Hiking in Kosovo, from Rugova to the border summits

Kosovo rarely makes the lists of hiking destinations, and I suspect that is down to a lack of information rather than a lack of mountains. What you do need here is a bit more care than in the Alps, for one specific reason I explain below.

Where to walk

The main area is Bjeshkët e Nemuna, the Accursed Mountains, in the west. Peja’s tourism website, whose publisher is not named and which I therefore treat as secondary, presents the town as Kosovo’s mountaineering capital and recalls that the first mountain society, called Gjeravica, was founded there in 1928. It describes three levels of route, from local day walks of up to about 20 km, through regional routes of up to a week linking the western municipalities to cross-border ones into Albania and Montenegro.

What I like most is that you do not need a car to start. According to the same website, peaks such as Çfërla, Vjellaku, Hasan’s peak and Kopranik can be climbed on foot straight from central Peja. For everything else, the Rugova Canyon road takes you up to the mountain villages. What there is to do beyond walking, from the Rugova via ferratas to DokuFest in Prizren, is gathered in things to do in Kosovo.

The walk I would do first

The Rugova lakes. You set off by Kuqishtë lake, at 1,680 m, and after roughly two hours of gentle climbing through pine woods and bilberries you reach the Liqenat and Drelaj lakes above 1,800 m. It is the best way to get the feel of Kosovo’s mountains without committing to serious terrain.

Peja’s website also mentions ten rural routes through the municipality’s villages, five across the plain and five up in the mountains, linked to homes offering meals and rooms, all of it from an EU-funded cross-border project with Montenegro that, according to the same website, upgraded 40 rural homes and opened 18 trails crossing the border.

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

Landmines, the warning that matters

Here is the reason for that extra care. The FCDO explains that landmines and unexploded ordnance from the 1999 conflict remain, that the main risk areas are the Albanian border, the Duljë pass and the mountains between Kosovo, Albania and Montenegro, and that most of them lie on high, overgrown ground. It wants you on main roads and tracks, and asks you to tell the police or KFOR if you see anything suspicious.

In practice, waymarked and busy routes such as the lakes walk are safe. Border summits such as Gjeravica, or any traverse over ground without a clear path, I would do with a local guide.

Health, fire and emergencies

The FCDO adds three more warnings for the mountains. Wildfires from April to October, with no fires outside marked areas; altitude sickness on high ground; and Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, carried by ticks, in rural areas in summer, especially around Malishevë. The number for all emergencies is 112.

Bear in mind that a GHIC is worthless here, so insurance with mountain walking cover is a must. If you are after something multi-day, Peaks of the Balkans covers what can be said from sources, and the context for each range is on mountains in Kosovo.

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