One trekker's first day on the Peaks of the Balkans trail offers a wonderfully honest preview of what walking this route is actually like — a mix of clapped-out local transport, closed shops, warm strangers and genuinely spectacular mountain scenery.
The day began before dawn with a four to five hour bus ride to Plav, a small town in Montenegro's mountainous east and a common jumping-off point for the trail. The bus was typically Balkan: a cracked window that doubled as ventilation thanks to fellow passengers' cigarettes, frequent stops to swap passengers, and no toilet break in five hours. Arrival came in the middle of the day, with the thermometer pushing 35°C.
The first hiccup was logistical rather than dramatic: the gas canister shop was shut, and so was the supermarket. The hiker resigned themselves to cold-soaking meals (soaking food in cold water instead of cooking) until reaching Theth in Albania a few days later — a useful reminder that shops on this trail keep unpredictable hours, and resupply planning needs a flexible backup.
Setting off late afternoon, the route climbed quiet dead-end roads past traditional farmhouses, with good views back over Plav. The lower trail was disfigured by litter — a sad reality of the first few miles — though it cleaned up higher up. In a clearing, a basic cabin was home to a group of locals who waved the walker over. With little shared language, they offered water from a stream-fed trough and gestured directions up the mountain. That kind of unprompted hospitality is a hallmark of the Balkans.
Tired from travel and battling the heat, the climb to the summit was a grind. But the reward was a flat grassy camp spot looking out at distant granite peaks. Dinner was a cold-soaked backpacking meal, better than expected, eaten while the sun set. The tent was left open all night for glimpses of golden, backlit mountains whenever the hiker woke. A strong start to a route billed as one of Europe's great long-distance walks.
Why does this matter to travellers? The Peaks of the Balkans is a roughly 192km loop through Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo, and it remains far cheaper and quieter than the Alps. What this first-day account shows is that the trail is doable without luxury gear or perfect planning — but you should expect heat, patchy resupply, some littered sections, and basic (or nonexistent) facilities between villages. Bring a way to hydrate meals without cooking as a fallback, carry water when you find it, and start hiking early or late in summer to dodge the midday heat. Above all, go for the combination of raw mountain scenery and the sheer warmth of people you'll meet along the way.
Source: The Trek