Brod, the Dragash village that hasn't lost its people

If you look up Brod in Kosovo, the first thing to know is that there are two. This page covers the one in Dragash, the mountain village at the southern tip, which is the one people usually mean. The other is in Shtërpcë, on the far side of the Sharr, and I mention it at the end so you don’t head down the wrong road.

A village that’s holding steady

Dragash as a whole has shed about 15% of its population in thirteen years, and Brod stands out for going the other way. The Kosovo Agency of Statistics (ASK) counted 1,544 residents in 2011 and 1,536 in the 2024 census. It’s the third largest settlement in Dragash, behind Brodosanë and Restelica, and bigger than the municipal town itself. No source I’ve seen explains why it has held steady, and I won’t guess.

What you’ll actually find

I’ll be straight with you. Brod has no entry at all in the DTK, the state register of cultural property, and no official body publishes places to stay, restaurants, waymarked routes or ski runs. What it offers is the setting. The photo on this page, taken from Commons, shows the surroundings in summer, a mountain stream, meadows and tall rock faces.

I say this because photos of ski lifts at Brod do circulate online. They may well exist, but without an official source saying whether they run, when and at what price, I’m not going to sell them to you. If skiing is the plan, the most solid information I have gathered is in my guide to skiing in Kosovo.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Prizren for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.

Reaching it and staying safe

The road from Prizren runs south and passes through Dragash town. As I haven’t found bus times on any official website, I’d count on your own car or a hire car. The UK Government has old landmines on record along the Albanian frontier, which this municipality touches, and recommends sticking to main roads. For walking, I’d stick to clear, obvious paths. It adds two warnings that carry weight up here, altitude sickness and the fire risk on the hillsides between April and October.

One last practical point about the name. Don’t mix up Brod with Brodosanë, a different village in the same municipality and its largest, with 2,976 people in 2024. The two names look alike and road signs can be confusing.

If you’re based in Prizren, Brod is good for a morning or an afternoon. My way of making the most of the drive would be to add Restelica, in the same area, and stop in Dragash town on the way back.

The other Brod

ASK records a second settlement called Brod in Shtërpcë municipality, with 1,375 people in 2024. It lies on the far side of the range, on the Brezovica side. If someone mentions Brod in connection with Brezovica or Shtërpcë, that’s the one they mean, not this one.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Prizren on GetYourGuide.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Prizren for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.