The Accursed Mountains: Trekking the Prokletije Between Montenegro and Albania
The Prokletije — the Accursed Mountains in Serbian — are the Alps of the Balkans: wild, nearly deserted, with peaks above 2,600 metres and trails crossing three countries.
Foto: Vlado Vujisic (CC BY-SA 3.0) — Wikimedia Commons
The name doesn't promise anything reassuring: Prokletije, in Serbian, means "accursed." In Albanian, Bjeshkët e Namuna, it means the same thing. Yet anyone who reaches these mountains on the border between Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo — a massif stretching seventy kilometres with peaks exceeding 2,600 metres — understands that the real curse is on those who have never seen them. Until 2002, when a group of Montenegrin hikers organised the first modern expedition, these mountains were off-limits: for decades a military border zone, inaccessible to civilians.
Peaks of the Balkans: three countries, two hundred kilometres
The most ambitious trek in the Prokletije is the Peaks of the Balkans: 192 kilometres of trails crossing Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo in about ten days, with massive cumulative elevation gains and family-run shelters — the katun of mountain communities — offering bed and meal for twenty to thirty euros. The route is marked but requires experience and proper gear: the trails often cross karst terrain where water vanishes underground, and weather changes can be rapid even in summer. The highest reachable peak in Montenegro is Zla Kolata (Albanian: Kollatë e Keqe) at 2,534 metres.
Wildlife and landscape
The Montenegrin national park of Prokletije, established in 2009, is home to brown bear, wolf, lynx and wild boar in densities rare in Western Europe. Beech forests give way to alpine meadows above 1,800 metres, where the grass is thick and vultures glide on thermal currents. Lake Hrid, at 1,967 metres in the Montenegrin sector, is reachable in about four hours of hiking from the village of Plav and is one of the most isolated alpine lakes in the Balkans.
How to organise the trek
The most convenient base for the Montenegrin Prokletije is Plav, reachable from Podgorica by bus in about three hours. For the Albanian side, the access point is Theth, in the heart of the Albanian Alps. The months suitable for high-altitude trekking are June, July, August and September; in October the first snowfalls can close the highest passes. Bring a topographic map: GPS coverage is patchy.
Practical info
When should you go to The Accursed Mountains?
The best months are June, July, August and September, when there are fewer people.
Are there a lot of people in The Accursed Mountains?
The Accursed Mountains is almost deserted compared to the more touristic destinations.
Where exactly is The Accursed Mountains located?
The Accursed Mountains sits in Prokletije.
