The trail takes 7-8 hours, so there's no point heading out on the day you arrive. I ended up staying in Valbone. There's a real construction boom here—they're building a hotel and a bunch of guest houses. The rest of the infrastructure though is pretty bare bones. There isn't even a decent shop. But if they really just started investing here recently, I'm hoping this doesn't turn into some never-ending project and actually becomes a great development with proper infrastructure to match. The Albanian Alps could definitely attract more tourists that way.

For now though, the one working café with its half-finished second floor looks pretty weird. And honestly, they only serve espresso and beer there. The camping area behind barbed wire is pretty depressing (like, how did anyone even think that was a good idea? ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ ).

Until the hotel is finished, you can only stay in guest houses. The one I picked is actually pretty nice. And the food is decent too. Though like everywhere else, they dump an insane amount of salt on absolutely everything. Weirdly though, the desserts came out unsalted.