Walking vacation in Montenegro and Albania

Planet

We want our vacations to be high impact in experience but low impact on the environment! Once you are at your various destinations, transport will be mostly on foot, kayak or bike, with transfers provided to starting points for excursions or restaurants if needed.

This vacation takes place in protected regions such as the UNESCO heritage sites of Kotor and Durmitor National Park, Lake Skadar, a National Park and RAMSAR Wetland of International Importance in Montenegro and Theth and Valbona National Parks in Albania. As such, your visit contributes directly towards their protection through the payment of National Park fees, boosting the monetary resources available to the National Park authorities to implement conservation measures. Our tour guides have been trained in the Leave No Trace principles and will encourage you to respect these at all times to ensure your behaviour is eco-friendly – traveling on marked paths, disposing of waste properly, leaving what you find (unless it’s other people’s rubbish!), respecting wildlife and being considerate of other visitors and the local community.

It is our obligation to help preserve Montenegro and Albania’s stunning natural beauty in the face of a 250% increase in tourism over the last three years! We are proud to be among the very few genuine sustainable travel entrepreneurs operating in these countries. We’ve worked hard to build links with local environmental charity ‘Green Home’, Montenegro’s Centre for Sustainable Tourism Initiatives, the National Tourism Organisation and Ministry for Tourism and Sustainability so that we are included as a valued partner and advisor on relevant projects which promote and build the infrastructure for sustainable travel in Montenegro, eg the Lake Skadar Hiking & Biking Trail Map, The Ethno-Gastronomy Trail, and the joint Montenegro/Albania Lake Skadar Eco-systems Protection Project funded by the World Bank and EU. We are also partners of the Western Balkans Geotourism project set up by National Geographic.

People

We've built strong links with the local communities you’ll visit and support their maintenance of historic traditions, from bee-keeping, fishing and carp-smoking to the making of wine, cheese, olive-oil and flavoured brandies. By visiting home-producers and buying their wares, you will build pride, contribute to the local economy and encourage the development of and investment in sustainable agro-tourism.

We go to great efforts to ensure you will enjoy a cultural exchange with local people which is valuable and fun. English isn’t widely spoken away from the coast, but your guides, most of whom are local people, will be able to translate to make each interaction memorable and meaningful for you and your host community.

Your visit is also of vital importance to the communities of Montenegro and Albania's more remote, beautiful and lesser known regions, where decades of impoverishment are still causing deprivation today. Staying in locally owned accommodation, you will help to demonstrate to local people the positive economic value of encouraging tourists, keeping neighbourhoods clean, and slowly building a regeneration of once forgotten villages.