TIRANA, May 28 – New hiking and biking long-distance trails linking Albania to neighboring Kosovo are being developed as part of the Via Dinarica Western Balkans tour which the National Geographic has rated as one of the world’s top five hot new hiking and biking trails.
The majority EU-funded €445,000 two-year project that has already kicked off will develop two new hiking and biking long-distance trails that will connect Kosovo and its cross-border Bjeshkà«t e Nemuna (Accursed Mountains) and the Kosovo municipalities of Gjakova, Deà§an, Junik and Peja to northern Albania’s municipalities of Kukà«s and Lezha regions, the EU Delegation to Albania says in a statement.
“The development of these trails will contribute to enrich the tourism offer that links mountain communities and tourism stakeholders in the target region for the valorization of unique natural wealth and cultural-historic heritage. Furthermore, the project would increase attractiveness of the area for visitors through small-scale interventions and effective promotion and marketing of the destination,” says the EU Delegation.
The project is expected to significantly contribute to the development of mountain and sustainable tourism in northern Albania, the country’s hotspot for adventure travelers, and further promote cross-border tourism in a region that remains quite undiscovered to adventure travelers. It comes as a continuation of the previous concepts of Via Dinarica and Peaks of the Balkans that inter-connects Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo and Albania through over 1000km of uninterrupted long-distance trails.
Valbona and Theth are the main destinations on the Via Dinarica section in Albania.
“For anyone who’s ever dreamed of being a 19th century naturalist explorer the mountains of northern Albania is heaven. A wild, high, mountainous region inhabited by strong and fiercely independent people, the Malà«si (Highlands) has for the history of Albania been the region which was never really conquered or subdued by the various waves of invaders during the last 2,000 years of Balkan history,” the Via Dinarica says on its portal.
The National Geographic has rated Via Dinarica, which in 2017 was completely mapped with stage information from a growing community of hikers, among the top five new hiking and biking trails.
“A European odyssey, the Via Dinarica runs like a rocky backbone along the Western Balkans. It starts in the peaks of northern Albania, winding its way through five countries before ending in Slovenia. The challenging White Trail is already beckoning — at 782 miles, it takes in some of the highest summits, with a combined ascent of nearly 170,000ft. Take a tent, or check-in at highland huts and farm-stays,” says UK’s National Geographic about the Balkan Via Dinarica.
The Vogue magazine has also earlier recommended Via Dinarica among the 9 destinations every adventurous women should visit.
“Trekkers can experience the rich, cultural heritage of the region during homestays in local villages and mountaintop or seaside huts. The 128-mile route weaves through the unexplored region, where limestone peaks meet the Adriatic Sea and views of glacier-fed lakes prove frequent. If you prefer to cycle the Balkans, opt for a spot on The Odyssey with TDA Global Cycling, a seven-week tour from Athens to Amsterdam that stops in Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia, and Slovenia,” the Vogue says.
Several outdoor tour operators in the country offer hiking, rafting, biking, horse riding and birds watching adventures in the country, while cross-border tourism is gaining an upper hand with the opening of some mountain hiking trails such as the ancient Via Egnatia linking Rome to Byzantium, the present-day Istanbul, crossing through Albania and Macedonia.
The Peaks of the Balkans, a 192 km cross border hiking trail which connects mountainous areas of Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro, is another opportunity that has been made available in the past few years.
Earlier this year, the National Geographic France rated taking an adventure trip to Albania as one of the top tours on travelers’ to-do-list for 2018, recommending Albania as a perfect adventure travel destination offering trekking, horseback riding, rafting and kayaking.
Rafting and kayaking along the Osum and Vjosa canyons, southern Albania, as well as paragliding along the Albanian Riviera can really get the adrenaline flowing.
The Pellumbas and Erzen and Tujani Canyon outside Tirana are also gaining an upper hand as adventure travel destinations due to their short distance from the country’s sole international airport.
Closed to tourists for about five decades until the early 1990s, Albania offers a miscellaneous picture of coastal and mountain tourism and has been attracting more and more foreign tourists in the past decade being nicknamed as “A new Mediterranean love” and “Europe’s last secret.”
