- 6 countries (Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro).
- 14 days
- 6 land border crossings
- Drove 2000+ kilometers
Favourite country of the trip: Montenegro (I am probably biased as we spent the most time there and it was where we finally relaxed). I really loved Kotor, the bay, the old town and the architecture.
Country that most exceeded my expectations: every single country honestly exceeded our expectations but Bosnia and Herzegovina the most. I guess most people picture a poor, war torn country but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Nothing prepared me for the natural beauty of this country, and we loved all the cities and towns we visited, they definitely have a vibe and are safe and well recovered from the recent war.
Cars and Border crossings:
- Most crossings were extremely simple and painless and we loved the “drive through” aspect where you don’t even have to get out of your car (Southern Africa does not have this).
- We would hand over our passports to be stamped and sometimes they’d ask for the car documentation.
- We had to choose our car rental company carefully as most did not allow us to go to all the countries we did. We chose Enterprise, from Dubrovnik airport and booked in advance through discover cars.
- For most borders we simply had a green card we got from the rental agency which covered the insurance. To enter Kosovo we needed to buy additional insurance at the border for 15 Euros, we knew about this in advance and it was no problem.
- The two slowest borders were Serbia into N Macedonia (about 45 mins) and Montenegro into Croatia (about 30 mins). Every other border had practically no queue in mid June.
- We both paid a lot for international drivers licenses and were never asked for that (or any license) ever.
- Roads were generally good and our little Kia XCeed was perfect, it was small enough for the narrow old cities and tight parkings, and had enough clearance for the rugged roads in the national parks. Many roads were narrow though, with no shoulder, which made driving a little scary.
- The worst roads were probably in Northern Albania near Valbona, some were potholed, and some were so narrow and windy - while other countries like BiH and Serbia built tunnels through mountains, Albanian roads seem to follow the contours of every single hill, making the journey windy and much longer, this was the only time we felt slightly carsick.
Accommodation tips:
- We kept the entire trip flexible (very unlike us) and booked each accommodation the night before through booking.com. It was the start of high season but each time we were able to find a good number of options with free parking, well within our budget (<R1300 per room per night), and with a review score of 8+.
- We stayed in 2 or 3 hotels but there were many more accommodation options in the apartment category. This suited us very well, as we were able to self cater breakfast and sometimes even lunch. The hotel included breakfasts seemed to start too late and so got in the way of our plans. In Skopje we opted to skip the free breakfast so we could get on the road sooner…
- When staying in apartments you often find yourself climbing many stairs, few have lifts, so a large wheelie suitcase is not that practical…
- Accommodation in Croatia and Montenegro was the most expensive, all the other places were very affordable.
- It really helped to have data roaming to check traffic on google maps, and keep in touch with accommodation providers. I bought a Europe e sim and it worked in all but N Macedonia and Kosovo.
