The Peaks of the Balkans trail now draws 43,000 hikers a year - how to walk it

The Peaks of the Balkans, a 119-mile inn-to-inn circular trek through Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro, is busier than ever. A late 2025 study in the Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism puts annual hiker numbers near 43,000, up from roughly 20,000 before the pandemic, and the trail now pumps more than €25 million ($27.7 million) into mountain villages each year.

Conceived in the early 2010s as a cross-border peace and tourism project, the route through the Accursed Mountains was built to reconnect communities splintered by conflict and give families a reason to stay in, or return to, villages hollowed out by emigration. By that measure it has worked: family homes, shepherd settlements and seasonal villages have turned into guesthouses where breakfast means fried eggs, fresh sheep cheese and cucumber-and-tomato salad.

The success has a trade-off. Ricardo Fahrig of Albania-based operator Zbulo says the problem is not the total headcount but where hikers go. "It's not the number of travelers on the Peaks of the Balkans trail, but rather the distribution," he says. Busy Dobërdol strains during the short June-to-September season, while quieter corners like the Rugova Gorge see an estimated 30% or less of that traffic.

Guesthouse owner Blendi Lajqi, whose family returned to Drelaj to open Konaku i Malsorit, puts what the trail has done more simply: "It's brought life back to the land and the house."

How to walk it

The full circuit runs 119 miles (192 km). Most hikers take 10 to 13 days, with shorter 5-to-8-day versions that skip certain stages; expect 5 to 8 hours of walking a day over 8 to 17 miles with real climbs. Fly into Podgorica, Montenegro, or Tirana, Albania, then transfer by shuttle or 4x4 to trailheads in Theth, Valbona or Plav.

Zbulo runs guided and self-guided trips of 8 to 12 days that bundle cross-border permits, guesthouse reservations, meals, luggage transfers and route planning, while independent walkers need date-locked border permits. The season runs June through September and is stretching into October, with September named the sweet spot for weather.