I leave Bujtina Polia at 7 in the morning.
Three, maybe four degrees. My fingers are cold. Hood up, double layers. Somewhere in the village a fire is still burning — I can’t see it, but I breathe it in. Warm chimney air that somehow found its way here, to me, on this empty path.
The sun is already there. But only in my head. The village is waking up. Slowly, without announcement. Tall trees lining the path. The stream rushing. I am the only person walking right now.
Then, half an hour later, the sun breaks over the peaks.
The whole valley steps out of the shadow. Everything that was blue and still a moment ago warms at once — the ground, the old stone houses, the air itself. Two dogs join me, uninvited, matter-of-fact. The small one provokes, nips, stirs up trouble. The big one walks alongside as if this has been its job for years. I cross a wooden bridge that doesn’t exist in winter. It gets taken down before the snow comes. After the melt, the water would simply take it. So they dismantle it, wait, build it again. It lives by the rhythm of the mountain.
The stream below rushes on.
It’s just wonderful.
What Theth is
Old stone houses, many converted into guesthouses. Shepherds driving small flocks across the meadows. Modern restaurants. Even ATMs — cash is not a problem here. A three-star hotel, a four-star hotel.
But that’s not why you come. The people are warm. Direct. No performance, no effort to impress. The word that comes to mind is: genuine. You notice the difference immediately when you haven’t felt it in a while.
The Lock-In Tower
Around the corner from Petriti stands the Kulla e Ngujimit — roughly 400 years old, three storeys, stone, a first-category cultural monument.
Those who had violated the Kanun — the unwritten customary law of the Albanian mountain people — were brought here. Men from the age of 14 who were caught in blood feuds lived inside these walls and waited for reconciliation. Only the women of the family were allowed outside, to work the land in front of the tower. Meanwhile, the village elders negotiated. The tower was confinement and protection at the same time.
The Kanun covers 1,263 articles — hospitality and blood vengeance in the same document. A rulebook from a time when there were no courts and no judges. In these mountains, it held longer than anywhere else.
Today it’s open to visitors. Inside: a wooden table, some animal hides, simple vessels, a weapon. That’s enough to understand what life looked like here.
The Church
About 430 metres from the tower stands the Kisha e Thethit — a plain stone building from the late 19th century. Quiet, without fuss. Anyone walking through Theth passes it.
Three hikes
Grunas Waterfall — about 45 minutes, easy
The path follows the mountain river, over a red steel bridge. You hear the waterfall shortly before you see it. Good for an afternoon, good for any fitness level. On the way back, it combines well with the Blue Eye trail.
The Blue Eye — red-and-white marked trail, about 3–4 hours, moderate
From the village centre, you follow the red-and-white marked trail — the markers are painted clearly on rocks and signposts the whole way. The path leads through the Shala valley to Ndërlysaj, a small settlement with a couple of cafés where you should top up your water. From there it’s up to Syri i Kaltër — the Blue Eye. A natural spring whose water is a shade of blue you don’t expect. Take the trail back rather than the road — it’s quieter and you stay in the landscape the whole time. Download an offline map before you go; signal disappears.
Theth to Valbona over the pass — 8 hours, strenuous
Steep, high altitude, loose rock underfoot. The trail crosses Valbona Pass at around 1,795 metres, climbing through riverbed terrain, beech forest and wildflower meadows before opening up to views stretching into Kosovo and Montenegro. Start early. Good boots. Enough water. And no fixed plans for the evening after — you arrive tired, but in a way that feels right.
Accommodation
There’s a good mix of simple hiker’s lodges, comfortable hotels, campsites, and even glamping-style accommodations in Theth. I stayed at:
Bujtina Polia
Located right in the village center, next to the church, with very welcoming hosts and a relaxed vibe. My highlight: the view of the surrounding mountains! And the seven puppies running around the meadow, playing and wanting to be petted. Homemade food, fresh mountain air, and dogs that simply come along in the morning. It doesn’t get much more welcoming and personal than this.
Golden Villa
A lovely hotel for those seeking a bit more comfort without sacrificing character. The food in the attached restaurant is good, featuring lamb from their own farm, fresh salads, and the typical mountain tea. It’s very cozy by the fireplace in the evening!
A-Frame Cabins in the Village
This means: sleeping closer to nature! At night you only hear the stream, in the morning the birds… and when you get out of bed with a hot cup of tea and breathe in the fresh air in a relaxed deck chair… What could be better!
What to bring
Cash. Warm layers, even in May. Good shoes. And no fixed plan for the morning — because standing on an empty path at 7am while two unknown dogs decide they’re coming with you is exactly the kind of thing you can’t plan. And don’t forget.
Getting to Theth
You drive from Shkodër — close to the Montenegrin border, on the shores of Lake Shkodër. From there, a mountain pass road climbs upward for about two to two and a half hours. In April, snow still lines the roadsides, piled up like forgotten scenery. At the top of the pass it’s windy. The view is wide. Then the road winds down into the valley — barely wide enough for two cars.
At some point the asphalt ends. No sign. Just the feeling under the wheels. And a silence that suddenly has a different quality to it.
The snow on the peaks looks powdery, weightless. As if it was placed there, not fallen. As if you could blow once — and it would just drift away.
Ab dem 1. Juni 2026 gehört Albanien zum Reiseangebot von Individual Journey – kleine Gruppen, lokale Reiseleiter, authentische Begegnungen. Wenn Sie zu den Ersten gehören möchten, die erfahren sind, wann Reisen verfügbar sind, schreiben Sie mir gerne.