park

– Stressing that they should not forget warm clothing. It gets colder in the mountains at night, even if it is hot during the day.

– Know how to work a gps. Necessary since the trail is not always visibly marked.

Hugging albanian animals 😉

It’s such a diamond this tour, I don’t know if I want to make a hype out of it and tell to many people. I’m worried that there will be too many tourists and it will loose its authenticity. But anyways:

– if you have hiking experience it’s easy

– please do know how to work a gps (elderly people?)

– during the day it’s hot but at night it’s cold => wear layers and be prepared for unexpected rain

The Zbulo organisation from beginning to end! The guides from the other groups were amazing; Agon and the other guide really made the extra effort to ask us how everything was going, whether we needed anything and just to be so incredibly friendly and interested. We loved doing the trek by ourselves and alos the kids enjoyed ecery minute and this was definitively a result of the friendly people we met on the way: the hosts of accomodations, the guides, the locals etc. Stunning nature, fabulous people and great organisation!!

Dont underestimate the difficulty of the trek each day but remember all along: it’s worth every sweaty effort- it’s a lifechanging and amazing experience!

Personally for me it was stay in Babino Polje. The place was insanely beautiful (both the accomodation and the green hills), exceptional food and very friendly host.

I really liked all the people of the Albania, felt really welcomed, everybody were always smiling, ready to help, polite.

Other my friends really enjoyed the boat ride in fjord (it was almost magical with thunderstorm), lake in the mountains near Babino Polje, local food (although we got eventually tired of the same cheese).

Unfortunately we encountered very bad weather. We had to leave our rucksaks at the boat soaking in the rain. Fortunately, we had raincovers, but we were still worried about our things getting wet.

The very good gear is essential! Waterproof and windproof jacket, warm clothes, decent hiking shoes, cover for backpack. Consider also taking raincover, thermos.

Hikes overall are very easy, I think it is suitable even for first-timers, but the gear should really be appropriate.

The campfire in Doberdol together with the daughter from the guest family Nela and of course the overnight in the wooden cabins in Babino Polje and the hiking trail from Moonlight guesthouse over the pass to Theth.

It doesn’t make sense to buy a prepaid card for Albania as mostly there is no signal and in the meantime most of the accommodations have already Wifi.

I can highly recommend Zbulo and his team which is extremely organized, very friendly and high professional. We had a great time at our self guided trip in Albania and Montenegro. The given hardware worked absolutely fine and we didn’t had any problems with the itinerary. The accommodation were always very welcome and clean. Every single transfer was extremely punctual and we felt so safe within the wilderness of the mountains.Thanks Ricardo, Endrit and Leonora for your great job, well done!!

We had a wonderful time in the mountains of Albania and Montenegro. Our tour was perfectly organised, all transfers were absolutely on time and reliable. The route and description were very good. The accommodation was typical for the country, clean and we were always very warmly welcomed. The food was always typical of the country, plentiful, fresh and very tasty. All in all, excellent and highly recommended.