Anyone ever been to the Balkans?

Brodiej

A couple of years ago i spent a fortune on a 2 week trip to California. Had a great time, but came away thinking "why did i spend all that cash on somewhere so similar to my culture when i've not even scratched the surface of europe".

For the last 2 summers i've been touring round Europe in my car thanks to the Schengen agreement. Out of all the countries, i've only got Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Montenegro and Macedonia to go...which is the plan for 2011. Because i can only get insurance for EU countries, taking the wheels is out of the question....the plan is to fly to greece and catch the train home in a roundabout sort of way.

Anyone got any tips or advice on places to go?

As an aside, i would heartily recommend a scandinavian and baltic road trip. Norway was amazing.

Arkady

Alas no, but I’m planning a very similar trip next year, only heading north-south and sticking to the Western Balkans. You don’t mention Albania, but if that was part of your plan I’ve learned that there are no cross-border passenger trains yet. The former Yugoslavia has a pretty good rail network, and they the new states tend to have good timetable websites. I *really* want to see Montengro, Kosovo and Sarajevo.

Thomas

I did this trip two summers aog. Amazing time - amazing friendly people, very cheap beer, hearty food and not a fellow Brit in sight! The route - cheap flight into Sofia, then bus through Montenegro via Skopje and Ochrid. Bus over the border into Albania and Tirana. Bus again up into Kotor and Budva in Montenegro (amusing border crossing), then overnight bus to Mostar in Bosnia and then onward to Sarajevo. Finally, a overningt bus to Zagreb then cheap flight home from Triste via Llubjana and Lake Bled in Slovenia. Not many options to get on trains (apart from the spectacular mountain trip between Mostar and Sarejevo), but buses are easy, cheap and memorable! A bit hectic, but would thoroughly recommnend the route! The highlights - dont miss Sarejovo or Ochrid - beautiful places in very different ways.

mapsa

I've travelled a bit around Romania. Bucharest really isn't very pretty, and I wouldn't advise lingering too long there, but the area of Transylvania around Sighisoara/Biertan/Sibiu is nice. If I recall correctly, train connections aren't brilliant around there, mind. Something to do with a mountain range in the middle. I cycled this, but from personal experience, I wouldn't advise doing that in the height of summer in temperatures of >40 degrees celcius. Especially not fuelled by sickly sweet Romanian red wine.

Brodiej

Thanks all for feedback thus far. I guess i didn't consider albania because its scares me a little bit. Maybe i've read too many articles about gangsters.

@thomas. Great route. What was bus travel like?...in terms of people, buying tickets, roads, views. Sarajevo was on my list, but Ohrid wasn't...i'll look it up.

what was Bulgaria like? that scares me a bit too...i'll still go though

miss annie

I've not been but a friend of mine has a holiday house in Bulgaria, she loves it there. It's a popular place for skiing too. Don't think you need to be too afraid. Another chum spent a week with her Serbian boyfriend's parents in Montenegro recently and she's desperate to go back, she says it's one of the most beautiful places she's ever been to. I can recommend some fabulous, cheaper places to stay if ever you want to do California and the West Coast again. It doesn't have to be extortionate.

Thomas

@Brodiej - Much prefer train travel (far more relaxing), but on the whole the buses are fine. coaches tend to be surprisingly good quality, especially over the longer distances. tickets were never an issues, but always tend to pick some up the day before from the bus station just to be on the safe side... Bulgaria is now pretty well geared towards tourism, so nothing to be scared of there. Not much to see in Sofia though - flattened in the war by all accounts!