The south of Albania, with its mountain ranges, gorges and beautiful rivers, is a unique landscape and cultural experience. Discover with us this small paradise, sometimes quite far from any civilization and yet always in direct and original contact with the country and its people.
Our whitewater tours to Albania were, are and will remain an extraordinary project. After explorations and then successful first tours in 2022 and 2023, the Vjosa is now a national park and the whitewater tour into the wild heart of Albania is part of our tour program. The fascination of these tours lie between untouched whitewater routes in an impressive landscape and close contact with the country and its people.
Blog posts about the tours in Albania with impressions from different years and our innovations since 2024 can be viewed and read on the Land Water blog: Review of the 2023 tour "When the Osum turned to Cocoa" and the Tour 2024 "Coming back to Albania?".
The tour is demanding in terms of terrain and water:
- Whitewater experience in difficulty level III is required.
- It is necessary to be in good condition even with the expected temperatures of about 20-30°C during the day.
- Helmets and life jackets are mandatory.
Detailed info like packing lists and weather information as well as competent and personal advice in preparation are part of this tour.
Date 2025
May 16 - 26, 2025 (with latest arrival, earliest departure and including transfer days).
Booking runs continuously: To the request for expedition participationDate 2026
May 28 - June 7, 2026 (with latest arrival, earliest departure and including transfer days).
Booking runs continuously: To the request for expedition participationParticipation requirements
The formal participation requirements are:
- Previous participation in a minimum 4-day multiday packrafting course or expedition course.
- Previous participation in a whitewater course or equivalent prior experience in whitewater kayaking/packrafting.
- A release for participation on the part of LWA after inquiry
With appropriate prior experience and at the discretion of the guide team, these requirements can be customized.
The following courses are offered in preparation for possible expedition participation:
Multiday Packrafting Training Hunsrück (4 days)
Whitewater Packrafting Trainings Alps (3 - 4 days)
Whitewater Packrafting Trainings Slovenia (3 - 5 days)
Packrafting Expedition Training Norway (7 days)
Film of the pilot tour 2022
Dive into this special adventure in 2 minutes of video:
More information
Information about the tour, logistics and costs
Arrival and departure: Arrival is to Tirana, Albania (by flight, for example, from Frankfurt), then transfers.
Preliminary information: It is an expedition-like tour, the below schedule is therefore subject to detail changes that may arise in the further planning phase before the start of the tour. We try to provide reliable information as early as possible and hope not to have to adjust the information given here in the further course.
We plan to arrive and depart via Tirana. From here a shuttle will take us to the backcountry. If you don't want to use our shuttle because you arrive earlier or want to stay longer, please let us know (in time). In the shuttle we have the possibility to leave a small piece of luggage for the period of the tour.
After the transfer to the backcountry - the above blog posts give an impression - and an Albanian BBQ evening we explore in the following days with the rivers Vjosa and Osum two characteristically very different, but equally impressive scenic river pearls in southern Albania. We move continuously in the sporty whitewater class II-III with early summer waves, with guaranteed wilderness feeling and put with a breathtaking gorge stage still one on it.
Detailed plan for the 2025 tour
Latest arrival: Friday, May 16, 2025 at Tirana
Tour May 17 - 25, 2025
Earliest possible return journey: Monday, May 26, 2025 from Tirana
Detailed plan for the 2026 tour
Latest arrival: Thursday, May 28, 2026 at Tirana
Tour May 29 - June 6, 2026
Earliest possible return journey: Sunday, June 7, 2026 from Tirana
General tour schedule (changes and adjustments possible every year)
- Transfer into the backcountry, Albanien BBQ
- Vjosa (2 days)
- Crossing over mountain range (2 days) with option for backpack-transfer and with snack stop in a small village
- Osum with Osum Canyon (2,5 days)
- Stay UNESCO city Berat and transfer to Tirana
Costs and request for participation
The cost of participation including the transfers from/to Tirana we will send with our contact after receiving the request form below.
Rental of packrafting equipment (optional): We recommend in principle for expedition-type tours the use of their own packraft equipment. Of course, however, participants can also rent high-quality, expedition-ready packrafts with or without internal stowage system as well as dry suits and accessories from us. Equipment will be shipped to Germany and most EU countries before the start of the expedition and back after the end of the expedition.
Additional costs: Own return flight, accommodation on arrival and departure days at Tirana airport, own food, small budget in local currency for snack stop along the way.
Interested parties please use the form below to contact us about participation. We will then contact you and, if necessary, send you the link to the formal booking form.
For coordination and preparation a virtual pre-course meeting (video call) will take place in the run-up to the course. We will start to schedule this meeting as soon as the group of participants has been determined.
The minimum number of participants required for this expedition is 6.
Team
The whitewater tour Albania is always led on site by our whitewater crack Andi accompanied by a co-guide. If possible in any given year, this is usually Johannes, who already led the pilot tour Albania back then. If you have any questions about this extraordinary undertaking, our entire team will of course be happy to answer them.
The guide-team
Andi (Lead)
Johannes
Expedition backgrounds
Film of the pilot expedition 2022
Following her passion, her love for the country and her feeling for people and nature, Susanne in 2022 captured impressions of the country, the tour and the local people and turned them into a short film. Dive into a fascinating country: