Theth National Park & Blue Eye Day Tour from Shkoder

Boga Valley and the Qafa Thores pass

The road from Shkoder to Theth is one of the most scenic drives in Albania and is now paved all the way, so the journey is comfortable even though it is long. After about seventy-five minutes you reach the village of Boga, where the valley narrows between limestone walls, and the vehicle stops at a viewpoint for your first photographs of the Albanian Alps, the range locals call the Accursed Mountains.

From Boga the road zigzags up to the Qafa Thores pass at 1,760 metres, the gateway to the Theth valley. Here your guide gives you fifteen minutes to walk to the edge and take in the panorama: bare grey peaks, beech forest and, far below, the green floor of Theth. In early summer there is often snow beside the road. It is the best time to ask your guide about the history of the valley, which was cut off from the rest of Albania for most of the winter until the new road was built.

The Blue Eye of Theth and the Nderlysa stone groves

The first and longest hike of the day starts near the hamlet of Nderlysa, where a crystal-clear stream has carved smooth channels and pools through the pale rock, a natural playground your guide calls the stone groves. From here the trail follows the river upstream for about 2.5 km, roughly fifty minutes each way, over rocky and sometimes slippery ground, to the Blue Eye of Theth, also known as the Kaprre spring.

The Blue Eye is a small, deep pool fed by an underground spring, and its colour, an unreal mix of sapphire and turquoise, is the image most people associate with a Theth day tour. The water is extremely cold, but on a hot day a quick swim is a highlight you will talk about for years. You spend about two and a half hours on this part of the day including the walk, photos and the swim; guests who prefer not to hike can wait by the river at a nearby restaurant.

Grunas Waterfall and Canyon

A ten-minute drive brings you to the start of the second hike, a shorter but steeper trail of about 1.6 km round trip, roughly twenty-five minutes each way, to the Grunas Waterfall. On the way you cross a wooden bridge over the Grunas Canyon, a narrow gorge whose limestone walls have been carved deep by centuries of rushing water; look down and you see the river far below between the rock faces.

The waterfall itself drops about twenty-five metres into a clear pool framed by cliffs, and the mist keeps the ferns and moss around it green all summer. It is the most photographed waterfall in Theth National Park and a favourite spot for a rest before lunch. The whole visit takes around fifty minutes. Sections of the path are rocky and uneven, so hiking shoes or sturdy trainers are strongly recommended.

Theth village and lunch

Theth is a scattered village of stone houses with steep slate roofs spread along the valley floor at about 750 metres, surrounded on all sides by peaks. The tour stops here for about an hour at a family guesthouse or restaurant for a traditional lunch, at your own expense: typically grilled meat, corn bread, mountain cheese, homemade yoghurt and vegetables from the garden, the kind of simple, fresh food that makes a Theth visit memorable.

The village is also the base for the optional zipline across the valley, which you can pay for on the spot if there is time and you feel brave. For many travellers, is Theth worth visiting is answered right here: sitting on a wooden veranda with the Alps on every side after two hikes, far from traffic and noise. The valley has guesthouses for those who want to come back for longer and hike the famous trail to Valbona.

The Church of Theth and the Lock-in Tower

After lunch the vehicle drives five minutes to the Church of Theth, the small stone Catholic church with a slender bell tower that has become the symbol of the valley. Built in the 1890s and restored in recent years, it stands alone in a meadow with the mountains behind it, and it is one of the most photographed buildings in northern Albania. You have around thirty minutes here for the church and the meadow around it.

Nearby stands the Lock-in Tower, Kulla e Ngujimit, a fortified stone tower where men involved in blood feuds once took refuge under the rules of the Kanun, the traditional code of law of the northern highlands. Your guide explains how the tower worked and how the Kanun shaped life in these mountains. The tour then begins the two-hour drive back to Shkoder, pausing at a hidden viewpoint for one last panorama before you are dropped at your hotel.