Wondering which Peaks of the Balkans accommodation to book? Confused about how the booking process works, or what the guesthouses are like?
Then you’re in the right place!
I’m just back from hiking the Peaks of the Balkans trail myself, and one major highlight was staying at family-run guesthouses and hotels in remote mountain villages along the way.
These accommodations may be simple, but they’re warm, welcoming, and offer a true taste of local culture—from homemade meals to the chance to swap stories with fellow hikers.
In this guide, I’ll break down exactly how Peaks of the Balkans accommodation works, what to expect, and my recommendations for the best guesthouses and hotels along the trail, so you can book with confidence.
Quick facts:
Length: 192 km (119 mi), usually 10 days
Difficulty: Moderate to strenuous
Permit: Required — apply at least 2 weeks ahead
Best time: June–September
Safety: Install an eSIM on your phone & consider a Global Rescue membership with travel insurance
Accommodation: A mix of guesthouses, small hotels, and camping
How Peaks Of The Balkans Accommodation Works
Along the Peaks of the Balkans hike, you’ll mostly stay in small, family-run guesthouses, with a few locally run hotels in larger towns.
Included meals
These guesthouses usually offer full-board options, serving generous home-cooked meals with soup, bread, lots of fresh and stewed vegetables, local cheese, and meats. At no point was I hungry, as helpings along the trail are generous.
While breakfast and dinner are eaten at your guesthouse, you’ll be given ingredients like bread, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheese, cold cuts, and sometimes fruit or homemade cookies to pack a picnic lunch after breakfast.
Rooms, showers & WiFi
Rooms are generally private but simple. Outside of Tirana and Shkodër, I didn’t encounter air conditioning, but all rooms had beds, blankets, and outlets.
Most rooms had private bathrooms, with shared bathrooms common in more remote areas like Çerem and Doberdol.
In my experience, all guesthouses had showers and hot water, though WiFi can be hit-or-miss, even when they technically have it. If you want to stay connected, it’s recommended to install an eSIM. The European eSIM from Airalo worked well for me.
If you’d rather camp, there are a few basic campgrounds and grassy spots near guesthouses where you can pitch your tent. Just be prepared for minimal facilities, and always ask permission if you’re wild camping near a village. Do not wild camp in national parks.
Booking accommodation
Most hikers pre-book accommodation, either directly, through a local guide, or with a trekking company, since many guesthouses do not use online booking platforms or even have websites. Having a local company handle your accommodation is usually the easiest option.
Personally, I traveled with Wilderness Balkans, which took care of accommodation bookings. This made preparing for my Peaks of the Balkans trek a lot easier and less stressful!
Costs
On average, expect to pay about 45€ per person, per night, based on double occupancy in a room. This includes your meals.
Payments
Most guesthouses on the Peaks of the Balkans trail only accept cash, usually in Euros or the local currency (like Albanian Lek, though Albania also accepts Euros).
ATMs are extremely limited once you leave major towns like Shkodër or Plav, so plan to bring enough cash for your entire trek, including extra for snacks, drinks, and tips. Personally, I brought €150 for these extras and it was enough.
Peaks Of The Balkans Accommodation By Location
Now let’s go over some recommended guesthouses to book along the trail. These are the places I stayed during my trek, and they were very comfortable:
Hotel Tradita (Shkodër, Albania)
Highlight: The traditional food and decor
WiFi: Yes
Air Conditioning: Yes
Private Bathroom: Yes
Hotel Tradita is set in a beautifully preserved 400-year-old house decorated with Albanian folk art and traditional touches. You’ll get a bit of cultural immersion with modern touches, as rooms have air conditioning, WiFi, and a rain shower with great water pressure.
While this is more of a hotel than a guesthouse, dinner here is served family-style, with local specialties like dolmas, fresh cheese, Albanian bruschetta, and local trout. You can eat outside in their big open courtyard, or dine indoors to see the food being made over an open fire.
They’re also well-known for their delicious included breakfast.
In terms of location, you’re about a 10-minute walk to Shkodër’s city center.
Hotel Ikona (Shkodër, Albania)
- Highlight: Modern comforts in the heart of the city
- WiFi: Yes
- Air Conditioning: Yes
- Private Bathroom: Yes
For something more modern and centrally located in Shkodër, Hotel Ikona offers clean, modern rooms with comfortable beds, private bathrooms, air conditioning, and WiFi.
As someone who is picky about their pillows, I also appreciated the closet full of blanket and pillow options.
Onsite, they feature a trendy rooftop restaurant and bar that serves yummy food and an expansive list of cocktails.
In the morning, a delicious breakfast buffet of juices, eggs, meats, fruit, and more is included. You can also have individually-made coffee drinks.
When you want to explore, you’re just steps away from the main pedestrian street in Shkodër, Rruga Kole Idromeno, which is full of restaurants, bars, cafes, and shops.
Neo Kulla Hikers Hive (Valbona, Albania)
- Highlight: Epic mountain views from the in-room balconies and outdoor patio
- WiFi: Yes
- Air Conditioning: No
- Private Bathroom: Yes
Neo Kulla Hikers Hive is a clean and comfortable guesthouse in Valbona with spectacular mountain views from its balconies and patio. The dinner is plentiful and delicious, featuring local drinks like Albanian wine and tea made with marjoram.
Their breakfast was on the smaller side, though you will get bread, cheese, and meat.
Rooms are simple but cozy, and the beds are very comfortable with outlets near the headboard for charging your devices.
Vita Guesthouse (Çerem, Albania)
- Highlight: The homemade delicious & plentiful meals
- WiFi: Yes
- Air Conditioning: No
- Private Bathroom: No (shared only with your floor)
Vita Guesthouse is a family-run accommodation with such warm hospitality, it feels more like a homestay. It features private rooms with shared floor bathrooms in the main house as well as three small A-frame cabins outside.
It’s simple, clean, and surrounded by gorgeous mountain scenery.
The food here was some of the best of the trip. You could tell the family puts a lot of effort into making really delicious and satisfying home-cooked meals featuring dishes like Albanian white bean soup, bread, fresh salad, grilled peppers, eggplant, fresh tomatoes with olive oil, cheese, olives—and that is just for starters!
For breakfast, they not only had eggs, fruit, meats, bread, and jam but also hearty bowls of delicious porridge.
Leonardi Guesthouse (Doberdol, Albania)
- Highlight: The remote location surrounded by mountains in a valley and the social vibes that made it easy to meet other trekkers
- WiFi: Yes
- Air Conditioning: No
- Private Bathroom: No (shared with everyone at the property)
Located in Doberdol, one of the most remote villages in the Balkans, Leonardi Guesthouse sits at 5,780 feet and offers a mix of A-frame cabins, dorms, and camping spots.
If you’re looking for the fun hostels along the trail, this is a great pick. It’s a very social place, where hikers from all over the world gather to trade stories over a drink in the yard, where there are loads of seating areas.
As is common at Peaks of the Balkans accommodations, food is plentiful. If you drink alcohol, note that it’s a bit more expensive here than elsewhere (~€5 vs ~2.50€).
The biggest downside of this accommodation is that four bathrooms are shared among all guests, so they can get pretty unpleasant. But, as of now, there aren’t any accommodations in Doberdol with private bathrooms.
On the plus side, if you get up to pee in the middle of the night, you’ll be rewarded with some epic stargazing on your way to the bathroom!
Building on this, it may be helpful to have a headlamp for this accommodation, though you should also be fine with just your phone flashlight.
A headlamp is also helpful for nighttime reading without needing to get up to turn the light off.
Gacaferi Guesthouse (Deçan, Kosovo)
- Highlight: This guesthouse had the best food of any on this list, plus it was very social with people mingling in the living room, dining room, and on the outdoor patio with mountain views
- WiFi: Yes
- Air Conditioning: No
- Private Bathroom: Yes
Gacaferi is the family-run guesthouse of my Balkans trekking guide, Adriatik, and they really go above and beyond to make the stay memorable.
Meals are plentiful, with fresh salads, bread, cheese, and hearty mains cooked by Adriatik’s family.
There’s a cozy common room and outdoor deck with panoramic mountain views where hikers socialize over drinks. At sunset, the view of the Accursed Mountains turning shades of pink and orange is unforgettable.
“HRID” Eco Mountaineering Village (Babino Polje, Montenegro)
- Highlight: The plentiful food and the relaxing accommodation set right on a river
- WiFi: Yes
- Air Conditioning: No
- Private Bathroom: Yes
“HRID” Eco Mountaineering Village features simple but comfortable two-storey wooden cabins with private bathrooms along a river.
It’s a peaceful place to unwind with a cold beverage after a long day of hiking. Just note that while they sell sodas and non-alcoholic beers, alcohol is BYOB.
The food is a major highlight. Expect a generous buffet of local dishes, including plenty of vegetarian options. They even specially made me soy patties and vegetarian noodles since I don’t eat meat.
Expect an equally large breakfast and plenty of options for your picnic lunch, too. They also served one of my favorite dishes of the trip, pizza bread, and they even gave out bananas for the picnic bag (fruit was a rare treat when it came to picnic lunches).
Moonlight House (Vusanje, Montenegro)
- Highlight: The incredible views from the outdoor patio and indoor restaurant and the fantastic breakfast
- WiFi: Yes
- Air Conditioning: No
- Private Bathroom: Yes
Moonlight House was probably the most modern accommodation I stayed at along the Peaks of the Balkans trail (outside of Shkodër).
It felt more like a hotel than a family-run guesthouse, offering super clean private rooms, excellent showers with great water pressure, and WiFi (though I couldn’t get it to work while I was there, but my eSIM worked).
The highlight is the stunning view of Prokletije National Park’s peaks from the outdoor terrace. Guests can grab a drink from the honor bar and relax as the mountains fade into dusk.
In terms of meals, for dinner, it’s a little bit different than the other guesthouses. Instead of just bringing out loads of dishes to share, you’ll have shared starters and you’ll choose your own main: beef, chicken, or fish.
For breakfast, the spread is plentiful, with eggs, bread, jam, and more. They also had the best pancakes I ate the entire trip.
Bujtina Polia (Theth, Albania)
- Highlight: Amazing mountain views from the property’s wrap-around porch and trying their own homemade wine and olive oil
- WiFi: Yes
- Air Conditioning: No
- Private Bathroom: Yes
Bujtina Polia combines clean, comfortable rooms with incredible wraparound porch views. There are also picnic tables in the yard to play games and sip drinks while appreciating the scenery.
Their delicious restaurant is a five-minute walk away. Here you can try the owner’s homemade sparkling wine and olive oil alongside delicious dishes. Because I’m a vegetarian, they made me a hearty bowl of pasta with a plant-based sauce.
Taking in 360-degree mountain views, it’s the perfect location to celebrate completing your Peaks of the Balkans adventure.
Click here to book Bujtina Polia.
Bonus: Here is a video showcasing the view from Bujtina Polia’s balcony:
Frequently Asked Questions About Peaks Of The Balkans Accommodation
Now that we’ve gone over how to book guesthouses along the Peaks of the Balkans trek and recommendations for where to stay, let’s go over some frequently asked questions.
Q) Can Peaks of the Balkans guesthouses accommodate vegetarians?
Yes! I’m a vegetarian and each guesthouse had plenty of food for me to eat during meal times. Some even went out of their way to make special dishes just for me, but even without them, there was always plenty of vegetable soups, fresh and stewed vegetables, bread, cheese, and more.
Q) Should I bring a sleeping bag for the Peaks of the Balkans trek?
Only if you’re camping. Otherwise, guesthouses will supply bedding.
Q) Can I drink the tap water at Peaks of the Balkans guesthouses?
Yes, the water is safe to drink at guesthouses along the trail.
Q) How much cash should I bring for the Peaks of the Balkans trek?
Once all of your accommodation, meals, transfers, permits, and national park fees are paid, you really only need money for drinks and tips. Soda, beer, and wine cost about 2€ to 2.50€, except in Doberdol, where drinks were closer to 4€ to 5€. As I went with a guide, I tipped 10€ per day.
Q) Can you camp along the Peaks of the Balkans trail?
Yes, there are many opportunities to camp along the trail, both onsite at guesthouses and wild camping (outside of national parks).
Q) Are credit cards accepted at guesthouses along the Peaks of the Balkans trail?
In general, no. You’ll want to carry cash to pay for accommodation, drinks, and other expenses.
