Theth - Valbona o Valbonë

Here we finally bring you our route through the Valbona Pass, but well, without it pouring rain like the time we crossed to reach Theth. This time we are going back from Theth to Valbona to recover the van and continue visiting Albania.

We leave from the guesthouse where we were on the outskirts of Theth, and in no time we are in the town and at the beginning of the climb to the top of Valbona. Here we pass by a small shop where we can buy bread (buk in Albanian) for the road (the worst bread we bought in the whole country...)

Here the route crosses some beautiful beech forests, and the fact that the forest is quite closed is appreciated, since the climb is steep and not going with the sun on your neck is a very good thing, since even if it is early it is already quite warm. As I say, the beech forest is beautiful, and when we leave it we can enjoy the views in some clearings halfway up the slope, which allow us to see the entire front of the mountains that surround the valley of Theth.

We will continue climbing for a while longer through beech forests until the landscape becomes more high mountain, with more rock and low vegetation appearing, until we reach the top and we can see Valbona on the other side. A spectacular view. But we didn't just stop at that, since on the way we couldn't enjoy the landscape, we decided to climb a small peak that is practically in the mountain pass, and that offers us even broader views.

The descent to the Valbona side is steeper than that to the Theth side. It runs through steeper terrain between rock and rocks, and in this area the forest is much lower down. Of course, this being the case allows us to enjoy the views of the valley during much of the descent, in which there are in fact several natural viewpoints distributed. After the rock come the meadows and low vegetation, until you reach the forest, which is much sparser than the one on the other side. Furthermore, in the lower part, once you reach the first houses, there are many fruit trees flanking the path, mainly plum trees, which if you agree, produce very delicious fruit.

And from here we have little left, to go out to the field that is the bed of the river that in September comes completely dry and to arrive at the van, moments before it started to rain, quite a challenge...

In short, a spectacular route through the landscapes that can be enjoyed, both in the panoramic views it offers us, and crossing the mountain itself and its forests. It is a route with a lot of unevenness, but very little technical difficulty since it goes on track for a long stretch and on very good roads for the rest, so it is suitable for anyone who is fit to enjoy the Dinaric Alps, a beautiful region of Albania .

We leave you a video that we recorded of the route, with more images so that you have more information: