Day 1: We’ll begin this evening in Thessaloniki, Greece. Night in Thessaloniki.

Days 2-3: We’ll leave after breakfast for the lengthy drive across Western Greece, with short stops on route. Our destination is the stunning Prespa Lakes, where we’ll spend two nights.  These ancient tectonic lakes sit at an elevation of around 2800 feet above sea level and straddle Greece, Albania, and North Macedonia. With mountains all around, they are a vital migration stopping point for birds moving through the eastern flyway of Europe. 

After lunch in day 2, we’ll begin our birding by exploring the lakes’ reedbeds. Here will be our best chance for Bearded Reedling and Little Bittern. The reedbeds and lake edges should also be full of passerines such as Eurasian Penduline-Tit, Sedge, Common Reed and Great Reed Warblers, Western Yellow Wagtail, and Red-throated Pipit might also be present. Many other waterbirds and shorebirds such as Common Snipe, Little Ringed Plover, Common and Wood Sandpipers, Common Greenshank, Eared Grebe, Black-crowned Night and Squacco Herons can also be found here, and the lakes also hold good numbers of Dalmatian Pelican and Pygmy Cormorant with smaller numbers of Ferruginous Duck and Great White Pelican.

Woodland and scrub around the lake should give us the best chance of spotting the stunning Eastern Bonelli’s Warbler plus many other species like Eastern Subalpine, Barred and  Wood Warblers, Eurasian Wryneck, Middle Spotted, Great Spotted,  and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, Woodchat Shrike, Cirl Bunting, and Wood Lark.

The area is also excellent for more widespread European migrants including Common Cuckoo, European Turtle-Dove, Common Hoopoe, European Bee-eater, Eurasian Golden Oriole, Alpine Swift, Red-backed Shrike, Spotted and European Pied Flycatchers, Common Nightingale, and Tree Pipit among others.

Finally, we must not forget the birds of prey and with luck we may spot Short-toed Snake-Eagle, Western Marsh and Montagu’s Harriers, Common and Long-legged Buzzards, Lesser and Eurasian Kestrels, and Eurasian Hobby at the lakes and in the surrounding area. Nights at the Prespa Lakes. 

Day 4: We’ll head south along the border with Albania to the attractive town of Konitsa and the  magnificent Pindus Mountains, the peak of which reaches over 8500 feet above sea level. This area will not only give us an excellent range of bird species but also a wide variety of montane fauna and flora. The geology here is spectacular as well and we’ll visit Vikos Gorge, the deepest gorge for its width on Earth.  

After lunch in Konitsa we’ll visit the valley of the Vjosa River, a designated UNESCO Biosphere Reserve and classified as one of Europe’s last, dam-free “wild rivers”. Key birds  include Short-toed Snake-Eagle, Golden Eagle,  Eurasian Crag-Martin, Common Firecrest, White-throated Dipper, Blue Rock-Thrush, and Rock Bunting. We’ll spend the afternoon exploring this area while also paying attention to the varied fauna and flora of these mountains before heading back to Konitsa, where our hotel provides an authentic Greek experience.  Night in Konitsa. 

Day 5: We’ll explore the breathtaking Vikos Gorge. Here the rich forests of the Vjosa River area are replaced with dramatic rock escarpments and the fascinating geology only adds to what is a sensational location for birding. In these landscapes we’ll hope to find birds such as Alpine Swift, Yellow-billed Chough, Hooded Crow, Sombre and Marsh Tits, Short-toed Treecreeper, White-throated Dipper, Black Redstart, Gray Wagtail,  and Cirl Bunting. We also have an outside chance for the spectacular Black Woodpecker and the subtly beautiful Alpine Accentor. Once again, we’ll take in the entirety of the  region’s flora and fauna. Night in Konitsa.

Day 6: We’ll say goodbye to Greece as we cross the border into Albania. Once again, we’ll parallel the Vjosa River as we follow its valley all the way to the Adriatic coastal town of Vlore. This will mostly be a travel day to our stunning hotel outside Vlore, but we’ll make strategic birding stops on route. Night in Vlore.

Day 7: We’ll visit the Vjosë-Nartë protected lagoon north of Vlore, a  critically important migration spot on the Adriatic coast featuring beautiful sand dunes and wet grassland teeming with wildlife. The vast, undisturbed landscapes here are in themselves worth the visit.  The Vjosë-Nartë lagoon is home to Zitting Cisticola, not a rarity in eastern Europe, but here it makes use of very specific habitat types, and its characteristic display flights are always entertaining. However, it’s the range of bird species which makes Vjosë-Nartë stand out as one of Albania’s top birding sites. Significant numbers of wildfowl, shorebirds (at least 25 species), gulls, terns, egrets, herons, birds of prey, and passerines can be found, particularly during spring migration. 

Highlights for our time here could include, but are certainly not limited to, Garganey, Eurasian Thick-knee, Pied Avocet, Spotted Redshank, Curlew Sandpiper, Collared Pratincole, Slender-billed Gull, Dalmatian Pelican, Greater Flamingo, Eurasian Spoonbill, Western Marsh Harrier, European Bee-eater, Woodchat Shrike, Crested and Greater Short-toed Larks, European Red-rumped Swallow, European Pied Flycatcher, Whinchat, Northern Wheatear, Spanish Sparrow, and Tawny Pipit. 

Migration can, of course, also deposit some real oddities, and we should be alert for species like Marsh Sandpiper, Gull-billed Tern, seabirds such as Scopoli’s and Yelkouan Shearwaters, Purple Heron, Osprey, Booted Eagle, Pallid and Montagu’s Harrier, Red-footed Falcon, Calandra Lark, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Black Redstart, and Eastern Black-eared Wheatear. Night near Vlore

Day 8: We’ll visit the mountains south of Vlore where a spectacular mountain pass will give not only sensational views across the Adriatic Sea but also bird species which are tricky to find elsewhere on our tour. Around the viewpoint we’ll search for the shy and localized Rock Partridge, a montane species found only in southern and eastern Europe, and Western Rock Nuthatch, another species restricted in Europe to the very south and east of the continent. Other key birds here include   Sardinian Warbler, and Mistle Thrush. In the afternoon we’ll visit Orikum Lagoon for any species we missed at Vjosë-Nartë. Night near Vlore.

Day 9: We’ll head north to Shkodra Lake which borders Montenegro. We’ll break our journey by visiting Karavasta Lagoon in the Divjaka-Karavasta National Park. Karavasta features many of the species found at Vjosë-Nartë and Orikum lagoons on our previous day’s birding but at the peak of migration, there can be benefits in visiting yet another important migration hotspot. Likely species may include Common Shelduck, Common Swift, Eurasian Moorhen, Black-winged Stilt, Eurasian Curlew, Kentish Plover, Little Stint, Collared Pratincole, Little Tern, Cetti’s Warbler, Greater Whitethroat, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, and Corn Bunting. With luck, migrating birds of prey such as Lesser Spotted Eagle may also be found. 

Depending on the time we arrive at Shkodër, we may be able to visit a nearby river and delta which our hotel overlooks. We might find Red-crested Pochard, Whiskered and Black Terns, Lesser Kestrel, and Eurasian Jay. Night near Shkodër.

Day 10: On our last full day, we’ll travel into the Dinaric Mountains, also known as the Albanian Alps. These spectacular mountains rise to just under 9000 feet and are a fitting way to end our time in Albania. Our main focus will be the Theth Valley on the south-west side of the mountains where we’ll hope to catch up with Rock Pigeon (wild birds!), European Honey-buzzard, Gray-headed and Eurasian Green Woodpeckers,  Crested and Willow Tits, Ring Ouzel, and Hawfinch. There is a slim chance for Black Woodpecker, Northern Nutcracker, and White-winged Snowfinch, all of which can be found but each requires a lot of luck. 

As with other mountain areas on our tour we’ll spend time investigating the varied flora and fauna found in this picturesque spot. Night near Shkodra.

Day 11: The tour concludes this morning with a transfer to Tirana Airport.