Balkans Guide: The Via Dinarica is the World’s Best New Hiking Trail

Starting in May of 2014, I began a hike that changed the course—and rhythm—of my life. Over the last three years, I’d trek for as many days as I could get away, and then start again after I dealt with whatever abstract “responsibilities” that unfortunately got in the way of the really important parts of my world … like efficiently ordering my pack every morning and lacing up my boots to get back on ridges that look across the Adriatic Sea, clear rivers, and flocks of sheep eating their way across hillsides. While on the trail, I slept under the stars at the edge of mountain lakes. I stayed in nomadic shepherd settlements and had coffee as chickens ran between legs. I summited untouched peaks and ate homemade food that burst with the flavors of the unsullied meadows and landscapes that framed my day-to-day existence.

My vehicle for discovery during this epoch was the Via Dinarica “mega” hiking trail, which traverses the Balkan Peninsula in Southeastern Europe and connects eight countries along the Dinaric Alps and the ranges that are immediately tangent. The trail covers approximately 1,000 miles and combines shepherd paths and mountain transversals with centuries-old trading routes. From north to south, the Via Dinarica includes cross-border collaborations and trekking between Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Serbia.