Thermes de Banje — Gjakova

Banje Gjakova is a thermal spring complex near Gjakova (Djakovica) in the southwestern Dukagjin plateau of Kosovo, set near the Drini i Bardhe river valley in a region of Dinaric limestone and granitic formations that produce bicarbonate-rich spring waters used therapeutically by the local Albanian community since the Ottoman period. Gjakova itself is known for its exceptionally well-preserved 17th-century Ottoman bazaar — one of the finest in the Balkans, with its traditional artisan workshops of silversmiths, coppersmiths, and leatherworkers operating in wooden-shuttered shops as they have for four centuries. The Accursed Mountains (Bjeshket e Nemuna) of the Prokletije range, rising to 2,656 metres directly south of Gjakova, provide a dramatically wild mountain backdrop for a thermal spring that sits at the edge of one of the most culturally authentic Ottoman trading towns in the western Balkans.