We plan to take are own camping gear and buy food along the way. We will do a mix of wild camping and guestho uses.

Do you know if wild animals are a problem at night if your camping and potentally lost if our maps and GPS fail?

Also have you had any other feedback similar to Johnathan’s about it being about making money from tourists.

Any advice would be amazing 🙂

Lizzie

You should be able to come up with an arrangement with different guesthouses regarding setting up your tent nearby (or in their garden) and then paying for food and maybe a fee for using their facilities (e.g., toilets, showers, etc.). Not all accommodation hosts may be open to it, but I imagine you’ll find enough so you won’t be stuck. Alternatively, you can hike on your own, but then stay at the various guesthouses as a solo traveler (vs. with a group).

Have a great trip!
Audrey

Hi Amir,
Great questions and glad you found this guide useful!

1. Yes, it would be possible to trek many parts of the loop in April, but you would need to be prepared for snow on some of the higher passes/sections (e.g., snow gear) + whether all accommodation would be available as some only open up in the summer months. For the latter issue, you could either try to camp (but that might get cold) or source accommodation at lower elevations where people live all year round.

2. Yes, you could shorten the trek to 5 days. You would just need to create a route that ends in a place that has transport options.

3. If your 13-year-old is used to hiking and can take a bit of elevation, then I would say yes. I have heard from others who have trekked with their teenage children.

Good luck and have a great trek!

I have a few questions regarding the trek:
1. Is it possible to do the trek in late April?
2. Is it possible to do a shortened version of the trek, for example 5 days?
3. Is it possible to do the trek with a 13 year old kid?

Thanks,
Amir

Everyone has their own preferred style of trekking and level of comfort with navigating trails in a new trails. As we mentioned above, when we did the Peaks of the Balkans trek the trail wasn’t particularly well marked and even with GPX/GPS tracks we found some trails difficult to find and navigate. So, we preferred to have a trekking guide with us who helped navigate the route so we didn’t have to worry about getting lost or spend time trying to always find the right trail. And, he also provided us with environmental, cultural and historical background for the places where we were trekking through. We also chose the homestay network so that we could stay with and meet local families along the way, have a home-cooked meal each night and warm bed.

We met early on an Israeli group who were trekking independently and doing wild camping. Even though they had quite a bit of prior experience with trekking and had all the trekking maps for the area, they still found themselves getting lost quite a bit and even cut their trek a bit short. So, a lot of this decision is also personal preference (e.g., wild camping vs. homestays) and the level of experience and confidence one has in navigating through the mountains.

Jan, great to hear that you’re planning to do the Peaks of the Balkans trek this year. I think you’ll likely be fine with snow at the very beginning of June. You might hit a few patches here and there on the passes or higher elevations (as we did), but I can’t imagine it would be so much as to block the trail. You could always get in touch before you go with a trekking agency or accommodation just to see what the weather has been like this year. It does seem to change all the time. Have a great trip!

We’re planning to do the PotB at the beginning of June this year i.e. the first two weeks of june.

I know that conditions can change fastly and it depends on the yearly amount of snow during winter – but is snow still a serious concern at that time of year at the PotB? And will we get in serious trouble at some of the higher passes or is it just a matter of some left over snow patches and no problem at all?

Thanks for some hinds.