The planning for the 2018 Honey Trail is in full swing!

We are very happy to offer two Honey Trail tours next year. Starting from Tirana, one will explore the North of Albania while the second tour will discover the South of the country:

 In May / June, the Honey Trail takes us to the Lezha region, renowned for its sage and heather honey. We continue to Shkoder and, following some first class birdwatching head towards the Albanian Alps.  Tropojë is our destination with its vast chestnut forests, famous chestnut honey and near the Gashi river which recently received UNESCO protection as an extension of the World Heritage site of the Primeval Beech Forests.

In early October, the Honey Trail leads us to Albania's three key honey regions: Korça, Përmet in the heart of the Vjosa Valley, one of the last intact large river systems in Europe and Llogara-Palasë with spectacular vistas along the Albanian Riviera. On the way, we visit the national parks of Butrint, Llogara and Fir of Hotova and delve into Albania's ancient history, visiting historic places such as Gjirokastra  or the ruins of Butrint.

In addition, we offer tailor-made Honey Trail tours: You are a group of min. 5 persons - friends, hobby beekeepers or professional apiarists - and want to discover Albania long tradition of beekeeping? We will be happy to prepare a unique Honey Trail experience for you.

We will finalise and publish the Honey Trail 2018 tour details in early November. Watch out for more information and our early bee rates here and on our Facebook page.

We look forward to welcoming you on the Honey Trail in 2018!

Albania's climate and vastly beautiful landscape  provide ideal conditions for beekeeping and so it is not surprising that Albanian honey, especially the chestnut honey, has enormous (economic) potential:

Since more than 2,000 years, apiculture has been a vital part of Albania's rural economies. Beekeeping is a popular subsidiary industry and very much on the rise, especially in the past 20 years:  Back in 1992, the number of beehives was less than 50,000. According to the Albanian Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) this number has grow from about 260,000 in the year 2014 to 303,000 in 2016.

In 2016, Albanian beekeepers produced almost 4.000t of honey. This is still relatively low compared to other european countries - for example, in Germany more than 21.000t were produced in the same year. Yet, compared to the per-capita income in the country, the price is at average 10 EUR/kg relatively high.

But the long tradition of beekeeping and the love for honey and bees in Albania is also reflected in the language: Two different words are used in Albanian when talking about death - one in relation to all animals (ngordh) and one for human beings and bees only (vdes).