The Peja region, Kosovo's mountain west

The Peja region is where Kosovo’s plain runs straight into a wall of mountains. On one side is the valley of the White Drin, farming villages and medieval monasteries; on the other, the Bjeshkët e Nemuna range, Prokletije in Serbian and the Accursed Mountains to most English-language maps, which forms the border with Montenegro and Albania. If you are flying in from London for a week of walking and want one region rather than a tour of the whole of Kosovo, this is the one I’d pick.

Three municipalities, one town in charge

The Kosovo Agency of Statistics (ASK) splits the territory into seven regions for its tourism tables but does not publish which municipality belongs where, so I take the breakdown from OpenStreetMap. On that basis the Peja region is three municipalities. Peja (Pejë in Albanian, Peć in Serbian) had 82,745 people at the 2024 census across 79 settlements, 41,171 of them in the town itself. Istog (Istok) had 33,008 and Klina (Klinë) 30,503. All three have shrunk since 2011, when ASK counted 96,450, 39,289 and 38,496.

In practice that means one town with proper services and two small district centres of around 5,500 people each, ringed by villages. Everything revolves around Peja town, and that is where I would plan from.

What sets the region apart

Two things you rarely find this close together anywhere else in Kosovo. The first is the Patriarchate of Peć on the edge of town. UNESCO includes it in the serial site Medieval Monuments in Kosovo, inscribed in 2004 with Visoki Dečani and extended in 2006, and describes it as a group of four domed, frescoed churches. Since 2006 the whole site has also been on UNESCO’s danger list, and Kosovo’s law 03/L-039 also protects it as a Special Zone.

The second is the Rugova Canyon, which begins more or less where the town ends. The Lumbardhi river, 56 km long inside Kosovo according to ASK, runs down it from the mountains. Law 04/L-086 of 2012 mentions the canyon road when it draws the boundary of Bjeshkët e Nemuna National Park, which covers 62,488 hectares across Gjakova, Junik, Deçan, Peja and Istog.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Peja before prices climb.

Istog and Klina, the overlooked half

This is where most visitors go wrong and never leave Peja. The Special Zones law protects, in Istog, the monasteries of Gorioč and the Virgin of Hvosno and the church of St Nicholas at Gjurakoc, and in Klina the monasteries of Budisavci and Dolac and the Church of the Hermits at Uljaricë. The Culture Ministry’s heritage database (DTK) adds a 14th-century church at Cerkulez, kullas (stone tower houses) at Vrellë, Lubovë, Kaliçan and Shushic, and early Christian remains at Vrellë.

Back in Peja municipality, the DTK lists further kullas at Vranoc, Raushiq, Leshan and Jabllanicë e Vogël, plus the Palaeolithic cave at Radavc, beside which Peja’s tourism website places the source of the White Drin. Official sources give no opening times or visiting rules for the monasteries, so allow time and follow whatever you are told at the gate.

The numbers behind the region

What struck me in the ASK figures is how much weight this corner carries. In 2025 it drew 201,711 overnight guests who spent 607,127 nights, the highest number of nights of the seven regions; Pristina had more guests, 261,110, but fewer nights, 425,427. Of Peja’s guests, 96,597 came from abroad. I read that the same way I’d plan it. People don’t pass through Peja, they stay several days for the mountains.

Capacity keeps pace. On the supply side, ASK found 4,380 beds in 118 establishments in 2025.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Peja and choose by the reviews.

Planning your days, and two warnings

With two days I’d give one to the town and the Patriarchate and one to Rugova. With four, add Radavc and a morning for the monasteries of Istog and Klina. A car helps a lot once you leave town; remember that traffic drives on the right, your green card is not valid, and you buy third-party cover at the border. The FCDO also advises against driving at night because of road conditions, and warns that old landmines remain on the mountain border with Albania and Montenegro, so stick to main routes there. In the Peja region, that means no improvised off-path routes near the border peaks.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Peja before prices climb.