South Albania Walking Trails

Please inquire about small group pricing.

This exclusively designed walking tour has been created for those that wish to understand and experience Albania as Byron did two centuries ago. Our exclusive walking tour in the footsteps of Byron brings his memories to life.

Book now!

A delight for history and poetry enthusiasts

Duration: 8 days, 7 nights

Pick-up: Upon request

Type: Private Tour, customizable upon request

Highlights

The UNESCO World Heritage city of Gjirokastra
The famous Bektashi Monastery
Riding the mountains and forests of Southern Albania
One of Albania’s oldest Byzantine churches at Labovë e Kryqit
Riding through the Kelcyra

Throughout the days, we experience firsthand the landscape as our beloved Lord Byron, and the evenings are spent reflecting upon the day’s events. His captivating journeys included the UNESCO World Heritage city of Gjirokastra, Tepelena (birthplace of the Albanian-Ottoman ruler, Ali Pasha), and Melanit (a religious center for Bektashi Shi'it Muslims).

Season

All year round

Duration

8 days, 7 nights

Difficulty

Easy to moderate

Rocky surfaces, uneven terrain and trails

Landscape

The landscapes at Kelycyra Gorge, Libohove, and Tepelene will help you understand what captivated him most.

Including

7 nights of sustainable accommodation (hotels & camping)
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner*
English-speaking tour guide
Transportation
Entrance tickets

*please let us know your dietary restrictions bbbbeforehand on the booking page

Excluding

Tips and gratuities for the tour guide
Personal expenses

Lord George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron Byron was the most important and leading figure in the Romantic Movement, and he is considered the greatest European poet and satirist. Byron’s books are world widely read. Byron left England in 1809 for a grand tour through Spain, Portugal, Italy, to Albania. Ali Pasha of Tepelena ruled the southern part of Albania at the time and Byron was very interested in meeting him while traveling in a land that most West Europeans didn't dare to visit.

'I talk not of mercy, I talk not of fear,

He neither must know who would serve the Vizier:

Since the days of our prophet the Crescent ne’er saw

A chief ever glorious like Ali Pashaw.'

So wrote Lord Byron in his famous poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, where he chronicled the journey that he and his dear friend and diarist J.C. Hobhouse took through the mountainous regions of southern Albania in 1809. Along the

journey through the villages of the Vjosë Valley. Byron described himself at the time as ‘the humblest of thy pilgrims passing by, but the resulting poem that the journey inspired remains one of English literature’s most eloquent works.