Komani Lake is a reservoir on the Drin, held between Koman and Fierza in northern Albania. The water fills a gorge, so the boat spends most of the journey between rock walls with no road and no village on either side. It is the reason a great many people come to the north at all. This guide explains how the ferry works, how the speedboat differs, how you get to the water from Shkodër or Tirana, and which of our trips fits which plan.
Getting to the water
Koman is about an hour and a half from Shkodër by road. That is the part people underestimate: the boat is not the start of the day, the drive is.
From Tirana it is longer again, which is why anything that uses the morning ferry leaves the capital very early. We run a private transfer from Tirana, Durrës or Golem to the Koman landing (from €160 per vehicle), and our Valbona one-way trip starts in Tirana (from €46 per person) or Shkodër (from €39).
The ferry
The passenger and car ferry leaves Koman at 09:00 and the crossing to Fierza takes about two and a half hours one way. One departure in the morning is the whole timetable, and missing it means missing the day — which is why every itinerary that uses the ferry starts early from Shkodër or very early from Tirana.
The ferry does not run in the winter months. The season on this water is May to October.
Where the ferry goes, and where it does not
Fierza, at the far end, is the gateway to Valbona: about an hour by road from the landing. If your plan is to reach the Alps by boat rather than by the long road through Puka, this is how it is done.
The Shala River is something else. It is a tributary of the lake and cannot be reached by road at all — only by boat, about forty-five minutes by speedboat from Koman. The water there is turquoise and shallow enough to swim in, and there are guesthouses along the bank. Half a day is the usual shape of a visit.
Ferry or speedboat
They are two different days. The ferry is a crossing: slow, two and a half hours, and it ends somewhere else. The speedboat is a return trip into a side valley and back to where you started.
If you want to end up in Valbona, you want the ferry. If you want to swim in the Shala and come back the same day, you want the speedboat. The three-day itineraries use both, in that order.
Which trip for which plan
A day on the water from Shkodër: the Komani Lake & Shala River Day Trip, about ten hours, from €56 per person. Already at Koman: the Speedboat Tour on Komani Lake and Shala River, from €53 per person.
Crossing to the Alps: the Valbona One-Way Trip with the Komani Lake boat, about seven hours, from €39 per person from Shkodër. Staying in the mountains: Komani Lake & Valbona in three days (from €245 per person), or Komani Lake, Valbona & Theth in three days, guided (from €364) or self-guided (from €289), which cross the lake on day one and walk the pass between the two valleys.
Each tour page lists exactly what its price covers and where it starts, so check the departure city before you choose.
What the day feels like
Long, and mostly spent moving. An hour and a half of road to Koman, then hours on the water, then road again at the other end. The gorge does the work — the point of the day is the passage itself, not what waits at the end of it.
