🇦🇱 Albania

Glamping Lake Shkodra

7 glamping sites

Glamping Lake Shkodra

Lake Shkodra is the largest lake in the Balkans, nearly 400 km² of fresh water shared between Albania and Montenegro and, for much of the year, blanketed in low morning mist. The glamping sites on the Albanian shore cluster around Shirokë and Zogaj, fishing villages where wooden boats still go out before dawn, on a narrow strip of land between the water and the first foothills of the Albanian Alps.

This is transitional country, and that is exactly the appeal: you can paddle among water lilies and Dalmatian pelicans in the morning and stand at the foot of a glacial valley in the afternoon. The city of Shkodra, with Rozafa Castle commanding the confluence of three rivers, works as the cultural base, while the road towards Koman and Theth turns any stay here into a launch point for the high mountains.

Glamping Lake Shkodra

Lake Shkodra Resort

Rruga E Liqenit, Grile / Omaraj

Lake Shkodra Resort is situated in Shkoder, 7 km from the city centre. It is set just by the lake, the sandy and pebbly beach can be reached in 100 metres.

645 reviews
9.4
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Park Blini Shala River

Shosh

Situated in Mollʼ e Shoshit, Park Blini Shala River has a bar and barbecue facilities.

249 reviews
7.9
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Guest house Panorama

SH25

Featuring garden views, Guest house Panorama in Koman offers accommodation, free bikes and a garden. With lake views, this accommodation provides a...

114 reviews
9.6
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Paja Guesthouse - Camping

Rruga per Thethe

Boasting a garden, Paja Guesthouse - Camping is located in Bogë in the Shkoder County region, 29 km from Theth National Park.

103 reviews
9.5
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Stay & Go room

Rruga Nuri Bushati

Stay & Go room is situated in Shkodër and offers a shared lounge. The property has lake and city views, and is 49 km from Port of Bar.

22 reviews
8.5
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Camping villa lake shkodra

Rruga E Liqenit

Situated in Omarë in the Shkoder County region, Camping villa lake shkodra has a garden. This campground features a terrace.

9 reviews
9.6
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Glamping Kulmi

Rruga e Lavrendit

Featuring pool views, Glamping Kulmi features accommodation with patio, around 47 km from Port of Bar.

7 reviews
9.8
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The lake and its fishing villages

The Albanian shore takes a couple of hours to drive, along the road linking Shkodra to Zogaj by way of Shirokë, where the terraces sit right on the waterline. It is the best place to try grilled koran and carp while the light fades over the Montenegrin mountains on the far side. The lake rises and falls by up to two metres between seasons, so some beaches vanish in spring and sandbanks surface in summer, perfect for pulling a kayak ashore.

The lake and its fishing villages
02

Rozafa Castle and the city of Shkodra

Rozafa stands on a hill where the Drin, the Buna and the Kir meet, its walls layering Illyrian foundations, Venetian rebuilding and Ottoman additions. It takes its name from one of the best-known legends in the Balkans: the woman walled into the ramparts so they would stop collapsing. Below, Shkodra is a city of bicycles and cafés built around the pedestrian Rruga Kolë Idromeno, and home to the Marubi National Museum of Photography — a century of portraits of northern Albania.

Rozafa Castle and the city of Shkodra
03

Gateway to the Albanian Alps: Theth and Valbona

Shkodra is the classic starting point for the Accursed Mountains. The Koman Lake ferry runs three hours up a flooded gorge to Fierza, and Theth is now about three hours away on sealed road. The pass between Valbona and Theth — six or seven hours on foot — is the most walked mountain route in the country. The valleys still hold their kulla, the stone lock-in towers where families sheltered during blood feuds governed by the Kanun.

Gateway to the Albanian Alps: Theth and Valbona
04

Birds, water and lake cooking

The lake and the marshes at the mouth of the Buna are listed as a wetland of international importance: over 280 bird species, including the Dalmatian pelican, the pygmy cormorant and the purple heron, and one of the largest wintering concentrations of waterbirds in the Balkans. On the table, Shkodra's cooking leans on fresh water and the vegetable garden: eel, stuffed carp, japrak in vine leaves and fërgesë of peppers and curd cheese, almost always with the house mulberry raki.

Birds, water and lake cooking

Glamping at Lake Shkodra brings fresh water, mountains and heritage together within a few kilometres. It is the calm alternative to the coast: less heat, fewer people, and a landscape that changes completely with the hour.

Lakeside accommodation — safari tents, timber cabins and domes facing the water — has multiplied in recent years on the back of the hiking boom in the Albanian Alps. Transfers to the Koman ferry and to the Theth and Valbona valleys, the country's most-walked mountain crossing, leave from here.

The region is also a first-rate birding destination: the lake supports more than 280 bird species, among them the Dalmatian pelican and the pygmy cormorant. Waking up at a glamping site by the water and getting out on a kayak before the wind picks up is the best way to understand why.