Top 10 things to do around Komani Lake

1. Ride the ferry the whole way

The Koman to Fierza ferry is the reason most people come, and the temptation is to treat it as transport to somewhere better. Do not. The first forty minutes out of Koman are the narrowest and most dramatic stretch of the entire lake, and the boat passes close enough to the walls that you can see the water-line staining where the reservoir rises and falls with the season. Sit on the open upper deck on the right-hand side leaving Koman.

2. Swim in the Shala River

The Shala is a tributary that joins the reservoir at Ranxa, and because it runs off limestone rather than through the dam it stays clear and cold. Twelve to fifteen degrees in August. Ten minutes' walk upstream from the main beach and the crowds vanish.

3. Kayak into the side canyons

Several arms of the lake are too narrow for the ferry and too shallow for the tour boats. A kayak gets in, and in a few of them the walls close overhead. Morning is the time — the lake is usually glassy until about eleven, when a light valley wind sets in.

4. Stay a night in Fierza

Almost nobody does this, which is the point. A handful of guesthouses on the Fierza side put you on the water for sunrise without a 5am drive.

5. Walk the dam road at sunset

The road above the Koman dam gives you the whole reservoir in one view, with the Drin valley falling away west. Twenty minutes' walk from the pier car park and there is rarely anyone there.

6. Take the boat to Valbona and keep going

From Fierza it is 90 minutes by road to Valbona, and from Valbona you can walk to Theth over the pass. The lake is the doorway to the Alps rather than a destination on its own.

7. Eat trout at a riverside restaurant

The family restaurants at Shala serve river trout, byrek and whatever vegetables are in season, usually for around €10 a head. Cash only, in most of them.

8. Photograph the mist

Between roughly late September and early November, cold nights and warm water produce mist that sits on the surface until the sun clears the ridge. You need to be on the water by 06:30 to catch it, which means a private boat.

9. Visit the Blue Eye of Theth

Not the famous one near Sarandë — the Theth Blue Eye is smaller, colder and set in a gorge you reach on a two-hour walk from the village. Entry is €2.

10. Do nothing for an afternoon

There is a specific pleasure in mooring in a side arm with the engine off. No signal, no traffic, no other boats. Build it into the plan deliberately, because otherwise the itinerary eats it.

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