Lure Lakes

The Lure lakes are a chain of about a dozen small glacial lakes strung along a ridge at between fourteen and seventeen hundred metres in the mountains of northern Albania, set among black pine and beech forest with alpine pasture around them, and the best known is the Flower Lake, which fills with water lilies in summer. The area was declared a national park in 1966. It suffered heavily from illegal logging in the 1990s and 2000s, and although protection has improved the damage is visible in places, which the park does not hide. Access is the main difficulty: the roads in from either side are rough mountain tracks and take hours. Shepherds bring flocks to the pastures in summer.

What you actually see

• A chain of glacial lakes - about a dozen along the ridge.
• The Flower Lake - water lilies filling it in summer.
• Black pine and beech forest - the woodland around the lakes.
• Alpine summer pasture - shepherds and flocks on the high ground.

When to go

June to September; snow closes the roads the rest of the year and lies late. A day, better overnight camping. The lilies are out in July and August. Four-wheel-drive is close to necessary.

Honest expectations

The roads in are genuinely rough and take several hours from the nearest towns. Logging damage is visible. There is no infrastructure, no marked paths and no facilities. Some of the lakes dry up by late summer.

Nearby

Peshkopi is east; Rreshen lies west.