Driving the SH75, one of the most demanding Albanian roads

SH75 is the name of a truly amazing road. With beautiful landscapes, it’s pretty challenging and one of the most demanding roads Albania has to offer. The road is to be avoided. It is currently in very bad shape. However, if necessary, it is passable.

SH75 Road

The road is totally paved. It’s 170 km (105 miles) long running from Tepelenë (in Gjirokastër County, in the south of Albania) to Korçë (the seat of Korçë County). It’s especially dangerous after rainfalls, really usual in this zone.
To drive the road without stopping will take most people between 4 and 5 hours. The road and the zone are pretty isolated. Beautiful for the scenery that is, and so not used by any other vehicles other than local minibus traffic. Blissful but very, very bumpy. And potholed. And steep in parts. And climbing. But beautiful. Due to the varying geographic elevation, the route features endless panoramic routes. The road is good-ish rutted and potholed but still a great ride through some rolling hills with loads of gun turrets built into the hillsides. According to the Albanian government, there are plans to improve the road shortly.

The road tops out at 1.169m (3,835ft) above the sea level, by Qafa e Qarrit a mountain pass. It is a narrow road with a lot of double bends and the pavement is not always very new ...but if you drive it you will never forget the stunning scenery.