•GSTC CertifiedSince 1991
Walking & trekking in Albania

Walk the quiet side of the Accursed Mountains.

Guided group treks and self-guided journeys through high pastures, shepherds’ paths and family-run guesthouses — on the side of the mountains the crowds haven’t found.

See the treks →Plan a private walk

Sondor Travel is a family-run tour operator in Tirana, walking in Albania and the Western Balkans since 1991. We run guided and self-guided treks in the Albanian Alps and the border country of Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia. We run multi-country walks along the Via Dinarica and Peaks of the Balkans through Albania, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Bosnia. Bookable now: the Albanian Alps Trek (8 days, guided, from €1,290), the Albanian Alps Self-Guided Trek (8 days, from €895) and the Peaks of the Balkans (13 days, guided from €1,890 or self-guided on request), all from Tirana with transfers, nights, most meals and luggage included. Walking in the south — the Riviera coast paths, Korçë, Ersekë and Përmet, and the new Shepherds’ Trail — we design to order, outside the summer heat. We are the ground operator behind international walking brands, GSTC-certified, the first in Albania. We walked these mountains before anyone drew a trail on them — since 1991.

Guided & self-guided · Albania and the Western Balkans · One family since 1991
The quiet side

The famous corridor gets the crowds. Our routes climb the ridgelines and summer pastures beyond it.

Two ways to walk

A guided group with a local leader, or self-guided at your own pace — same mountains, your choice of freedom.

Home ground

Our family is from Tropojë. You walk valleys we have known all our lives.

The promise

The Accursed Mountains earned their name from travellers, not from the people who live here — up here you are handed coffee before you are asked your name.

This is walking as Europe used to have it: paths made by shepherds rather than tourist boards, passes where the only sound is bells, nights in guesthouses where dinner is whatever the valley produced that day. One trail through these mountains has become famous — so we walk the others, routes we have built over thirty-five years, linking the valleys and pastures that stay quiet all summer.

The treks

Three treks through the quiet mountains.

All three are point-to-point journeys — valley to valley on foot, your bags moved ahead of you, every detail handled by our own team on the ground.

Albanian Alps Trek: 8 Days on the Quiet Side of the Accursed Mountains
8 days · Guided group

Albanian Alps Trek: 8 Days on the Quiet Side of the Accursed Mountains

Walking days
5
Grade
Demanding
Group
Up to 16
From €1,290
See the trek →Ask about dates
Albanian Alps Self-Guided Trek: The Quiet Side at Your Own Pace
8 days · Self-guided

Albanian Alps Self-Guided Trek: The Quiet Side at Your Own Pace

Walking days
5
Dates
Any, in season
From
2 walkers
From €895
See the trek →Ask about dates
Peaks of the Balkans: 13 Days Across Albania, Kosovo & Montenegro
13 days · Guided or self-guided

Peaks of the Balkans: 13 Days Across Albania, Kosovo & Montenegro

The big one: ten walking days and three borders crossed on foot — guided departures or self-guided.

Walking days
10
Grade
Challenging
Countries
3
Group
Up to 16
From €1,890
Self-guided on request
See the trek →Ask about dates

Different dates, different pace, your own group?

Every trek flexes — and we design walking journeys from scratch, from village-to-village rambles to full traverses.

Tell us your walk →
Two formats, one operator

The same mountains. Your kind of freedom.

Guided

Walk guided if…

You want a local leader who knows every shepherd and spring on the route, a guided group of up to sixteen — the mountain has room — and company at the dinner table. Solo walkers are very welcome; many of our guests come alone.

Self-guided

Walk self-guided if…

You want the trail to yourselves, your own pace and your own dates. You follow our route notes and maps, briefed in person in Tirana, while we move your bags and stay a phone call away. From two walkers.

Either way — the same guesthouses, the same food, airport transfers included, and the same family in Tirana behind every day of it.

Where we walk

The Alps, three borders, the Dinarides and the south.

Walkers on a mountain path above the Valbona valley

The Alps border country

Valbona, Dobërdol, Sylbicë, Tropojë. Our home ground: Sondor's owner, Dorien Malaj, grew up in Bajram Curri, below these pastures. Summer, cool, bookable.

A walker on a rocky outcrop high above the summer pastures

Three borders on foot

Peaks of the Balkans: Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro. 13 days, guided or self-guided, bookable.

A line of walkers following the shore of a clear mountain lake

Via Dinarica

Albania to Montenegro, Dubrovnik, Mostar, Sarajevo. Trnovačko lake, Sutjeska. Tailor-made.

Walkers resting on a ridge with cloud breaking over the peaks

High Scardus

Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia. Tailor-made.

Walkers descending towards grazing herds on a green mountain pasture

The south

Korçë, Ersekë, Përmet and the Shepherds' Trail from Konispol to Korçë. Spring and autumn. Tailor-made.

Walkers crossing open summer pastures below rocky peaks

The coast

Riviera walks, October–November and March–June. Tailor-made.

The trails have names now. The routes we walk are our own — designed, tested and run by the same family for thirty-five years.

A typical day

Long days, early starts, very good dinners.

You leave after breakfast, climb through forest into open pasture, eat lunch against a stone wall somewhere with a view, and come down into the next valley in the late afternoon. Every metre is walked — no ropes, no technical ground — but these are real mountain days.

Walking time
5–7 hrs
Ascent
700–1,000 m
Terrain
Shepherd paths & passes
Underfoot
Proper boots required
Group
Up to 16 guided
Season
May — October in the Alps; spring and autumn in the south
A line of walkers following the shore of a clear mountain lake
Where you sleep, where you eat

Guesthouses with grandmothers, huts with shepherds.

Nights split between family-run valley guesthouses and simple huts on the high pastures. This is the honest version of the Alps: hot water and home cooking in the valleys, wood stoves and blankets on the heights, and dinner everywhere from within a few kilometres of the table.

The huts are small — that is why our groups stay at a size the huts can host — and they are the nights people write to us about afterwards.

Walkers resting and eating lunch along the wall of a stone shepherd's hut
Your guides

Walk with Bleard.

Every guided departure goes out with Bleard — Tirana-born, trained to the standard of the international brands we work for, and on these trails all season. He knows which pass still holds snow in June, which spring runs coldest, and which guesthouse will cook late for a slow group. He sets the day’s pace to the walkers in front of him, and stays with you from airport to airport.

Every Sondor guide is chosen for the same three things — organisation, character and the ability to lead a group — and keeps the job only by proving it on the trail.

Bleard, Sondor's lead walking guide, on a ridge above a lake in the Albanian mountains
Who it’s for

For walkers, not mountaineers — but real walkers.

You need no technical skills and no ropes — every metre is walked. You do need to be comfortable walking five to seven hours a day on mountain paths, several days running, with some steep ground. If you hike regularly at home, you will thrive here. If you are not sure, write to us honestly and we will answer honestly — including telling you if this is not the right trek for you yet, and what would be.

Good to know

Experience
Regular hill-walking
Solo travellers
Welcome on guided
Guides
Local, trained to international standards
Luggage
Moved for you
Combine with
Any Sondor itinerary
How tailor-made works

You bring the group. We read the mountain.

1

Tell us your shape

Dates, group, and how many hours a day you actually enjoy walking.

2

We design it

Day-by-day route, real walking times, the right bases and a clear price.

3

We refine together

More height? More villages? A rest day by the lake? We adjust until it fits.

4

You walk, we handle

Beds, bags, meals, transfers — and a plan B when the weather argues.

Walkers resting on a ridge with cloud breaking over the peaks
Before you ask

The questions walkers actually send us.

  • Which company runs guided hiking tours in the Albanian Alps?

    Sondor Travel, from Tirana, since 1991. We run our own guided and self-guided treks and operate on the ground for international walking brands. Our guides are local; our office is a phone call away every day of the trek.

  • How fit do I need to be?

    Comfortable with five to seven hours a day on mountain trails, several days in a row. Regular hill-walkers are fine. If you are newer to this, ask us about a gentler tailor-made route — we would rather build the right trip than sell you the wrong one.

  • Can I come alone?

    Yes. The guided trek suits solo walkers well and many join alone. The single supplement is €120 in the valley guesthouses; nights in the mountain huts are shared. The self-guided trek runs from two walkers.

  • Who carries my luggage?

    We do — by vehicle between the valley bases, and by packhorse up to the mountain huts. You walk with a day pack.

  • When should I go?

    Summer belongs to the north: at 1,500–2,000 m it is cool while the rest of the country is 35°C. The south and the coast walk best in April–June and September–November. We will say honestly if your month and your region do not match.

  • Do I need a guide in the Albanian Alps?

    Not on the valley routes, which are waymarked and where our self-guided trek works well. On the high pastures and ridgelines the paths are shepherd paths, so we send a guide — that is why the guided trek goes there and the self-guided one keeps to routes you can follow with our notes.

  • Can I combine Albania with Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia or Bosnia?

    Yes. Three of our walks cross borders on foot; we hold the permits and move the bags across. All four countries are ground we have walked with groups.

  • Is this the Theth–Valbona hike?

    No. Theth–Valbona is one day and now crowded; our treks walk the valleys and pastures beyond it over five days. We can add Theth on request, but we no longer recommend it.

  • What does a week of walking in Albania cost?

    With us, €895–1,290 per person for 8 days, including nights, most meals, transfers and luggage. Cheaper offers usually mean guesthouses only, no luggage transfer or no one to call. Flights and insurance are extra.

  • Why Sondor?

    Details. We have run the same walks for international brands for over a decade, so the processes behind each day are tested: the right guide, the right hut, the bags where they should be, a plan B when the weather argues. And we know the whole Western Balkans, not one valley.

  • How do I get there, and how far ahead should I book?

    Fly to Tirana; we collect you at the airport, drive north and, where the route allows, take the Koman Lake ferry. Book early — the guesthouses and huts are small and summer weeks fill first.

For tour operators

Add Albania to your walking programme.

Sondor operates as a full ground handler for international walking operators: routes, guides, permits, accommodation and in-country support, trusted by leading European brands for decades.

For partners →
Start planning

Tell us how you like to walk.

Your dates, your group, your hours per day — we’ll come back with the right route, real walking times and a clear price. And if the season is wrong for what you have in mind, we’ll say so.

Send your enquiry →