10-Day Balkan Birding and Heritage Tour from Tivat to Skopje

Your Balkan birding and heritage journey continues in Montenegro. On arrival at Tivat Airport, meet your tour leader and transfer privately to your hotel on the Bay of Kotor.

If time allows, take a short walk to the Tivat Solila Special Nature Reserve, old salt pans that are now a quiet refuge for waders, herons, egrets, and migrating waterbirds.

In the evening, meet your tour leader for a welcome dinner by the sea.

After breakfast, meet your licensed local guide for a tour of Kotor's UNESCO-listed Old Town: the Sea Gate, the Clock Tower, St. Tryphon's Cathedral, and the medieval squares, with the mountains rising straight from the bay.

Continue to baroque Perast and take a short boat trip to Our Lady of the Rocks, weather permitting. Shags and yellow-legged gulls are common along the bay.

Return to Tivat for the evening.

Climb the famous serpentine road above the Bay of Kotor, with breathtaking views, to the mountain village of Njeguši, then visit Cetinje, Montenegro's old royal capital.

Continue to the Pavlova Strana viewpoint above the river bends of Rijeka Crnojevića, one of the most photographed views in the country, and descend to Virpazar on the shore of Lake Skadar, the largest lake in the Balkans.

Spend a quiet evening by the lake.

An early start for a private boat trip on Lake Skadar National Park with a local guide, about 4 hours towards the mouth of the Morača River and the reedbeds of the northern wetlands - prime time for waterbirds.

Lake Skadar is home to the region's best-known colony of Dalmatian pelicans, alongside pygmy cormorants, herons, egrets, grebes, and whiskered terns, among floating fields of water lilies.

Cross into Albania and continue to Shkodër, with time for the Rozafa Castle viewpoint over the lake and rivers.

Spend the morning with a private professional ornithologist in the Buna River-Velipojë Protected Landscape, where the river meets the Adriatic among lagoons, reedbeds, and coastal woodland. Waders, herons, egrets, gulls, and terns are typical, with raptors over the marshes.

Continue to Tirana, Albania's colourful capital, and enjoy an evening walk around Skanderbeg Square and the lively Blloku district.

After breakfast, meet your local guide for a tour of Tirana: Skanderbeg Square, the Et'hem Bey Mosque, the Clock Tower area, and the city's communist-period history.

Continue to Divjaka-Karavasta National Park, home to one of Europe's most important Dalmatian pelican colonies. From the observation tower and lagoon paths, scan for pelicans, flamingos in winter, herons, and waders across the largest lagoon in Albania.

Continue to Berat, the "City of a Thousand Windows," and check in at your hotel.

Meet your local guide for a tour of UNESCO-listed Berat: the Ottoman quarters of Mangalem and Gorica and the inhabited castle above the Osum River.

Cross into North Macedonia and continue to Lake Ohrid, one of Europe's oldest and deepest lakes. In the late afternoon, enjoy a guided walk through Ohrid's old town, from the ancient theatre to the Church of St. John at Kaneo above the water.

Drive to Lake Prespa, where the Ezerani Nature Park protects reedbeds and wet meadows on the northern shore. With a local birding guide, look for Dalmatian pelicans, pygmy cormorants, herons, egrets, and many ducks and grebes.

Return over the Galičica National Park pass, with views over both lakes, and descend to the St. Naum Monastery and the springs of the Black Drim, explored by a short rowing boat.

Return to Ohrid for the evening.

Travel north to Matka Canyon near Skopje for a boat ride between steep limestone walls, where peregrine falcons, crag martins, and alpine swifts nest on the cliffs.

In Skopje, meet your local guide for a tour of the Stone Bridge, the Old Bazaar, and the city centre.

In the evening, celebrate the end of your journey with a farewell dinner.

After breakfast, enjoy free time in Skopje, depending on your flight schedule.

At the right time, your driver will take you privately to Skopje International Airport. This marks the end of your Balkan birding journey, and we hope it is the beginning of your next adventure.