Our Fast-travel Week In Shkodër (Albania)
Believe it or not, we’ve already wrapped up one week in Shkodër (Albania) and have arrived in the capital of Albania, Tirana. Now that we are in Tirana for two whole weeks, this will give us more time to breathe, decompress, and explore the city at our own pace.
But most importantly, we now have the time to write about our time in Shkodër! We had a great time, even if the rain disrupted some of our more adventurous plans.
Why Did We Visit Shkodër?
The city of Shkodër, in northern Albania, is best known for being the gateway for exploring the Albanian Alps.
Many hiking tours originate in Shkodër, some of which are quite extensive. So we thought we would take one or two modest overnight trips in the mountains, presuming the weather accommodated. (Spoiler alert – it didn’t.)
But besides being a hiking hub, Shkodër has other things going for it.
Shkodër is located near the shores of Lake Shkodra, the largest lake in Southern Europe. Once a major route for commerce in the area, the lake is now more suited for recreational purposes, especially biking and hiking its shoreline.
Shkodër is home to several local attractions, including Rozafa Castle, a 14th-century fortress with a fascinating legend surrounding its construction. The city also has a pedestrianized old town, Pedonale, with cobblestone streets, historic buildings, cafes, and bars.
Shkodër is known as the “Amsterdam of Albania”, because of the prevalence of bicycles in the city. Most of the major roads in the city have dedicated bike paths, which considerably opens up exploring the local area. And since our Airbnb provided bicycle use for free, we certainly were going to give them a try!
So we figured that a week in Shkodër would allow us enough time to see all of its greatest hits and assess if a longer return visit is warranted.
How Did We Get To Shkodër (Albania) From Kotor (Montenegro)?
As has been the norm for us in the Balkans, we took the bus!
Using the busticket4me platform, we purchased one-way 8 am tickets from Kotor Main Bus Station in Montenegro to Shkodër Main Bus Station in Albania.
Each ticket cost us $28.76 USD, with stowed luggage costing an additional €2 ($2.19 USD) per bag.
When we left Kotor on October 7th it was a beautiful day, unlike the majority of the previous 7 days.
Here is the route we took:
Thankfully we had a pain-free border crossing between Montenegro and Albania, taking no longer than about 20 minutes to process our entire bus.
The entire bus trip took about 5 hours, and there were no issues.
But we were glad we paid attention to the driver when we made stops at bus stations along the way. A passenger got left behind when they didn’t return to the bus within the allotted time for everyone to stretch their legs!
Our Airbnb in Shkodër
We arrived in Shkodër at around 1 pm and made the 15-minute walk to our Airbnb, just a few minutes north of the Pedonale tourist area.
Our Airbnb was more spacious than the one we had in Kotor. We had a separate kitchen/living room space, bedroom, and bathroom. And at $32.14 USD per night for 7 nights (including the weekly discount), it was considerably cheaper.
And the cherry on top of all of this was we had free access to the owner’s spare bikes. So on our first full day in Shkodër, we made sure to use them!
More Wet Weather Hijinks
Sadly, the weather in Shkodër was only a little better than in Kotor, Montenegro. We had about 4 days of solid weather, but they were spread out in such a way that we couldn’t commit to anything longer than day trips around the area.
And when it rained, it REALLY rained.
On the first day of rain, it poured continuously to the tune of 3 – 4 inches. Probably more.
And on the other days, it wasn’t much better.
Basically, it was the kind of rain you wouldn’t want to be caught hiking in, especially on a multiday trip where all of your gear would get soaked.
So we punted the ball on our more ambitious plans and instead stuck to day trips and local explorations. On rainy days we just hung out at home and indulged in our hobbies. But we tried to escape during breaks in the weather, for meals and to keep ourselves from getting too stir-crazy.
Opportunistic Explorations
But it wasn’t all rainy doom and gloom! We did quite a bit when the weather was clear.
On our first full day in Shkodër, we biked along Lake Shkodra’s coast to the village of Zogaj.
This is a well-known local biking route, for good reason. The views are gorgeous!
Although we hadn’t ridden bikes in around 40 years, we had a great time! The weather was perfect and the scenery was striking.
On one of the rainy days when the afternoon cleared up, we went on a free walking tour to learn about the history of Shkodër.
The post-WWII history of Albania was pretty depressing. When the rest of the world was getting back on its feet post-war, Albania turned into a brutal communist dictatorship under the rule of Enver Hoxha. Think North Korea-level brutal, or possibly worse.
And Shkodër, being the center of commerce and intellectualism in Albania at the time, fared poorly under the communist regime. Merchants and free-thinkers were the enemy.
On rainy days, when the weather broke we explored the tourist Pedonale area near our Airbnb.
We particularly enjoyed finding new local restaurants to try. Their prices were often quite good, even when they were close to the tourist area!
Once the rain clouds left, we scheduled a day trip to sail the fjords of Komani Lake. With bus and ferry transport included, we were happy to pay the $40 USD per ticket to get out of the apartment and take in some scenery.
The ferry departed from the port near Koman (a 90-minute bus ride from Shkodër) and sailed up to the little town of Fierze, about 2 hours away.
Many of the passengers who sailed with us to Fierze were then picked up by minibuses taking them to other destinations. We just hung out at the cafe for 45 minutes, sipping coffee and eating our packed lunches until the return ferry was ready.
So although our trip wasn’t exactly as adventurous as we would have liked, we at least managed to get into the great outdoors!
Here are some pictures from our voyage.
And on our final day in Shkodër, we hiked to Rozafa Castle, a real jewel in the area. Although the castle is no longer fully intact, the remains are still beautiful and were fun to explore.
At 400 ALL ($4.43 USD) per ticket to get in, we thought it was absolutely worth the price of admission. And at an additional 200 ALL ($2.22 USD) per ticket, the connected museum was also worth a look, although we wouldn’t call it required viewing.
One of the things we liked most about the castle was all of the less well-trodden paths leading to neat hidden features. And for some reason, we were the only ones exploring them! Most tourists just stuck to the main path leading to the cafe and museum area at the rear of the castle campus.
And the views of Shkodër were as good as you can get!
There was even a cafe built into the castle grounds. Rhonda was perceptive and noticed a hidden cafe sunroom with overlook-quality views of the surrounding area!
We couldn’t believe we were the only tourists enjoying this part of the cafe.
Our visit to Rozafa Castle was a great way to wrap up our time in Shkodër! We were surprised at how much we enjoyed our time there. We probably spent 3 hours exploring and enjoying our excellent cappuccinos.
Highly recommended.
Closing Thoughts On Our Week In Shkodër
We really enjoyed our week in Shkodër! It was a bummer that the rain disrupted some of our plans, but we still saw quite a bit and had very memorable experiences.
Our only regret was that if we had more consecutive days of good weather, we would have taken an overnight trip to Theth National Park to soak up the outdoors and get some real hiking in.
If we return to Shkodër, we might just do that. Or, if we are feeling ambitious, we might take a crack at the 8-day Accursed Mountains hiking tour we’ve seen advertised.
But we’d have to wait for Summer to do that. Food for thought!
Until next time…
Thanks for reading!
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