Bogove Waterfall is breathtaking; it’s like a scene straight from a fairy tale. The waterfall cascades between sculpted canyon walls and into a shimmering blue green pool. It’s quite simply a picture perfect place for a dip.
Swimming here was one of my favourite experiences during our five weeks in Albania. The walk to reach it is relatively quick and straightforward but that does mean you will run into crowds during the busy summer season.
Read on for all our tips on the walk, how to avoid the crowds and what to expect from a swim in the icy waters of the falls.
The walk to Bogove Waterfall
The stats
Distance: 1.4km each way (2.8km total)
Elevation gain: 80m
Difficulty: Easy - moderate
Trailhead: Bogove waterfall trailhead
Summary: The walk to reach Bogove Waterfall is mainly on an unsealed road - but there’s no parking at the falls so you do need to walk the road. It’s predominantly uphill on the way with some sections being moderately steep.
It’s not too bad, but if you’re walking in the main heat of the day during summer, you are going to feel it. The surface of the road is generally gravel and pretty easy to walk on, there are a few stony sections, but only minor bits were loose and it wasn’t too slippery.
The walk
Depending on the current road condition and what car you’re driving, you will either start from the official trailhead (full parking details below) or 200m further up the road which avoids a section which was a little washed out on our visit.
From the official start of the trail you will head up and down a small hump, following the wide dirt road.
You’ll cross over a bridge a couple of hundred metres later at which point the gradual ascent officially begins. At the 450m mark the gravel road becomes stony for a time but it’s easy to walk on and isn’t slippery.
The road then returns to gravel and continues heading gently uphill before a short steeper section at the 1km mark.
Roughly 250m later you’ll reach an eroded bridge which you can still cross on the concrete section easily enough. At this point follow the track to the right.
You’ll arrive at the rocks beside the creek and waterfall 150m later, 1.4km after leaving the car park.
Swimming at Bogove Waterfall
The trail ends at the stony creek and you’re then just a couple of minutes rock hop from the base of Bogove Falls. The rocks are grippy when dry but become progressively more slippery as wet feet pass over them.
There are a few areas with rocks large enough to sit and relax on while you take in the waterfall, but the best view of all is from within the pool itself.
To reach the swimming hole, you need to wade very briefly through the water and then manoeuvre over the lip to get into the pool itself.
Even for someone rather inept at such things it was easy enough to get over the lip and into the main pool.
Once inside you’ll see that it’s so much bigger than it looks from outside the water. You can look up to see both tiers of the waterfall and the colour of the water is even more exceptional than it looks in photos.
It really is a dreamy location for a dip, with a good amount of space to swim and no rocks to bump into inside the water.
Well that is if you are ok with 5C water. And yes that’s not a typo, it really is that cold (in June at any rate!).
Most people could only manage around 30 seconds before retreating, but if you’re used to cold water swimming that means you get a lot more time to enjoy the pool alone.
I personally found the water to be fine but I don’t seem to feel the cold in the way most people do, so expect it feel very cold and then you can be pleasantly surprised if you find it ok!
The pool is very deep with no areas you can stand up in, though you can sit on the rock at the lip if you want a break - or more likely someone will want to take photos as it does get very busy!
Crowds at Bogove Waterfall
While Bogove Waterfall is certainly no Theth Blue Eye when it comes to crowds, it does get busy in peak season. We arrived at 9am and were the only ones there for about 45 minutes.
After this there was a steady stream of people, but no more than about 10 at one time until you got to 11am when there were about 30 people at a time. This continued up to when we left at 12.30pm. We visited on a weekday in June for context.
If avoiding the crowds is your number one priority I would come at 9am. However, the trade off for the quiet serenity is that there will be almost no sunlight on the water. The light that brings those vivid blue and emerald hues only fully hits the water around midday.
You’ll get some decent light from half 10 ish, but it’s patchy. Not to say it’s not beautiful when in shadow, but I had my heart set on seeing the true beauty of the water which is why we stayed for so many hours (not that it was too much of a hardship, it’s a stunning spot and there is a particularly comfy rock to sit on, on the far side of the creek which even had something of a back rest!).
When it comes to the busyness factor, one thing that makes it better in my opinion is that most people cannot tolerate more than 30 seconds in the water, if any time at all.
Therefore you can swim and also get photos with no one in them even when the area around the waterfall is relatively crowded. For me this was worth the trade off as the water at 9am was so dark as to almost be black.
Though we haven’t tried it personally, you may actually be better going a little later in the day when the crowds are probably fewer (all tour groups seemed to come in the morning) though it’s hard to know when the waterfall would fall into shadow again.
Keep them wild
Please remember to take all rubbish with you and keep these places wild and pristine - as with anywhere in the outdoors. It’s important to leave them exactly as you found them so they will remain beautiful for generations to come.
Litter tends to breed litter, so if you do spot any and are able to pick it up and dispose of it outside the area, it will go a long way to keeping the area clean.
Getting to the trailhead for Bogove Waterfall
Bogove Waterfall is located just over an hours drive from Berat. The main parking area for the falls is free of charge and can be found on Google maps here.
The last 200m to the ‘car park’ (area of grass at the trailhead) is a gravel descent and was washed out on our visit. If that’s still the case when you visit you may want to park at the area just past the restaurant which you can see on Google maps here.
Parking is free, though we have heard of the nearby restaurant asking for money. Personally we were never asked for money and there is plenty of parking here so you shouldn’t have any trouble.
Where to stay in Berat
We stayed at the Citadel Heritage Hotel just a few minutes drive from the old town of Berat. Though the area directly surrounding the hotel didn’t have the charm of the old town, that meant it was really quiet which was a major priority for us. The hotel is very modern, clean, comfy and calm.
The bathroom is great with a powerful shower and the wifi works well. There’s even a gorgeous swimming pool if you want a break from exploring.
It’s one of the best hotels we stayed in during our five weeks in Albania and though it was one of the most expensive, it’s still very good value for money. We would and no doubt will stay there again!
You can check out the reviews and prices on:
If you have your heart set on the charming part of the city (and I did too before getting tired of all the noise in the city centres!) then the other place I was looking at which I think would still be quiet was Villa Art Berat Castle.
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