Cycling in the Balkans ( 4 Countries Albania, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro)

Rendezvous at Tirana airport and transfer to hotel in Tirana city centre. Meet the rest of the tour group over a relaxing dinner. After checkin in at the hotel, depending on the arriving flights, we will have the chance to do a tour of Tirana and visit the nuclear bunker of Enver Hoxha, the fruit and vegetable market and the national museum of history next to the newly build city centre of Tirana. Before the welcome dinner, your tour guide will go with you, through all the tour details and tell you everything you need to know about the amazing tour you are about the journey.

Lively, colourful Tirana is the beating heart of Albania, where this tiny nation's hopes and dreams coalesce into a vibrant whirl of traffic, brash consumerism and unfettered fun. Having undergone a transformation of extraordinary proportions since awaking from its communist slumber in the early 1990s, Tirana's centre is now unrecognisable, with buildings painted in primary colours, and public squares and pedestrianised streets that are a pleasure to wander.

Trendy Blloku buzzes with the well-heeled and flush hanging out in bars and cafes, while the city's grand boulevards are lined with fascinating relics of its Ottoman, Italian and communist past, from delicate minarets to loud socialist murals. Add to this some excellent museums and you have a compelling list of reasons to arrive a day earlier here.

We will start the morning with a two hour transfer to the northern side of Lake Ohrid. From where, after we have unloaded the bicycles and fitted them to everyones comfort we will start cycling along the scenic shore of lake Ohrid towards Pogradec. After lunch we will cross over into Macedonia, and visiting the monastery of St Naum .

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Today we cycle along the Black Drin Valley following the only way out for the river, from Lake Ohrid down the gorge past several dams and lakes to Debar. 

Across the city of Debar passed the main road Via Egnatia. At that time the city included all the provinces on both sides of the middle course of Black Drin - from Struga to Prizren, from Tirana to Kicevo and from Elbasan to Gostivar. All that attached great importance to the economic centers on the western side of the Balkan Peninsula. Throughout the city, there were long columns of caravans in different directions, to Albania, Thessaloniki and Skopje. 

Debar has several thermal water springs with temperatures reaching 48°C and is characterized as sulfur-sulphide with a high degree of radioactivity and the presence of algae suitable for treatment and for scientific purposes.

Today’s ride is just glorious. Through gorges, pine forests, karst fields and waterfalls of Debar National Park offer a breath of fresh, rarefied air. Beautiful vistas abound, and the park is home to North Macedonia's and Albania’s highest peak, Mt Korab (2764m) where both countries devide.

Today is one of the most challenging day but also one of the most beautiful rides . We cycle between old villages , before we arrive in Kukes.

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Today we enter into Kosovo , and we cycle until the old town of Gjakove

After breakfast we will make our way down the Rrugova national part toward the remote border with Montenegro. This mountain boarder was only open recently for tourism purposes and makes a grate addition to the development of hiking and cycling for the region, where previously saw little to no tourism at all. A beautiful climb inside an ancient forest followed by an even more spectacular descent with views of the Plava valley dotted with caustic lakes.

We leave Andrijevica via a narrow, winding road that ascends steadily through the Komovi Mountains to reach the Trešnjevik Pass (1,565m) and a welcome bar for refreshments. From the pass, the narrow road descends into the valley of the Tara River before crossing the Drcka River and joining a wider, more modern road that runs alongside the Tara River into the town of Kolašin situated beneath the Bjelasica and Sinjajevina mountains.

Transfer. We leave Kolašin by cycling alongside the Tara River, Montenegro’s second longest at 146km. The river valley begins to narrow as we enter the lower reaches of the Tara River Canyon. At 78km long, this is the longest river canyon in Europe. We have lunch overlooking the Tara Bridge which stretches across the canyon 165m above the river. The next 10km is uphill as we leave the Tara River and enter the Durmitor National Park, before reaching the remote collection of A-frame ski chalets offering open views of the surrounding mountains. Once in Žabljak, you’ll be free to explore this amazing winter ski resort or go for a short bike ride around the mystic waters of the The Black Lake.

Today’s ride takes us through the Durmitor National Park and begins with a dramatic and remote 8km ascent to the Prevoj Sedlo Pass (1,907m) along the highest paved road in Montenegro. From the pass, the narrow road winds its way down through the mountains before a second ascent to the Prijespa Pass (1,885m). Our descent continues through magnificent limestone scenery and alpine meadows. Leaving the National Park we descend through hairpin bends and rocky tunnels to the shore of Lake Plužine and the town of Plužine.

From Pluzine we undulate along the main road above the Komamica River heading south toward Nikšić. After lunch there, we will prepare the bikes and transfer by mini van to the Ostrog Monastery, before continuing to Cetinje, the Old Royal Capital city of Montenegro where we will experience the authentic atmosphere of the town by walking through the historical center and chilling at one of many centuries-old open-air terraces.

Ostrog Monastery with its gleaming white facade resting miraculously in a cliff face 900m above the Zeta valley, is the most important site in Montenegro for Orthodox Christians. Dubbed St Basil’s miracle, no one seems to understand how it was built. Constructed in 1665 within two large caves, it gives the impression that it has grown out of the very rock.

Today is one of contrasts as we travel from the highlands down to the Adriatic Coast. We initially head west, gradually ascending, to Lovcen national park, where there also the mausoleum of Montenegrin ruler and poet Petar II Petrovic Njegos. The road then passes through a dry, rocky landscape before reaching our lunch stop at a roadside restaurant in the town of Njegusi. The rest of the day is spent pretty much going downhill. This narrow road descends through a series of hairpin bends with dramatic views of the inlet of Boka Kotorska some 650m below. After reaching Kotor we cycle alongside the shoreline of the Boka Kotorska, or ‘The Bay of Kotor’, to reach Dobrota on the outskirts of Kotor

Free day to explore the medieval city of Kotor. Built in the 15th century, the city is still completely encircled by walls with three entrance gates to the west, north and south. The city is overlooked by Mt Lovčen and contains several squares, a cathedral, several churches and a patchwork of narrow streets. Other options include a boat trip or hiring a canoe on the Boka Kotorska. For those that fancy cycling, a circuit of the Boka Kotorska is recommended. It involves a 10 minute ferry journey to cross the sea inlet on the western side and offers magnificent views of Kotor and the various towns and villages along the shoreline with the surrounding high mountains as a backdrop.

Our final day of cycling takes us alongside the western shore of Lake Skadar which straddles the border between Montenegro and Albania. For most of the day we have wide open views across the lake’s blue waters. The road is a bit of a “roller coaster” with three significant ascents and descents. Near the southern end of the lake our final ascent takes us to the Štegvaš Pass (490m) with its fine viewpoint across the lake and into Albania. A long descent brings us down to the flat plain and the main road and just a few km later we cross the border back into Albania. The final 15km within Albania is almost flat and after crossing the River Buna we enter the city of Shkodër, the largest city in Northern Albania.

Farewell day. Right after breakfast we will transfer for one and a half hours to Rinas airport in Tirana.