Theth National Park

Theth National Park tickets and tours: which one to book

Theth is the valley village at the heart of the Albanian Alps, three hours from Shkodër and five from Tirana by a road that was paved only in 2021, and its park is visited on hiking tours from both cities and on the classic two-day trek from Valbona. The day tours from Tirana and Shkodër drive up over the Thore pass, walk to the Blue Eye, the turquoise pool in the Kaprre gorge two hours south of the village, and to the Grunas waterfall, and drive back in the evening; it is a long day in the vehicle for a few hours in the valley and is the option only for people without time.

The two-day tours stay in a guesthouse in Theth, add the Blue Eye and the waterfall at a walking pace, and the three-day versions do the Valbona to Theth hike over the pass, which is the Balkans' most popular walk: the ferry across the Koman lake, a night in Valbona, the six- to eight-hour crossing of the Valbona pass at 1,800 metres and a night in Theth, sold as guided or self-guided packages with the transport, the guesthouses and the luggage transfer arranged; the self-guided version with a map is enough for the fit, since the path is marked. The kayak-and-hike tours add the Koman lake. There is no park entrance fee. Independent visitors take the minibus from Shkodër to Theth, stay in a guesthouse and walk the trails on their own, which is how most people do it.

Visiting Theth National Park: what you will see

The park was created in 1966 and covers about 26 square kilometres of the Theth valley at the head of the Shala river in the Prokletije, the Accursed Mountains, whose limestone walls rise to 2,500 metres on every side; it is now part of the wider Albanian Alps national park declared in 2022. The village of Theth is a scattering of stone houses with steep roofs across the valley floor among fields and walnut trees, with the small church of 1892 in the middle, the Lock-in Tower, a kulla where men hunted under the blood feud of the Kanun could shelter, and the old mill on the river; it was closed to foreigners under the communist regime and its road was a track until recently, which kept it as it was. The walks from the village are the park: the Grunas waterfall, a thirty-metre drop from a cliff an hour south, and the Grunas canyon below it;

the Blue Eye, a spring pool of glacial-blue water in a gorge of the Kaprre stream two to three hours south past the hamlet of Nderlysa, where the swimming is icy; the Valbona pass trail climbing north-east through beech forest to the saddle with the whole valley below; and the Peja pass and the trails to the Kosovo border for the long-distance Peaks of the Balkans route. The mountains hold brown bears, wolves, lynx, chamois and the golden eagle, none easily seen, and the Shala river runs blue-green over white stones the length of the valley. The guesthouses serve the food of the valley, cheese, lamb, corn bread and raki, and the villagers' hospitality, which the Kanun made a duty, is the reason people come back.

Theth National Park: best time to go, seasons and hours

The park is open at all times; the Thore pass road is closed by snow from about November to April, when the valley is reached only on foot or by 4×4 in good conditions, and the guesthouses mostly close. The season runs from May to October, with June and September the best months, with flowers or autumn colour, clear skies and bearable heat;

July and August are hot in the valley, with thunderstorms in the afternoons and the trails and guesthouses busy with the Valbona crossing; May and October are quiet with the risk of snow on the pass. Start the Blue Eye walk early to swim before the crowds arrive at midday. Allow two nights in Theth, three with the Valbona crossing. Shkodër is the base, the Koman lake ferry the approach to Valbona, and Kosovo's Rugova valley is over the passes to the east.