Peaks of the Balkans Border Permits: How To Apply Independently

26 July 2024.

Securing your Peaks of the Balkans border permits is essential before beginning your trek. This comprehensive guide covers exactly how to navigate the application process independently.  

The incredible Peaks of the Balkans trek crosses between Montenegro, Albania and Kosovo via remote mountain passes that fall outside the official border crossing locations.

A key part of preparing for the hike is to secure your Peaks of the Balkans border permits and approvals to officially cross between the individual countries.

While some border points along the trek are marked with an old checkpoint podium from the communist era, many simply fall along a ridge line or peak with no indication that you’re venturing from one country to another.

Virtually all online resources advise hikers to go through an agency to secure the Peaks of the Balkans border permits, however it is entirely possible to apply for the permits independently.

In the name of research, we did just that.

This guide covers everything you need to know to navigate the application process, including the correct contacts, what documents you’ll need, helpful tips and a few hard-earned lessons.

I’ll also add the major caveat that this information is based on my personal experience only and should not be taken as legal advice – it is your responsibility to follow the local immigration regulations.

Now, before diving into the details, it is worth mentioning that this process is manageable but can be somewhat convoluted and, occasionally, downright ridiculous.

We found that much of the information provided online on the process was out-of-date with many of the email contacts listed now defunct.

When navigating the process, we also found the level of responsiveness from different offices to be vastly different. Some contacts were fantastically helpful and prompt in replying, while with others we waited weeks for a response leading us to question whether our emails had even been received or whether we were in fact emailing the right address.

Finding the correct contacts and forms

Initially, the biggest hurdle was tracking down the correct email addresses for the border police of each country.

These seem to change regularly and virtually all those we found recommended online were now out of use and bounced back. 

As a first step I sent a generic email to all the addresses I could find online regarding the border crossing permits, requesting the current Application Form and seeking permission to cross the border outside of the official border crossing points as part of the Peaks of the Balkans trek.

From this, I got ‘mail undelivered’ notifications from more than half the addresses used which helped to weed out which contacts were inactive. The montenegro / kosovo / albania@peaksofthebalkans.com addresses which are listed on the official Peaks of the Balkans website are all no longer valid. 

The forms found online (some more than a decade old) have also changed slightly over time, however once we found the correct email addresses, we were able to be provided with the current versions.

Lack of Responsiveness

The lack of response from some official offices is another major and apparently frequent issue with this process.

The tourist information and border police of both Montenegro and Kosovo were particularly helpful, replied promptly to emails, provided all the necessary paperwork and gave approval in a short turnaround time, while the final country (ahem, looking at you Albania!) gave a frustrating runaround with very little response to any correspondence or confirmation that our emails and applications were even being received.

Annoyingly, it’s a somewhat common theme and we met other hikers who also applied independently and similarly didn’t get their approval for one country until they had already arrived and were about to begin the trek.

This is exactly why it’s important to leave yourself enough time to apply (see more on this below).

What You’ll Need For The Peaks of the Balkans Border Permit Applications

For your application you will need:

//     A competed application form for each country (they’re all slightly different) including the date and time of your entry and exit from the country, your full name, passport number, email address, home address, phone number, purpose for crossing the border and location of border crossing.

//     A copy of the passport for every hiker in your group

//     The permit fee for Montenegro (€5 to €8 per solo hiker, €7 to €10 per couple)

//     A finalised Peaks of the Balkans itinerary

While you won’t need to actually submit your final itinerary, you will need specific times, dates and locations for your application so it is important to have this locked in so you know exactly when and where you’ll be crossing each border.

From the first email blast I sent out, the Plav tourism office was the first to respond and were very helpful in providing the correct Application Form and email address for the border police in town.

After completing the form and submitting the application to the border police via email, we were given approval within 24 hours.

Once approval is granted, you still need to visit the border police in Plav when you arrive in town as part of the trek to collect the border permit and pay the fee in cash.

Up until this point, the process had been seamless and straightforward, however things quickly became slightly more convoluted once we arrived in Plav.

—

Plav was our starting point on the Peaks of the Balkans trail so we made sure to arrive early enough on the day prior to sort out our permits so that we didn’t need to go there on the first morning of the hike.

An important thing to note is that there are two police headquarters located at opposite ends of the town – the regular police and the border police.

When we jumped off the bus in Plav, there were several large signs directing us to the police station beside the lake which we wrongly assumed must be the right place to go. However, on arrival, they had absolutely no idea what we were talking about when we asked about collecting the border permits.

After a lot of confusion, some back and forth over Google translate and a phone call to someone else to figure out what we were after, we were told we had to go to the other police office, however they weren’t able to tell us the address or point it out on a map.

Eventually, we found it marked on Google Maps here – Border Police Office – at the opposite end of town.

On arrival, the officer checked our approval email and passports and began sifting through a wad of paper thicker than a phone book in the hopes of finding our specific permit issued weeks ago.

Also confusingly, you don’t actually pay the border permit fee to the border police, it is given to the state and therefore needs to be paid directly to the bank who will provide a pink banking slip which you then provide to the border police.

As we arrived on a Sunday, all the banks were closed so we were allowed to pay the border police directly, however this attracted a €3 banking fee (supposedly for them to deposit the cash at the bank on Monday).

The Plav tourism office has also advised they can be used as an intermediary to help with this process during opening hours (ordinarily 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. on weekdays, closed on weekends).

Conveniently, if you’re arriving in Plav on foot as part of the Peaks of the Balkans trek, the Border Police Office is just 150 metres off the trail if you turn left when you reach the intersection at Ulica Magaze.

If you’re coming from the bus station, it’s 1.6 km across town. I’d suggest making your payment at the bank on your way before heading to the border police office.

Montenegro Border Permit Summary

Plav Border Police  |   Email   //   Office Location

Plav Tourist Information  |   Email   //   Office Location   //   Website   //   Very helpful and prompt to respond via email and in person. Can’t directly approve any permit requests but can act as intermediary between the border police.

Border Crossing Fees  |  €3 per request + €2 per person + €3 banking fee (if required outside of banking hours) = €5 for a solo hiker (€8 with banking fee) or €7 for 2 person application (€10 with banking fee).

Top Tips   |   Head to the Border Police Headquarters (NOT the regular Police Headquarters near the lake) and avoid arriving in Plav over the weekend if possible as the banks are closed.

With the Montenegro border permit approved, next on the list was Kosovo.

All the addresses I had used for Kosovo in my initial email blast bounced, but the Peja tourism office were quick to respond and directed me to the correct contact.

The Kosovo border police were prompt in providing the Application Form and after submitting the request, they responded with approval in under 24 hours.

This approval email acts as your permit so there is no need to visit their headquarters. Big thumbs up for Kosovo!

Kosovo Border Permit Summary

Kosovo Border Police  |   Email (also cc to Email and Email)

Peja Tourist Information  |   Email   //   Website

Border Crossing Fees   |   No fee for Kosovo applications

At this point in time, we were feeling rather smug with both the Montenegro and Kosovo applications going through smoothly and being approved within a matter of days.

Albania on the other hand was an entirely different story.

Now, I have a lot of love for Albania and this would mark my fourth visit to the country so I’m hardly a stranger to this part of the world, but the convoluted rigmarole we went through for this permit was on another level.

The application for Albania took weeks of emails and follow ups, no responses, bounced emails, phone calls, WhatsApp messages, being redirected to new emails, phone calls in Albanian with the help of my lovely host in Shkodra, being told to resubmit the application, multiple confused in person conversations at the actual border police office (yes!), being told we didn’t even need approval to cross the border, being verbally told we had approval to cross but not being able to get it in writing after several requests…

There were many eye rolls and laugh out loud moments at the utter ridiculousness of it all, alongside a few frustrated expletives.

All I can say is, we were lucky we gave ourselves a month because we only managed to get the final approval in writing days before we began the hike.

With time running out, we tracked down another email address for the Director of the Kukes Border Police Office and finally managed to get some traction.

After resubmitting the application here, approval was almost immediate and, to their credit, they were very kind in their response.

Overall, the lack of communication from any of the contacts we were provided was hugely frustrating, to the point that we didn’t even know if our emails and applications were being received or were ending up in some junk mail void.

Furthermore, when visiting the border police office in person since I happened to be in Shkodra at the time, no one seemed to know what the process for these border permits was or that one even existed  – I can only assume aside from the one person who actually deals with these requests.

—

Unlike Montenegro and Kosovo, Albania has a separate border police office for each region along the border zone rather than a central department. Some online sources advise that you need to apply to the office where you will leave the country as part of the trek – so Kukes if you are hiking anti-clockwise and Shkodra if you are hiking clockwise.

Initially, reaching out to contacts and explaining my route, I was provided the Application Form and email address for crossing near Shkodra, however, I was later provided with a different form from Kukes which did eventually approve the application. Given the general lack of responsivness, I’d suggest trying with both in the hopes that at least one will reply.

I’d also recommend including a translation of your request in both English and Albanian for all correspondence.

Albania Border Permit Summary

Shkodra Border Police  |  Email   //   Website

Kukes Border Police  |  Email (also cc in Email and Email)   //   Website

Border Crossing Fees  |  No fee for Albania applications

Note that the email address ndreke.zyle@asp.gov.al which is widely mentioned online is no longer correct.

Give yourself enough time to apply

It’s best to begin the application process between 2 and 6 weeks out from the start of your Peaks of the Balkans trek as it can take a few days (or weeks) to be sent the application forms, fill everything out and send it all back before waiting for the actual approval.

We left ourselves one month and had all the permits and approval emails ready in this timeframe.

If you don’t hear back from any of the border police, this will also allow you enough time to contact an agency instead who can turn around your application in 2 weeks if needed.

Get explicit confirmation from each office

Your border crossing ‘permit’ looks a little different for each country, but it is important to get some kind of official approval in writing for each border crossing and keep a copy or screen shot of this on your phone, as well as the hard copy provided for Montenegro.

Albania and Kosovo both provided emails clearly stating that our request had been approved which was signed off by the relevant border police authority. For Albania, this was in Albanian only while Kosovo responded in both English and Albanian.

Montenegro provided written approval via email with the caveat that the actual permit needed to be collected and fee paid in person. The physical permit is a signed and stamped form and includes the details provided in your application.

Ensure you have evidence of all three permits and the email threads in case these are checked at any of the border points.

How likely are you to have Your permit checked?

In short, not very likely.

We didn’t see border guards at any of the crossings and never had our permits checked, nor did anyone else we met along the trek.

However, there were certainly enough second hand reports swirling around to know that they could be.

I met a fellow hiker earlier in my trip to Montenegro who met a group that were turned back at the border because they didn’t collect their permit in Plav, while another hiker was turned back for not having the relevant email of approval when trying to enter Kosovo.

The Montenegro and Kosovo borders are more likely to have checks in place and tend to be more strict than Albania.

Know your hiking itinerary

Between the three application forms, it can get a little confusing keeping track of all the dates and locations, particularly if you’re completing them intermittently over several weeks as you get responses from the various offices.

Once you have your itinerary locked in, I’d suggest making a table with your dates and each town and country so that you can easily refer to this during the application process.

Ultimately, if you’re completing the full 10-day Peaks of the Balkans route, there are only three dates you actually need as the day of exit from one country will be the same date of entry to the next.

These crossings occur on the stages between Vusanje and Theth (Montenegro to Albania), Dobërdol to Milishevc (Albania to Kosovo) and Drelaj or Kuqishtë to Babino Polje (Kosovo to Montenegro).

Which border crossings do I need to apply for?

When planning your Peaks of the Balkans itinerary, you’ll notice that there are many times when the official route crosses over or straddles the border before returning to the country of origin.

The most notable stages that dip into their neighbours are between Valbona and Çerem via the Prosllopit Pass, Çerem to Dobërdol and Dobërdol to Milishevc which all pass temporarily into Montenegro, and side trips from Dobërdol to Gjeravica which crosses into Kosovo.

The only border crossings you need to officially apply for are the ones where you intend to stay overnight in the country that you’ve crossed into. 

On the official 10-day Peaks of the Balkans trail, this means there are just the three main border crossings you need to apply for.

Applying as an Individual or small group

The Application Forms for Kosovo and Albania include a section for the ‘group leader or hiking guide’ with a separate table for the remaining trekkers.

Simply select one of your group as the leader (best is the person submitting the form) and then include the rest of the hikers in your crew in the table below. The leader is essentially just their point of contact, you don’t need to need to be an actual guide or a tour operator.

For Montenegro, the forms are individual and you should provide one for each hiker in your group. After completing one form, we just duplicated this so that the hiking details matched and then added the personal details and signatures.

When to apply independently vs through an agency

So, was it worth applying independently or is it best to just go through an agency?

Despite the many moments that made me want to bang my head against the wall, if I was to do it all again knowing what I know now with the correct forms and email addresses from the start, the process is entirely manageable and I’d probably do it all over again.

If you can’t be arsed with the hassle of an hour or so of paperwork and just want it sorted, then an agency is your best bet.

Ultimately, it really depends on your budget, time and level of patience.

Albanian tour operator Zbulo is widely recommended online and virtually everyone we met had used them to secure their border permits for the trek. Only a handful of other hikers had gone through the process independently, but all had also been successful in getting approval for their permits.

Zbulo charges €43 for the border permits for 2 people completing the full 10-day circuit and provides you with a pdf of your permits.

As a whole, this process is far more complicated than it really ought to be.

I’m hoping in years to come as the trail becomes more popular that there are some improvements to help streamline the process and potentially the opportunity for an online application portal for each country, similar to the specialised border permits in other countries.

If you apply for the Peaks of the Balkans border permits independently and have any updates on the process or contacts provided, feel free to leave a comment below or get in touch via email so this page can be updated for future hikers.

* This post includes affiliate links and any purchases made through these links will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you. *