The Accursed Mountains Hiking Tour

No. All five are self-guided: the route is planned and every night is booked, but no group, no guide sets the pace. You leave when you like, stop where you like and walk each stage on your own schedule.

What we do sits out of sight: the guesthouses, the GPS route in the navigation app, a guidebook with the ferry and van times, and a support line open around the clock. How a self-guided tour works, step by step.

Every tour carries a fitness rating from 1 to 5, set by our hiking experts against the rest of our tours:

1. Short days on easy paths, fine for anyone who walks now and then

2. Up to 15 km a day with some climbing, comfortable for regular walkers

3. Full mountain days of 15 to 20 km and around 1,000 m of ascent, best with a little training

4. Long days back to back for fit, experienced hikers

5. Alpine terrain and exposure for the very experienced

Albania sits in the middle. The coastal trail is the gentlest; Theth to Valbona is one hard day with easy ones around it; the Peaks of the Balkans routes are rated 3 for their long stages. Our Hiking Difficulty Guide explains the scale in full.

A second 1-to-5 scale for the ground itself: 1 is a wide, smooth track, 5 means exposed rock where you use your hands. Nothing in Albania needs ropes or scrambling. The Valbona Pass is a well-trodden path with a few rocky, loose sections near the top, which is why the Alps tours are rated 3; the coast is a 2.

Family guesthouses in the mountain valleys and small hotels in Shkodër and on the coast, all with a private room and your own bathroom. In Theth and Valbona dinner at the house, and it is usually the best meal of the day.

On the Peaks of the Balkans loop a few of the mountain stops are simpler; the guidebook says which.

Because the houses in Theth and Valbona are small and sell out months ahead, so we book from a vetted list in each valley instead of promising one property. You get the exact names the moment your booking is confirmed.

You carry your own bag, so pack for a week on your back:

• a 25 to 45-litre rucksack

• boots you have already walked in

• a warm layer and a rain jacket for the pass

• one set of evening clothes and sandals for the guesthouse

Every guesthouse has somewhere to wash a shirt, and Shkodër has shops for anything you forgot. The full list is in the What to Bring section of each tour.

Mountains: mid-June to early October, with late June and September the pick. Coast: April to June and September to November.

If you want both in one trip, September is the month that works.

In early June it happens. If the pass is not clear on your crossing day, a local mountain guide walks it with you on the safe line, paid directly to the guide on the day; if the pass is fully closed, we route you round by road and ferry instead and the rest of the trip stays as booked. Either way you hear from us the evening before, not at the trailhead. The Theth forecast on yr.no is the one we watch.