History of Qafshtama
The Name & The Place
Qafë-Shtamë means "Pass of Shtama" in Albanian. Qafë is the word for mountain pass — and this pass has connected the Krujë lowlands to the Mat valley for centuries, serving as a vital corridor between the Adriatic coast and the Albanian interior.
Sitting at 1,229 metres above sea level, 25 kilometres northeast of Krujë, Qafshtama straddles the boundary between Durrës and Dibër counties. It is dense with black pine forests, freshwater springs and mountain silence. The Albanian government recognised its exceptional ecological value, declaring it a National Park in 1996 and expanding its protected area to 6,864 hectares in 2022.
The Royal Spring
In 1932, a Vienna laboratory conducted a full mineral analysis of Qafshtama's spring water and declared it the purest water in Albania. Word reached the royal court. King Zog's family began using the spring exclusively — and the Queen Mother herself personally inaugurated the public fountain.
That fountain still stands today. Locals still call it by its original name: Kroi i Nënës Mbretëreshë — Source of the Queen Mother. The same water flows from the same mountain. Nothing has changed except the world around it.
The Communist Era
During Enver Hoxha's regime, Qafshtama was repurposed as a state therapeutic retreat — specifically for the treatment of lung and respiratory diseases. The dense black pine forest air at high altitude was considered medically valuable, and patients were sent here to breathe, recover and restore.
Even under a system that eliminated almost everything connected to the royal era, Qafshtama's healing power was impossible to ignore. The mountains kept their reputation. The water kept flowing. The pines kept standing.
Black pines over 100 years old. One of the last truly wild forests in the Balkans.
Qafshtama's forests are home to brown bears, wolves, and golden eagles. The Forsythia europaea — an Albanian-endemic flowering plant — grows here and in almost no other place on the planet.
These are not just trees. This is a living wilderness that has been untouched for centuries — and you can walk through it every morning of your stay.
The Water Today & Skanderbeg's Pass
The springs sit at 1,350 metres altitude, filtered through magmatic rock over centuries. The water carries naturally high magnesium and zero nitrates — a profile almost impossible to find in commercial water. Today it is bottled as the Qafshtama mineral water brand, sold nationwide across Albania.
And 25 kilometres below, the castle of Krujë rises. This was Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg's capital — the fortress that resisted the Ottoman Empire for decades against all odds. The Qafshtama pass was his corridor between the coast and the Mat valley, his ancestral homeland. Every time you look toward Krujë from these mountains, you are seeing the same view his forces saw in the 15th century.
Key Moments
The Qafshtama pass serves as a strategic corridor between Krujë and the Mat valley during Albania's resistance against the Ottoman Empire.
The spring water is declared the purest in Albania. King Zog's royal family adopts it exclusively. The Queen Mother inaugurates the public fountain.
Hoxha's regime repurposes Qafshtama as a state medical retreat for lung and respiratory diseases. The forest air is prescribed as treatment.
The Albanian government officially protects Qafshtama as a National Park, recognising its exceptional ecological and natural value.
The park is expanded to 6,864 hectares. Qafshtama mineral water begins distribution as a national brand.
Healing Resort Qafshtama opens, restoring the legacy of the royal spring and bringing world-class hospitality to one of Albania's most extraordinary natural destinations.