A few months ago we saw a series of viral videos of a hotel perched on the edge of a cliff along the spectacular Shala River. Maybe you saw them too or maybe you didn’t and you’re already put off by the fact it's become social media famous! Either way, we’re going to tell you our honest thoughts on what the experience was like and how it stacked up against our relatively high expectations.
And I feel the need to add, we didn’t stay here simply based on social media videos, it was backed up by the very high review scores on Booking.com. However, we have mixed feelings about the place and we aren’t holding back on sharing them.
So with that said, this is what it’s really like to stay at Te Konaku and whether we thought it was truly worth the money, because this was the most expensive place we stayed in across our 2.5 months in Albania by quite some margin….
Our experience staying at Te Konaku
What is Te Konaku?
Te Konaku is a small guesthouse located on a remote part of the Shala River river (not the main Lumi I Shales village) which is only accessible by boat. It’s built in a tiny inlet offering intimate views of the mountains and river.
There’s a lot of care and attention that has been put into the building of it and if you are looking to rest and relax, it’s a destination in itself.
Before booking, we weren’t quite aware of its isolation, which will be great for some people and not so ideal for others. This is also an adults only resort which isn’t always obvious when you look at sites like Booking.com.
We’ll go into more detail about everything you should know below, but we’ll start with the pickup.
A rough start: catching the boat to the hotel
Let’s just say the Te Konaku experience did not get off to a flying start. To get to the hotel you need to take a boat and we were told to leave our car at the car park and the person working there would take us to the port to catch the 9.40am boat.
Now I am not normally one to fret and I have had to run to meet the last call on a plane more times than I care to admit, but even I was getting angsty at 9.20am when there was still no one at the parking area and we thought we’d have to walk the 1.2km to the port to try and locate the boat in under 20 minutes (or wait over five hours for the next one)!
We Whatsapped Te Konaku and they said not to worry: the bus was coming, and it did. Turns out the boat didn’t leave at 9.40am, so maybe that was a misunderstanding with the communication and it was actually meant that the transfer to the port would be at 9.40am, but either way it was a bit of a stress.
It didn’t get any better when we arrived to the port amid the intense chaos of around 200 people and many, many boats, none of which looked like the picture we’d been sent of our boat! We eventually found it some time later and boarded a very packed boat.
A word to the wise: don’t sit by the speaker! It was like being in a nightclub and not what I’d been expecting for the very beautiful journey to the hotel!
Another side note: all boat trips to the Shala River start at this chaotic port, but other boats we saw were less crowded and had the names of the hotel on top so you knew which one to get on….
Arriving
The boat pulled up to a truly spectacular stone building, surrounded by majestic mountains every bit as stunning as we’d hoped. Our arrival was perhaps less impressive.
There isn’t any kind of welcome. Now I am not suggesting you should roll out the red carpet, but after heading upstairs we sort of hung around on the terrace trying to work out who worked there and what we should do. We’ve stayed in many €35 a night guesthouses in Albania that greet you and offer you a drink, but anyway…
One of the backpackers that worked there then went to find the owner and we were shown to our room.
One absolutely fab thing about Te Konaku is that even when you get the morning boat (which arrives before 11am) you can check straight into your room. We weren’t expecting that and it was a big plus.
The rooms
Te Konaku is made up of two towers: one faces ‘the lake’ (the canyon) and the other faces the cliff wall opposite the hotel. The lake view rooms are the iconic rooms and come with a hefty price tag. The mountain view rooms allow you to enjoy the experience of Te Konaku and its seclusion for a lot less money, but they do have a few drawbacks. Here’s our take on the rooms.
Our room - Lake View Room 1
As mentioned the rooms are all different and priced according to the size and view. We got the second most expensive lake view room which did indeed have a glorious view, as well as our own private balcony that was off to the side of the building and therefore completely private.
I think all rooms have their own balcony, but in the cheaper rooms they are over the restaurant and terrace so much less private.
Our room was relatively small but had nice stone work, a comfy bed and a bathroom where the shower didn’t flood the whole room which is somewhat rare in Albania. The highlight is obviously the view but despite being very basic in furnishings, it was still a nice room.
I was originally worried about how thin the curtains were as I am sensitive to light when sleeping but Te Konaku was the darkest place we slept in Albania.
The curtains would have done nothing if there was light, but at night it was totally dark which is a major win for me!
The hot water and pressure in the shower was great and honestly I don’t have any complaints about the room apart from the price.
At €180 it was by far the most expensive place we stayed in Albania. And of course you are paying for the sublime location but even then it felt pricey. The costs incurred for running a hotel like this in such a remote spot would be high but even so.
Mountain view rooms
You can stay in a mountain view room for €100 and that’s probably more in line with the price I might have expected, though in these rooms the bathrooms are outside the room (albeit only one step outside and still private).
The balconies are less private, but it’s a quiet hotel so that probably doesn’t matter hugely. The big drawback for these rooms in my opinion is that they are much nearer the generator.
The generator is switched off at night though and doesn’t run all day, but for reference we couldn’t hear it at all in our lake view room (room one).
The viral lake view room - Room 2
The best room in the hotel is room 2 and this one has the most expansive view with the biggest window so that you can see the river and mountains from the bed!
It has a wooden floor as opposed to the stone floor so it feels a bit more modern - though I didn’t mind the stone floor in ours to be honest! It’s a beautiful room and tends to sell out quickly.
Breakfast is included in the rate for all rooms and we’ll come to that later.
The facilities
The hotel has a floating platform with sunbeds which is pretty idyllic. I am not much of a lounger person and prefer to get out and do things, but I did enjoy sitting out in the morning with the early morning sun and those exquisite views.
There are double kayaks available which cost €10 an hour and I really think these should have been free. You’re already paying a high room rate and it’s not like they are flashy specialised sea kayaks….
Otherwise there’s a steep narrow hiking trail that leads up to a sensational viewpoint behind the hotel. The 450m walk takes around 15 minutes, but the path is loose in places and a bit sketchy, so it may not be for everyone - especially as the drops are big. If you don’t mind that, the view is wonderful and you’ll likely be up there alone.
If the weather isn’t good - unfortunately for us we had really bad wind most of the day - there’s a small restaurant with some games and it was nice to sit and play cards which we hadn’t done in a really long time and wouldn’t have done if the weather was good!
The food
Ah the food. Alas it’s a real lowlight and that’s a problem as eating anywhere else is pretty difficult. I feel like the gorgeous stone building and exquisite setting is ripe for a really great dining experience, but that’s not what you’ll find here.
If you’re vegetarian like me than woe is you because there are no veggie main dishes. I have found eating all over Albania a breeze with so many options, but unfortunately not here.
My dinner was fried veg, cold cheese and fries…. However, Joe didn’t fair much better with the meat as he said it was so tough his jaw still ached the next day!
The bread was really good though, so credit where it’s due for that.
What was very good was the wine, both the red and white was some of the best Albanian wine I’ve tried. The espresso and mountain tea were also good.
Onto breakfast and it wasn’t the best and it wasn’t the worst. It was ok with the standard boiled egg, cucumber, tomato, cheese and petulla.
There was sausage as well if you eat meat. It was all a bit cold, but otherwise not so very different to most breakfasts in Albania.
Overall, I would say it didn’t feel like any effort went into any of the food, if you told me the backpackers made it, I would say, yes that figures. And no shade to the backpackers with that, I am not a good cook either, but you kind of think in a hotel and location this spectacular it could be so much better with good food.
Price-wise I didn’t think it was too bad for the location. Probably less than I was expecting, though the quality was lower too.
The location vs the main Shala River site
One thing you really need to know before booking the hotel is where it is located because it’s not at the very blue part of the river you might have seen in pictures. This has its pros and its cons. You can kayak over there in just 30 minutes, but we didn’t get to try this because it was so windy.
You also need to be prepared for all the boats and I mean aaaaall the boats that ply the waterways now that the Shala River is so popular. Some are very considerate and some are not.
Expect some big wakes, especially from the speed boats who really don’t give a damn.
The other way you can do it - though we didn’t know this ahead of time and therefore missed the opportunity - is to take the public boat there and back, but they only go twice a day.
Once in the morning and once in the afternoon so you need to go on the morning boat. This would be best done by asking to drop your stuff off at Te Konaku and continuing straight on to the main Shala River on the boat you arrive on.
To be honest I don’t know for sure this is an option but I can’t see why it wouldn’t be. If not you would need to stay two nights and then go the next day on the morning boat.
We ended up transferring to the Shala River village area the next day and that was quite an eye opening experience.
It’s not just that it’s busy over there, it’s that it’s full of generators. Every hotel and restaurant has a noisy generator and they run for much of the day.
Our hotel was considerate and turned theirs off at 10pm so you could sleep, but others around us didn’t do the same so we heard generators until midnight and music until almost 1am.
Te Konaku was so quiet and peaceful and the generator was turned off at night leaving no noise at all. You also have very few people staying there and those that are, are probably there in part for the peace, so everyone was quiet and considerate. Visiting the main ‘village’ area really highlighted how peaceful Te Konaku was.
You also have constant electricity which you don’t have in the village as there are times the generator is switched off and at that point you have no power - no biggie for most people but worth mentioning.
If it’s important to you it’s also worth knowing Te Konaku has no phone signal, but it had Starlink internet, it was patchy at times, but that’s pretty normal. The internet wasn’t really useable at the main village.
If you’re just switching off that’s great, but if you needed to do any planning etc, then assume you probably won’t be able to at the main village. It may sound obvious, but the internet also turns off once the generator does.
In summary, if you can work with the kayak or boat transfer option you can have the peace and quiet of Te Konaku with access to the blue river area and all that has to offer, but otherwise you would be a bit marooned at Te Konaku. In that case I would think of it more of a thing to do in its own right rather than a base for the main Shala River area.
So overall, is it worth staying at Te Konaku?
This is a tricky one to answer as the hospitality, food and simple nature of the rooms really didn’t match the price in my opinion. But the peacefulness is in a league of its own when compared to the main Shala River area (and beyond to be honest!). And there’s no arguing that the setting is simply idyllic.
I do think the price is too high for the quality offered, especially when you don’t even get a bottle of water in the room and as mentioned before, even inexpensive guesthouses we’ve stayed in provided water in the room.
You are getting an exquisite setting and a much more tranquil environment, but there is definitely room for improvement. I feel like if the hotel is a real splurge for you like it was for us, then I am not sure you would think it’s worth it, but if not then it probably is. I think it would have been more worth it to us if there had been warmer hospitality and things like the kayaks being included, as well as the aforementioned issues with the food.
It’s worth noting that staying at Te Konaku should be seen as separate to visiting the blue water part of Lumi Shales as mentioned above. If you want to spend all your time at the turquoise part of the river, then we’d recommend booking somewhere else.
I hope this helps anyone weighing up whether to book and if you have any questions please feel free to leave them in the comments!
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Our honest unsponsored review of staying at the viral social media hotel, Te Konaku, on the Shala River. Everything you need to know about the rooms, food, location, service and whether or not it’s worth the money.