Lake Koman

Getting there

boat, car. The Berisha ferry leaves Koman at 09:00 and Fierza at 13:00, daily between 15 April and 5 November. Cars are carried and charged by area. A second boat, Dragobia, runs year-round for residents and supplies; it is not a service to plan a trip around.

Parking: Parking at the Koman pier, at the end of a narrow road and a tunnel.

Photography

Best light: morning.

The 09:00 sailing puts you in the gorge with the sun still low and the walls still holding shadow, which is the whole reason to take the northbound boat rather than the return. Check drone requirements with the AAC before travelling.

Drone: not confirmed. Albania's registration requirement is reported differently by every secondary source, so verify with the AAC before you fly.

Lake Koman is a reservoir on the Drin, and the boat through it is the closest thing Albania has to a set-piece journey. The walls come straight out of the water for most of the two and a half hours and the gorge narrows to the point where the ferry looks wrong in it.

It is also the only practical way into Valbonë, which is what makes its calendar the north's calendar. Berisha runs daily from 15 April to 5 November and states plainly that it does not run in winter. The Dragobia boat that keeps going through the cold months is a local workhorse carrying people and supplies, not a tourist crossing, and travellers have built itineraries on the difference before.

In July and August the 09:00 sells out days ahead, and a car costs several times a foot passenger's fare. In September the boat is half empty and the light in the gorge is better.