Possibly the best trip you'll ever do in Albania is sail the Koman-Fierze ferry across stunning Lake Koman, southeast of Shkodra. Unfortunately, it's not made easy for tourists, with ferries catering to people from Fierze and further east heading towards Shkodra/Tirana, rather than the other way round; there's no way to do an easy return trip from Shkodra.
Lake Koman was formed when the rugged Drini valley was dammed in the early 1970s, allowing Albania to quickly develop its own industrial base and become an energy exporter. The huge lake behind the Vau i Dejes dam contains some 320 million cubic metres of water, and stretches 30km eastwards to the town of Fierze, the location of a second dam which holds back another lake that goes all the way to Kukës near the Kosovo border.
The boat trip passes between 1000-1500m-high mountains and through a series of deep gorges and interconnected lakes, with hardly any signs of human activities on the shores – though occasionally the ferry will stop to let off some hardy peasants, who proceed to climb up the steep hills to their hidden villages. The wild landscape is somewhat reminiscent of the Norwegian fjords, and is a dramatic highlight of any trip in Albania.

The car ferry from Koman departs daily at 09:30, arriving in Fierze at 11:30. Tickets are 400 lek per person and 1200 lek per square metre of car. The ferry from Fierze to Koman departs at 06:30, arriving at 08:30 – which means there's no option to return the same day unless you drive across the good but winding mountain roads to Fushe-Arrez and then either back to Shkodra or on to Tirana, arriving in the late afternoon. There are also private passenger boats making the crossing, departing from Koman at 09:00 and 09:15 (arriving in Fierze at respectively 11:00 and 11:15); the Fierze-Koman trips are at 06:30 and 06:45 (arriving in Koman at respectively 08:30 and 08:45). Tickets are 300 lek. These private boats can also be rented out for shorter return trips.
To get to Koman by bus, take a furgon from the crossing of  Rruga Skenderbeg and Rruga Marin Barleti; departures are at 06:30, 07:00 and 07:30 (all arriving in time for the ferry), and 12:00 and 13:30. The ride takes 1hr 15mins and costs 300 lek. Furgons go back to Shkodra at 08:00, 09:00 and 09:30.