We are so thankful that this year our dream became a
beautiful reality. We had heard so many
times that Valbona was a spectacular destination deep in the Albanian Alps, but
it has always seemed too remote and out of reach for our family. It being our 10th wedding
anniversary this year, Nik said that we should go to Valbona to celebrate. It took us all summer to figure out how to
get there, but now that we have gone, we have realized it is within reach and
enjoyable for a young family on a limited budget.
Here’s how we did it.
We used Catherine Boehne’s very informative website, www.Journeytovalbona.com to figure
out how to get there, where to stay and what to do while there. She has done a fantastic job of welcoming
foreign visitors to the area, and made it very accessible, and indeed
comfortable!! The depth and breadth of
local information on the website and there at the information center is a
treasure to the visitor who would love to explore the woods and mountains
without getting lost or being attacked by a bear.
Getting there.
Tirana- Vau Dejes – Koman Ferry
We decided as a family that one of the highlights of the
trip would be riding the Koman ferry, so we opted for that longer and more
expensive route just for that. We also
decided that even though gas is outrageously expensive in Europe, we would
still rather take our Landrover than navigate all the slightly complicated
other ways to be taken there. We were
glad we did this as we used our rover a lot up there. With kids, it’s really nice to have a car,
and an SUV is nice to get over some of the bumpier parts of the road. That said, if you don’t have an SUV, I have
heard that the route through
Kosovo is good, and for sure the asphalted roads
in Valbona are also good.
We left at about 7:30am from Tirana, heading for
Shkodra. Before you get to Shkodra,
there is a well-marked turn off to the right leading you to Vau Dejes, and
signs for the Koman ferry. The roads
till this point and a bit beyond are fine, the drivers are a bit mad on the
other hand. About half an hour out from
Vau Dejes, the road starts to get a bit bumpier as you climb through the
mountains, next to the lake. You will
face a good hour of bumpy, slow-going driving till you get to the ferry. With one stop before Vau Dejes for a coffee,
and another stop on the bumpy road next to the lake to throw some stones and
dip our feet in the cool water, we managed to get to the Koman dam and ferry at
11. I recommend getting to the ferry
early so you can snag the best spots up on the deck. The ferry was impeccably clean and
well-staffed. It was also the cheapest
option for getting our car and our family to the other side. We did reserve the spot for our car a day
earlier using their website www.alpin.al. I
would recommend as it does fill up. You can purchase ridiculously priced drinks
and snacks on board, or bring your own lunch as we did. There are plenty of places on the deck or
inside the ferry in the bar café area to sit and eat. There are also really nice and clean
bathrooms – the best I saw the whole trip!!
You’ll need to budget close to 2000 Lek for your vehicle, and 500 Lek a
person older than 6.
The ferry left on time at noon, and the trip took 2 hours,
so we were into the Fierza dock at 2 and finally on the road by 2:15. I recommend sitting as near to the front as
you can to get the best views (up near the Albanian Flag), but you can get up
and move around, and you’ll have people coming to take pictures near you if you
sit where there is a view. At noon, the
sun is really bright so definitely wear sunscreen and a hat, and if you find it
a bit much, feel free to go to the lower deck for a break in the shade. It is a very beautiful trip, so I highly
recommend doing it.
Ferry dock at Fierza – Bajram Curri – Valbone
From the dock at 2:15, it was about a 40 minute ride on good
roads to Bajram Curri, where you will take a sharp right through town to head
out of town and on towards Valbone. As
you climb up into the Valbone Valley, it is a little slower going but the road
is decent and is being worked on. You
will see a Relax Guest house (which I hear is a great place to stay) on your
left, and soon after that, you will see signs for Rilindje on your left.
Catherine mentions several different places to stay including,
of course, her guest houses in Quku i Valbones: Rilindje, the Farmhouse, and
the newest addition, the Rezidenca. We tried to get in at Rilindje, but as we
were going back and forth on email and the phone trying to find the best fit
for our family, we realized that one of the rooms at the hostel-style place,
the Farmhouse, would work best for us. For
our family, it cost 36 Euros with breakfast to have a large room with a big
double bed and bunk beds, and a bathroom down the hall, which ended up being
used only by us. It was comfortable for
us and much roomier and more modern than I had expected from an old farmhouse
in the mountains of Albania. If you do
end up staying at either the Rezidenca or the Farmhouse, you’ll need to budget
a short walk through the woods to meals at Rilindje, which for breakfast was more
like a small hike (about 40 minutes to an hour, depending on how long we spent
picking blackberries along the way). For dinner, we had to have someone go
ahead and drive down so we could avoid having to walk back uphill in the dark
forest, and just drive home after. So,
you’ll definitely want to get a full tank of gas before you go, as you could
drive quite a lot to get to trailheads or visit other places in the valley, and
I didn’t see a gas station around.
Other places to stay would be the Relax (where you are
guaranteed your own bathroom, and you have free camping and wifi), or there are
several small and large operations beyond Quku I Valbones including Hotel
Tradita, where it looks like President Nishani and Ambassador Lu have visited
this year, and Burimi i Valbones, where we had a lovely dinner. All of these places have little cabins and
places for camping.
In all, you are going to be quite comfortable. I never once felt like I was “roughing it”,
though there is a need for a plumber in Valbone. All the bathrooms we visited were similarly well
outfitted with modern amenities that didn’t work well. Leaks, and ill-fitting things all over the
place…
What to eat…
This is the part that is always close to my heart. ;-) The breakfast at Rilindje was absolutely
amazing!!! There was a lovely coffee any
way you like it, eggs to order, crepes, fresh bread and home-made jams. They offer a sizeable packed lunch that if
you are going to do some serious hiking, I would recommend you take, but
otherwise, I recommend you skip lunch altogether as we did every day, and just
have snacks and an early dinner. The
menu at Rilindje catered to both the foreign and Albanian audience. We like traditional Albanian food, and found
some great dishes. I highly recommend
the fresh trout and a dipping sauce called ngjyem as well as fries and a
salad. They did OK with the lamb and the
suxhuk sausage is always welcome to our family.
They didn’t, however, have items that our family would have liked for
some meals such as rice or pasta dishes.
However, we did really enjoy the complimentary bread with olive oil and
salt!
I would recommend packing some apples, some dried fruit and
nuts as well as crackers and cheese as there don’t seem to be any shops
around. I didn’t hear of any place
except the Rezidenca that offers a small kitchenette, and I’m not sure how much
serious cooking you could do there. Plan
to eat all your meals at the restaurants in the valley, or food you can carry
in. Drinks are available, but the great
thing in Valbone is the free, cool local water that you can drink as is. Pack water bottles that you can refill.
What to bring…
Where we stayed, there were towels, sheets and blankets
provided. Bring your toiletries and a
mosquito repellant for your room. Bring
a good pair of walking shoes or hiking boots, and an extra pair of shoes,
sandals and slippers for inside the house.
If not for yourself, your kids will be sure to need a change of shoes
and socks at least once. There are so
many places that they could end up with wet shoes – the river, the trout pond –
you name it, it happened to us. Also in
summer bring clothes for hot weather and hiking, but do pack at least one
long-sleeved shirt and a sweat-shirt/light jacket for chilly mornings and
evenings. Pack swimming gear for a dip in the
river.
If you have a small child, do bring a carrier as this will
be really useful.
What to do…
Thankfully where we stayed there was a lot of information
about trips around the valley, both near and far. Because we stayed a small hike away from
where we ate, we did a lot of walking the path between the two places, as well
as berry-picking and rock climbing close by.
The first full day, it was recommended to us to drive up the
valley toward the trailhead for Theth to see the waterfall. This was a good day activity. We took the landrover much of the way. Half of the journey was nicely asphalted, and
the other half was a rocky river bed that was really slow-going, but doable in
a landrover or other tough SUV. Then, we
walked, following the marked pathway to the waterfall. We did go the wrong way once when we
misunderstood the markings. It’s great
to have the markings and the kids had lots of fun exclaiming every so often “red
mark! We’re on the right track!” We saw
lots of other visitors along the way. We
never felt too alone or lost staying on the path, and neither did we feel there
were too many visitors clogging up the paths.
The walk to the waterfall is steep and rocky in parts, flat and pleasant
in others. A good hike, even with little ones.
Our three year old was carried for this. We enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment on getting
up the the waterfall and we did some scrambling around near it, and then turned
back, stopping at a small café for a Turkish coffee and yoghurt drinks (they
also had soft drinks and juices, but I thought it would be cheaper and better
on the environment to go with unpackaged drinks). There were places to fill up your water
bottles along the way, which we did several times.
The second day we decided to stay closer to Rilindje and try
to explore the river. We got our sandals
and swim suits, and found a little friend to help us locate the best spots on
the river to swim. A tiny hike and we were at the river. Even in mid-summer, this mountain river is
frigid!!! It was painful, but so
beautiful and you could get right back out and warm in the sunshine before
trying again. It was fun, even with little
kids.
Going home…
We decided that since our return journey would take us close
to Shkodra and our family hadn’t been there yet, we would detour a bit and see
the castle. We got up early for a 6:30
breakfast at Rilindje and were on the road by 7:30. We made it to the Fierza ferry in plenty of
time to get the best seats on the boat. The
return journey in the morning was really a lot more pleasant than the journey
going as it was cooler and the sun was on our back and not on our faces. I would recommend going to Valbone through
Kosovo (cheaper and faster), and returning via the ferry and Vau Dejes.
After getting off the ferry, we drove to Vau i Dejes and
then took a different route towards Shkodra.
We were there by 1, at which time we stopped for a wonderful lunch at a
massive castle-esque establishment across the river from the fortress we were
to visit. After a rest and lunch, we
made our way to the castle. The entrance
fee was 200 lek for foreigners and Albanians alike, kids were free.
It was hot up there mid-day in summer!! Hats and plenty of water is a must. There isn’t a great deal to see and now there
are many restricted areas that before I remember visiting, but still there are
fantastic views all around and you can imagine history as you make your way
around the grounds. There is a restaurant
up there if you need a break, and a museum. The bad thing about coming at this
time was the museum was technically closed (2pm-5pm the keeper of the museum
takes his lunch break), but the lady at the gift shop called him and he came
and opened it up just for us. It is a
tiny museum, but fun to visit with kids.
Back at the car, we had finished all our water and so went
back into town in search of cold water.
Once we got that at a little store, we were on our way back to Tirana
via the very scary highway with the impatient drivers and the 100 or more
furniture stores.
We were home by 6 and so thankful for good showers and that
Nik’s dad had made dinner for us!
We were so blessed by our time there and highly recommend it
to families.
