A week after returning from Albania, I was still in the “Cursed Mountains” in my mind, a name apt for the dramatic limestone karst formations and dense beech forests that unfolded before me.
With scenery resembling the Peruvian Andes, it was hard to believe we were only a three hour flight from the UK – these untouched landscapes have almost no signs of civilisation (apart from the growing number of hikers at Valbona Pass).
For a detox from modern life, the valley is dotted with centuries-old kurlas (North Albanian homesteads), perhaps the same ones frequented by Victorian travel writer Edith Durham. In her 1909 travelogue, The Albanian Highlands, Durham wrote that in Teth and its surrounding villages, “time stands still”.
You could say little has changed since then, with a few exceptions: You can now get to the guesthouse by Land Rover Defender taxi rather than mule, and a post-millennium tourism boom has led to a few hotels. Thankfully, blood feuds have become rare, so the isolation towers are now just museums. Of course, there's now hot water and Wi-Fi (unless a storm cuts it off), so it's not entirely off-grid.
Tess Village Church – A place where time seems to stand still (Getty Images)
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The farms there have been passed down through generations and are managed in traditional ways; the family I stayed with still drives their cattle to the high pastures of Tes and back to the foothills of Shkodra to escape the harsh winters. Many like them now open their ancestral homes to hikers, offering rare cultural exchange, farm-to-table home cooking, and captivating rural beauty.
But even in 2024, Tes and Valbona remain relatively isolated from the outside world, and with sections of the road only recently paved, it's quicker to hike between the two passes than to drive.
The natural world is even more unchanged: Much of the forest is so untouched that it could be considered pristine, particularly near the border with Kosovo, and contains trees thought to be over 350 years old. Listening to the chorus of cuckoos, we climbed to the saddle of Valbona Pass (1,800 meters above sea level) and looked down on the prismatic Valbona River, which in June is little more than a thin vein of water flowing through its floodplain and is one of the cleanest rivers in Europe.
The writer reaches the top of Valbona Pass (Laura Saunders)
But Albania's claim to be Europe's last wild frontier is the majestic Vjosa River, the continent's last completely untouched river outside of Russia. Part of it crosses Greece, but most of it crosses Albania, and in 2023 it became the first river to be designated a national park for protection.
Seventy-five percent of Albania is made up of these spectacular landscapes and it's promoted as an affordable, relaxing flight away, but beach bums heading straight for the seaside would be missing out.
Instead, land in Tirana and head north. Within minutes of leaving the airport, you'll be driving through the pastures that are emblematic of the Greek island: orchards, shepherds grazing sheep, and hazy mountains along the skyline. Soak up the views over lunch at Mrizi i Zanave, an award-winning agritourism restaurant where locals flock on weekends. Take a free tour of the wine and cheese shop and learn how the ingredients are produced on-site before dining. There's no menu; you'll be served seasonal produce.
Enjoying authentic Albanian cuisine (Laura Sanders)
A couple of hours further on we reach Shkodra, the eponymous largest lake in southern Europe, which sits on the border with Montenegro. Known as Albania's cycling city, Shkodra is the perfect base for exploring the lake and the Albanian Alps. Not far from there, on a 30-degree June afternoon, I stand-up paddleboard to a nature reserve surrounded by water lilies, my feet sinking into the putty-like lake bottom as I swim. Here, Dalmatians croaked from behind the reeds, and our guide, Dolini, explained how conservation efforts had brought the pelicans back from the brink of extinction. The conversation shifted pace when we giggled at the local name for carp, “krap.” He toyed with us with an English word that means rude in Albanian, but you'll have to find out for yourself.
A little later, I continued my refreshing dip at the resort of Lake Shkodra. After watching the sunset and Montenegro on the opposite shore, I returned to my bell tent and fell asleep to the mating calls of Albanian water frogs. Later in the night, the calls of turtle doves excited me, which I mistook for children laughing in the fields past their bedtime.
The beauty of the lake has long attracted German tourists, but many in Western Europe are still unaware of the hidden beauty of Northern Albania. It was magical to wake up and see the haunted mountains on one side and the Montenegro border on the other. Traveling here is best done slowly; hiking, cycling or paddling around the lake will allow you to experience all it has to offer. Let's hope that even with the increase in tourism, Albania remains wild to its heart.
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There are daily direct flights to Albania's capital, Tirana, from London, Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester.
Laura Saunders was our host for Undiscovered Balkans on a 7-day trip to Northern Albania.
Read more: The best European holiday destinations you can reach by train from London
