How to get from Tirana to Valbona
The main transfer service to get from Tirana to Valbona is the Komani Lake Ferry. If you’re following my Albania Itinerary, then you’ll take this on Day 6.
The whole route is an interesting experience as you need several transfers to get from Tirana to Valbona. First, you’ll take a 5:30am bus ride, then get to the ferry at 12pm, then take another bus ride to Valbone, ending at 1:30pm. In all the journey for us lasted from 5am (as we got to the bus station early) until 1:20pm when we got dropped in Valbona.
This is the website to use to get your tickets: https://komanilakeferry.com/en/
Paying for your tickets
In our experience, after we booked online we didn’t receive the ticket immediately. After 3 days of waiting, I spent another 3 days emailing and WhatsApp the four different numbers on the website. This is the number that responded promptly: +39 327 256 6357.
The first bus ride you’ll need to pay the 12 euros per person via cash when a young man jumps onto the bus as it nears the ferry. You can pay in euros or Lek.
The second bus ride and the boat ride are included in the ticket for around 16 euros each per person when booked online.
I suggest you also take a proactive approach to making sure you receive your ticket in advance as you can’t get on the bus or boat without it.
The Transfers Tirana to Valbona Experience
Tirana to Komani: The First Bus
5:30am – 8:45am
You’ll start off bright and early at 5am to make it to the bus pick-up location by 5:30am in Tirana. The official pick-up point is this Gazheli Petrol station. However, we found people standing aroun before the station around here for the bus. I think this is a common pick-up point so check with the man with a clipboard before you board a bus.
I suggest staying at the Ebel Hotel that night before as it’s just a 5-minute walk from the station. It’s got great simple sandwiches and they packed us a take-away breakfast with eggs, a muffin, and bread.
The bus ride is around 3 hours long and makes one stop about ½ way where you can buy coffee, tea, and some snacks.
Note: According to the website, between October 2nd and April 31 the departure time will be 5am.
Komani Ferry To the Other Side: The Ferry
9am – 11:40am
The Komani Lake Ferry was a little bit of a hectic experience but with some sense, you’ll manage. First, the bus ride will end at the end of a tunnel that leads directly to the ferry at around 8:45ish.
When you get out, the ferry station is likely going to be crowded. The bus driver was not really helpful and just pointed for us to go.
As you get dropped up, push your way to the front of the crowd near the boats and show your ticket to one of the men who other people are showing tickets to. It was unclear which boat we were supposed to be on as there were two boarding at the same time, but the men at the front correctly directed us.
The boat looked pretty full and there were no more seats available. Instead, we luckily found a shady space by some bikes for the 2.5ish hour boat ride.
The boat ride is beautiful for the most part with turquoise lakes and gorgeous mountains surrounding it. However, I read about a lot of bottles and trash that pollute the lake though it wasn’t as bad as I thought.
Fun fact: Komani Lake is actually manmade!
The Other Side to Valbona: The Second Bus
12pm – 1:20pm
We arrived at the other side of the lake at 11:45am. Again, we didn’t really have a direction to follow but there were men at the dock who knew what company we were looking for and directed us up the hill towards a van.
I suggest you do the same and literally show people your phone to help you figure out where the bus is. The bus will have branding on the side like this:
Now you’ll be on the last leg of the journey towards Valbone. The bus may take 10 minutes to fill up. The driver will ask which guesthouse you’re staying at and you’ll get dropped off there.
Although we stayed at Guesthouse Rosi, we opted to have lunch at the larger Guesthouse Jezerca. As this is one of the first guesthouses in Valbone, we were dropped off at 1:20pm. We had a great lunch for 2300 ALL.
The end! You made it to Valbona!