Getting your Albanian Alps packing list right is the key to a comfortable mountain adventure. While there are many things you can buy in Albania, let’s just say that the mountains are not the most geared up with travel supplies. This means that coming prepared is extra important.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
When we hike the Valbona Pass, we will be hiking with our gear for 5+ hours. So our biggest and essential packing tip is to PACK LIGHT.
Please do not bring any more than a 40L backpack with you – a 30-35L backpack is ideal.
HOWEVER:
- There is an option to get a horse to carry your luggage during the day of the hike. If you would like to book this option, please let us know in advance so that we can organise this for you at an additional cost.
- It is possible to leave a separate bag in Shkoder (for a small fee), and we can pick it up in Shkoder on our way to Fishte on day 7 of the trip. If you would like to leave a small bag here with nicer clothing for the farm-to-table meal, you can also do this.
5 Essential Items to Bring to Albania
We’re going to dive deep into more detail, but trust us when we say you’ll miss these if you leave them at home!
- 30-35L Backpack: This is not a suitcase-friendly itinerary; you will NEED a good backpack that you can hike with. We love the 32L Osprey Unisex Hikelite Backpack.
- Small Power Bank: You’ll want fully-charged devices!
- Swimmers: We will have a few opportunities to swim, so you won’t want to forget these!
- Good Hiking Shoes: There are a few hikes on this trip, so having a good pair of hiking shoes is essential.
- Travel Insurance: While not a requirement to enter Albania, travel insurance is mandatory to adventure with Elsewheria.
Clothing
For most of the itinerary, you’ll be wearing exercise gear for hiking, casual clothing and swimmers! The only time you might want to dress a little nicer is for our final dinner together – when we are out of the mountains. But as mentioned above, you’ll be able to store a bag in Shkoder with this gear and pick it up on the second to last day on the way to Fishte.
The temperature in Albania during the time of the trip is relatively warm. However, once we get into the mountains, it can get as cool as 5° overnight in Valbona, so you’ll need some warm layers (don’t worry the place we are staying has a cosy fire and heaters in the rooms).
For hiking:
- 2-4 athletic tops
- 2-3 athletic shorts
- 3-4x socks: depending on how often you’ll want to wear your covered shoes, maybe more if you’re into rocking socks and sandals.
For evenings/ travel days/ other activities:
- 2-3 casual t-shirts/ tank tops
- 1-2 long-sleeved tops (thermal is often best)
- 1-2 casual pants: You can’t beat these Arc’teryx Lightweight Pants for travelling.
- Swimmers: there are a few swimming opportunities 🙂
Other essentials:
- Underwear: however many you want.
- Cap/ Hat: you’ll want to bring a sun hat that you can hike in; a cap or a hat with a strap.
- Light Rain Jacket: hopefully we won’t need this, but they are good to have. A Mac in a Sac is great; they can be packed away into small, easy-to-travel-with carry bags.
- Sweatshirt/fleece: a lightweight jumper/ fleece for cooler evenings in the mountains.
Shoes:
- Comfortable trekking shoes: I usually prefer lighter hiking shoes, rather than boots, when trekking in summer, as high boots can get hot!
- Flip flops/sandals
Farm-to-Table Dinner at Mrizi i Zanave Agroturizem (final night)
You might want to dress a little nicer on this night than the rest of the trip. You can choose to carry your outfit for this night in your backpack throughout the trip, or you can leave a small bag in Shkoder for us to pick up on day 7 on our way to Fishte (for a small fee)
- 1 Dress/ Shirt/ pants: A nicer outfit for our final dinner together
- Comfortable shoes: You may want to pack a pair of shoes that aren’t flip flops or trekking shoes for this meal.
Bags
Aside from your main pack, you may also want to consider a few other bags, too!
- Backpack: 30-45L maximum, you will carry this with you the whole trip, including the hike over the Valbona Pass (unless you opt to get it transported by horse for an extra fee).
- Hanging toiletry bag: This is a serious game changer! But again, for this trip, a SMALL one is essential.
- Bum bag: Never a bad idea. Easy to carry and access essentials.
- Plastic bag/ wet-gear bag: In case you need to carry wet swimmers with you!
- An additional backpack: If you want to leave some of your gear in Shkoder. The size of this bag will totally depend on how much stuff you’re leaving! TIP: don’t have lots of little bags, try to fit it into one. They often charge per bag
Essential Travel Accessories
A few personal items that we highly recommend you bring to Albania:
- Polarised sunglasses: We recommend grabbing yourself a pair of Abaco sunnies, especially the Cruiser II.
- Earplugs: Unless you’re one of those bloody lucky people who can fall asleep anywhere, these are always a good addition to your packing list.
- Eye mask: A good eye mask absolutely changed my life (dramatic but true)
- Universal travel adaptor
- Kindle: Kindles are lightweight to carry, and you won’t find more beautiful places to read!
- Reusable Water Bottle: Saving the planet one less plastic water bottle at a time!
- Hiking Poles: If you like to hike with poles, I’d recommend grabbing yourself a good pair of hiking poles.
- Headtorch: an essential that you don’t think you’ll need… until you need it.
- Microfiber towel: Towels will be provided at all accommodations, but we recommend a microfiber towel for our swimming opportunities!
Toiletries
Obviously, toiletries can be purchased in Albania, but as with most items, options are very limited – or non-existent – in the mountains, so bring what you think you’ll need.
- Toothbrush/toothpaste
- Bodywash/shampoo: Most accommodations will provide these. But if you are picky about your brands, please only bring small, travel-sized versions.
- Deodorant
- Suncream with solid SPF (min 30+)
- Lip balm with SPF
- Pads/tampons
- Whatever else you might need!
Medication
The vast majority of meds can be purchased over the counter in Albania, but we still recommend coming prepared with anything you know you’ll want to have handy.
Here’s what we like to have handy:
- Prescription medicines
- Paracetamol, Advil and/or Aspirin
- Antibacterial gel for cuts, scrapes, etc.
- Motion sickness meds: especially from the drive back from Theth!
- Antihistamines
- Band Aids
- Imodium: The best thing for traveller’s diarrhoea.
- Gauze/bandages: A good addition to any first aid kit.
- Oral Rehydration Salts/ Electrolyte Sachets
- Throat lozenges
You can pick up a compact first aid kit with a few essentials and add your own.
Electronics
These are by no means essentials, but they might be handy to bring along with you.
- Headphones: For travel journeys or downtime!
- Camera or GoPro (if you own one)
- GPS Luggage Tags: Airlines always seem to lose our bags. Get one up on them by tracking your own luggage.
Personal Documents
You don’t want to forget these. We recommend making copies of everything, including your travel insurance coverage docs:
- Passport
- Passport copies: Just in case!
- Visa (if you require one)
- Travel Insurance
Any questions?
Please check out our FAQs on the tour itinerary page, or email me at danielle@elsewheria.com.
Again, we are very excited to get to meet you in person in Albania soon!