The most beautiful waterfall in Albania

Saturday was moving day as we made our way from Gjirokaster to Permet. Not a long distance, only about 62 kms (38 miles). But there were a few things we wanted to see along the way.

The main thing we wanted to see was the Peshtures Waterfall near the village of Progonat. We had read that it is the most beautiful waterfall in Albania, and the pictures we had seen sure made it look that way.

But, it's not easy to get to.

One review I read said that you would have to know a local in order to find it.

I knew where it was... I had the GPS coordinates of the waterfall itself. However I could not find any information online about the best road to get there, or even where the trail started for the hike up the canyon. So of course we will include that info here for future travelers!

I could see two choices of roads to get there from Gjirokaster. One route went through the village of Kolonje and would include some dirt road driving to get to Progonat. And we know from past experience that many unpaved roads in Albania can be in pretty rough shape. Using Google maps or Google streetview doesn't help. Streetview is very limited in Albania.

The other route was longer and went north up to the town of Tepelena and then southwest up to Progonat.

We decided to try the shorter route first. No way to know the condition of the roads until you actually get on them, so it was just a crapshoot as to which route would be better.

Scenery along the way.

Once we turned off the main highway, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the secondary road leading as far as Kolonje was also paved and in overall good condition.

Good condition, but there were a few obstacles!

The scenery was gorgeous though.

As green as a golf course!

And hardly any traffic.

A teddy bear?

You'll see this regularly in Albania. Stuffed animals hanging somewhere on the property. Even in the cities. Has nothing to do with religion. But it does ward off evil, so they say. If you want to read more about it, here's a BBC news article... https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33718522

The village of Kolonje.

Notice the teddy bear.

Yes, we could have asked some of the people at that cafe if we were on the correct route. But first, there was the communication problem, and second I would not have trusted their guidance. Just because an Albanian says "the road is fine" doesn't mean that it is.

We carried on and the paved road turned to gravel.

Our car, stopped while I get out and make a decision.

It sure is beautiful here.

I walked a little further up and looked back at our car.

It was a single lane gravel road with no guard rails and steep drop offs. The actual road surface wasn't in bad shape though. But I was worried about if a vehicle was coming the other way, and just because the surface is in good shape here doesn't mean that it is a km or two up the road.

I chickened out. Found a spot to turn around, and we went back to the main highway.

If nothing else, it was still a beautiful detour. The scenery is stunning.

We made our way north to Tepelena and then onto the road that goes to Progonat.

Scenery along the way.

The Ali Pasha Aquaduct built in the 1800's.

If we had more time, this would be another great area for a hike.

Chimney in the tiny village of Bence.

At this tiny village, on a road with very little traffic... there was a traffic jam! It turned out that we had timed ourselves just right to get into the middle of a funeral procession!

We will not be going 40 km/h through here.

It took a half an hour or so for the people to walk to the cemetery.

Just gorgeous.

Right about where I was expecting the road to become gravel, it became nice fresh pavement. In fact, they have spent a lot of money on this road that climbs up the mountain. Good thing for us because I think that if we had tried to do this in a two wheel drive vehicle a year ago, we wouldn't have made it. But now? Nice! It's so fresh there are some sections still being worked on. But it will be complete in a month or two.

Nice fresh pavement.

And a steep climb, with lots of switchbacks.

You can see the road we were on bottom right.

We made it to the village of Progonat and looked for the pathway leading to the falls. After some searching and dead ends, we asked a little boy who pointed us in the right direction.

The entrance to the trail is located at GPS 40.215113, 19.951102

Wow!

The canyon is spectacular. I wish we had some blue sky and sunshine.

Ruth, trying to stay away from the edge.

She would be doing a lot of that!

Me!

Ruth, looking down.

This pretty little waterfall comes right out of the rocks higher up.

We weren't the only ones there. We passed two other couples in their 20's, and a family group of about eight people with kids who were headed the opposite way. The trail eventually makes its way down to the river itself and then you have to follow the riverbed up through the canyon to the falls.

When we got to the falls, there were two young (late 20's) Italian guys there. They both spoke English so we talked to them a bit while we all enjoyed the falls.

Ruth, at the falls.

While this was indeed a pretty spot, this was not the spot I had seen in the pictures. So I was a little disappointed. The Italian guys said that they had spoken to an old man who told them that there is another spot further down, but it's really hard to get to and if you don't know the route you would never make it. 

Hmph. 

So, we enjoyed that spot, but I was still disappointed. We turned around and started making our way back out the canyon.

The canyon walls were really interesting. 

Can you see Ruth, with the big overhang above her head?

Ruth spotted what looked like a goat path type of trail going up. I would not have noticed it and would have walked right by. I started going up, because I thought maybe there was a way to view the falls from higher up. But it was pretty steep and I almost didn't go. Then I told Ruth to wait at the bottom, and I would go check it out to see if there was anything to see, and call her to come up if there was.

And there was.

I was gone quite a while because it was tough to get up there. There were sections where you had to use hands and feet. And usually, going up is easier than getting back down. I was worried that if I called Ruth up there she might have a hard time getting back down. But it was too beautiful to pass up.

C'mon up Ruth!

After the hard climb up, you make your way through this cool opening in the rocks.

And you see this!

The most beautiful waterfall in Albania.

I took a short video for you so that you can enjoy the falls too!

Wow!

Now, we thought about the two Italian guys who were likely going to miss this. We made our way back down, and as soon as we got to the point where Ruth was okay on her own, I rushed on down to tell them before they got too far . Then I led them back up there. They were so glad! I'm sure that many people who visit the falls only see the lower one.

Then we hiked back to the car, enjoying the views of the canyon along the way...

I took another short video for you...

Back at the car, we began driving headed back in the same direction we came. Who do we come across? The two young Italian guys hitchhiking! Of course we stopped and picked them up. They had taken the local bus from Gjirokaster to Tepelena and then hitchhiked their way to the falls. We were quite happy to take them back to our turnoff, and they were quite happy that we came along and stopped for them.

We made it to our destination and our new Airbnb at Permet. But this blog post is already too long, so you can hear more about Permet tomorrow!

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