Photo: Matthew Nelson, CC BY-ND, High Scardus Trail Organization
Plan your trip
Tourism is just starting in many places in the High Scardus region - one of the reasons why the long-distance trail is so attractive. However, this also means that it is currently almost impossible for the self-organized trekker to organize from home.
Now you have following options:
- Group Tour: For those who want to hike the High Scardus Trail already in the 2022 season (which we can absolutely understand), we offer a guided Explorer Tour from 07 to 17 September 2022, where you can experience the best of the High Scardus Trail between Prizren and Ohrid.
- Individual guided trekking: From the 2023 season on, the Official High Scardus Trail Info & Booking Center will be happy to help you plan and organize your hiking trip. This is especially true for the luggage service (if you don't want to carry too much!), the guiding by local English speaking guides (if you want to learn more about the country and its people) and for the organization of the Border Crossing Permit.
- Individual non-guided trekking (booking through the Official High Scardus Trail Info & Booking Center): As soon as the infrastructure (marking of the trails) allows it (for more details see also under "Signposting" and under "Fact File"), also non-guided individual trekking trips will be included in the program of the Official High Scardus Trail Info & Booking Center.
For self organized hikers the High Scardus Trail is at the moment still a challenge
Photo: G.Mussnig/Trail Angels GmbH, CC BY-ND
Self-organized backpackers: You go on your own. Here for you need the following / we suggest you the following procedure:
- Accommodation: It is difficult to book all accommodations from home, even if you find on this website "Accommodations" along the trail. For the stage destinations where you cannot book accommodations, we recommend you to bring a tent (more on this here), as on site guesthouses are not always occupied without prior reservations.
- Border Crossing Permit: If you hike the entire High Scardus Trail, you will cross a state border 8 times via the "Green Border". For this you have to get a "Border Crossing Permit" - see also here.
- Orientation along the route with GPX-Tracks: The High Scardus Trail is not yet so well marked and signposted that you can find the route without using a GPS device. So if you're heading out on your own, be sure to take a GPS system with you. There are two possibilities:
- Downloading the GPX tracks and integrating them into a GPS device. You can find the tracks for download at the presentation of the individual stages.
- Installation of the Outdooractive App (free of charge) on your cell phone. However, you should activate a paid Pro account so that you can save the maps offline. This way you can use the maps even without cell phone reception. You can also open the stages shown here on the Outdooractive app and work with the descriptions in the field.
Photo: High Scardus Trail, High Scardus Trail Organization