We can’t know what’s going to happen. We can just try to figure it out as we go along.
- Morgan Matson | Amy and Roger's Epic Detour
- Morgan Matson | Amy and Roger's Epic Detour
HOW DID WE DECIDE ON A ROUTE?
The Balkan Region has been a dream destination for both of us and seeing this off-the-beaten path region is probably our most favorite trip as couple. As you all know, using trains in this part of Europe is not as easy as the other popular European cities. The main transportation that tourists usually use in this region are buses (train in some parts of Croatia), but as you all know we like do-it-yourself trips, that is why we decided on renting a car to see the best of the Balkans. We wanted to give you a few tips on driving around this region, since we only found a few blog sites that offer this kind of perspective.
WHY DID WE RENT A CAR?
We truly love the freedom of the open road and always enjoyed road trips. First of all, we rented a car for convenience. If we drive a rental car, we can take as much time on tourist spots we want to see and stop wherever we want to stop. We wanted to make every moment and every part of our trip an adventure. We do not want to rely on regimented itinerary of group tours, or to follow bus schedules and we end up hurrying + scared of being late if we miss a bus. In this way, we can tailor our trip as much as we like and we can be flexible for unexpected happenings. For instance, we were suppose to see Plitvice Lakes National Park and stay there for 2 nights but instead heavy rains welcomed us, and it was pointless to see Plitvice Lakes in this condition (see here why we did decide to see it). Instead, we only stayed for 1 night and drove to Slovenia a day early than expected. For more details, click here.
We patterned our trip with Topdeck Travel's Balkan Itinerary but removed some places we did not want to see, and added a few more stops we are interested in. We are also inspired by Souvenir Chronicles about driving around the Balkans by car and they were very nice to answer our initial questions about driving a rental car around this area.
When I started searching about this trip like - how the roads are, especially driving thru Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, appropriate visas, border crossings and checkpoints or other important parts of the road trip we wanted to know, there's only a few blogs that discusses it in detail how is it really like driving this region. Below is our Balkan road trip map, I deleted some of the stops we did, but only pinned the major cities of the countries we've had the pleasure of driving. We did the Balkans for at least 18 days and added Budapest and Krakow at the beginning and end of the trip (total of 25 days).
When I started searching about this trip like - how the roads are, especially driving thru Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, appropriate visas, border crossings and checkpoints or other important parts of the road trip we wanted to know, there's only a few blogs that discusses it in detail how is it really like driving this region. Below is our Balkan road trip map, I deleted some of the stops we did, but only pinned the major cities of the countries we've had the pleasure of driving. We did the Balkans for at least 18 days and added Budapest and Krakow at the beginning and end of the trip (total of 25 days).
Our Balkan Itinerary
Our rental car on this Balkan journey.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN YOUR RENTAL CAR?
We booked our rental car through Auto Europe. When selecting a rental car company the first thing you need to do is verify that the insurance covers all the countries you are visiting. We e-mailed several rental car companies and selected Auto Europe because they confirmed to us that the countries we wanted to visit (Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia) were covered. However, when we picked up our rental car in Budapest Airport, the rental policy they showed us, to our surprise, excluded Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Naturally, we got upset since the confirmation we received was different to what they are saying at the counter. We showed them the e-mail proof but it didn't help our case. However, everything else was already booked so we made the decision to keep with our plans and figure it out later.
As it turns out, we had no issues passing the borders in and out of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Despite the ease at the border, it was a little nerve racking to know you are driving without insurance. If you don't want to rely on chance, but still want to go to Montenegro from Croatia or Bosnia and Herzegovina (especially Mostar) from Croatia, you can always leave the car in Croatia, join a tour or catch a bus to take a day trip to Kotor/Perast or Mostar. A lot of tour companies we saw in Dubrovnik, offers day trips to these cities. With our case, it didn't work for us since we wanted to go to Serbia. There was no other detour or road for us to take. Thankfully, we got lucky!
Our advice is keep your plans flexible and be prepared on any changes when you actually get the car. You can never tell what will happen. Check your credit cards, maybe you are covered under them.
As it turns out, we had no issues passing the borders in and out of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. Despite the ease at the border, it was a little nerve racking to know you are driving without insurance. If you don't want to rely on chance, but still want to go to Montenegro from Croatia or Bosnia and Herzegovina (especially Mostar) from Croatia, you can always leave the car in Croatia, join a tour or catch a bus to take a day trip to Kotor/Perast or Mostar. A lot of tour companies we saw in Dubrovnik, offers day trips to these cities. With our case, it didn't work for us since we wanted to go to Serbia. There was no other detour or road for us to take. Thankfully, we got lucky!
Our advice is keep your plans flexible and be prepared on any changes when you actually get the car. You can never tell what will happen. Check your credit cards, maybe you are covered under them.
DON'T FORGET TO HAVE A GPS ON THIS TRIP! THE QUESTION IS: TO RENT A GPS OR BRING YOUR OWN GPS?
Thank God for GPS, without it, we won't be able to navigate successfully around this region. We highly recommend you to have a GPS when you decide to drive around the Balkans. If you already own one, bring your GPS and make sure it will properly work in Europe. We are currently living in South Korea and our GPS here is strictly for Korea use only so we cannot bring that and we left our old GPS back in the US. So on this trip, we decided to buy a new GPS with Europe Map Card because it is cost effective for us to buy the GPS than rent it for at least 18 days. The total price of renting the GPS is almost equal to how much we spend on purchasing a GPS. Now, we have our very own travel GPS. The model that we bought is small, lightweight and very handy - perfect to bring on our adventures. We love visiting Europe again and again, and buying the map is not a waste of money. We knew we are going to get a good use out of it. You can always buy a second hand Euro Map card and just update it.
We suggest for you to do the same, if you are planning to see this region for quite a number of days. Of course, if you are only staying for a week, it will be much more economical for you to rent than buy your own GPS or buy a Euro Map card, unless you already own one. Also remember before leaving, to check if your map is updated with the newest road additions in Europe. The GPS that we bought worked perfectly and we are actually amazed by how accurate it is. Trust your GPS, even if you do not think that is the right way or it is a dirt road out of nowhere. The GPS successfully brought us to all the places we wanted to see, the hotels we stayed at and restaurants we want to eat at. We were really amazed on how good it worked than the GPS we use driving around the US. As a back up, we ordered a physical map of the Balkan region from Amazon, just in case, our GPS did not work out.
We suggest for you to do the same, if you are planning to see this region for quite a number of days. Of course, if you are only staying for a week, it will be much more economical for you to rent than buy your own GPS or buy a Euro Map card, unless you already own one. Also remember before leaving, to check if your map is updated with the newest road additions in Europe. The GPS that we bought worked perfectly and we are actually amazed by how accurate it is. Trust your GPS, even if you do not think that is the right way or it is a dirt road out of nowhere. The GPS successfully brought us to all the places we wanted to see, the hotels we stayed at and restaurants we want to eat at. We were really amazed on how good it worked than the GPS we use driving around the US. As a back up, we ordered a physical map of the Balkan region from Amazon, just in case, our GPS did not work out.
Nothing is as perfect as listening to the Game of Thrones audiobook, while passing by Dubrovnik (the location for King's Landing).
HOW ARE THE ROADS?
The roads are better than you think they are going to be. Throughout the trip, the highway system in general, are well paved and very good. There are plenty of road signs, gas stations and food stops along the way. There are also a lot of area that you can pull over so you can take a picture and enjoy the view. We also did not have a difficult time finding parking for our car on major tourist spots.
Driving around the city center of Belgrade can be challenging but not more than any other capital city. Parts of Sarajevo, the roads are steep and windy, so make sure you are very good with manual transmission. Driving the coastline of Croatia is a breeze. In Dubrovnik, make sure the hotel you are staying at has parking slots, since parking garages is very expensive. In Kotor and Split, parking can be a challenge and limited. If you find a spot, take it, if not you will circle again and again just to find a spot. Take note that Kotor Old Town is a one way road in and out, so if you drive or take a tour you will sit thru traffic especially during rush hour. It was easy to drive around Slovenia but Slovenian drivers drive fast, be prepared to get out of their way. When booking hotels, we also made sure that the hotel offers on-site parking. Overall don't fret, just have fun with it.
Driving around the city center of Belgrade can be challenging but not more than any other capital city. Parts of Sarajevo, the roads are steep and windy, so make sure you are very good with manual transmission. Driving the coastline of Croatia is a breeze. In Dubrovnik, make sure the hotel you are staying at has parking slots, since parking garages is very expensive. In Kotor and Split, parking can be a challenge and limited. If you find a spot, take it, if not you will circle again and again just to find a spot. Take note that Kotor Old Town is a one way road in and out, so if you drive or take a tour you will sit thru traffic especially during rush hour. It was easy to drive around Slovenia but Slovenian drivers drive fast, be prepared to get out of their way. When booking hotels, we also made sure that the hotel offers on-site parking. Overall don't fret, just have fun with it.
The dirt road we thought won't lead us anywhere but we trusted our GPS take us where wanted to go.
WHAT ABOUT BORDER CROSSINGS?
The border crossing was pretty easy except for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro because we knew we didn't have the insurance for the rental car. Luckily, everything went smoothly and did not encounter problems at all. Every border crossing, they wanted see your passport and car paperwork. We got stamped every time we got in and out of a country. Even it was summer time, there were no long queues on the border crossings and our wait time is usually not more than 20 minutes. Overall, we had a good experience crossing the border and encountered no problems. There are few tolls along the way so make sure you have some cash on hand (make sure you have the currency of the country you are passing by - be prepared to have different currencies since most of these countries don't use the Euro).
Please take note that driving along the Adriatic Coast Highway in Croatia, there is a small segment wherein you are actually passing by Bosnia and Herzegovina territory. You will know this spot because you will see border patrols.
Please take note that driving along the Adriatic Coast Highway in Croatia, there is a small segment wherein you are actually passing by Bosnia and Herzegovina territory. You will know this spot because you will see border patrols.
The Adriatic Coast Highway is the most scenic drive on our route.
HOW ABOUT VISAS?
Croatia is part of the European Union therefore Schengen Visa is honored in this country, but the other parts of the Balkan region have different visa requirements and procedures. The countries we visited are visa free for citizens of the United States. We did not have any hassle in crossing borders with our passport. Make sure you check this out before leaving so you won't have a problem once you get there.
"And after all my plans. they melt into the sand. And you will be there on my mind through it all."
- Older | Bands of Horses
- Older | Bands of Horses
Our Balkan road trip is by far our absolute favorite trip yet! Every part of this trip was truly an adventure and actually driving the car through different countries made our trip all the more memorable. Interested to see more? we even made a video of our drive and our summer Balkan road trip adventure.
As time passed by and so did we, 6 countries by car and we wouldn't have it any other way.
P.S. Dont hesitate to us ask any questions regarding this trip. Thanks!
As time passed by and so did we, 6 countries by car and we wouldn't have it any other way.
P.S. Dont hesitate to us ask any questions regarding this trip. Thanks!
Categories: Europe, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Balkan Road Trip, Travel Tips
