My Perfect Balkans Road Trip Route
- 4 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
I had the amazing opportunity to road trip through the Balkans for more than 3 months, so I learnt a lot, and in this guide I want to share with you my perfect Balkans road trip route and also other important things I wish I knew before planning and embarking on this trip.
Although I did not do the route I will offer you in this exact order, I think this is quite close to a perfect route I would do now if I went back. So I think this will be a great base route to pick to start your planning, and then of course you can change and add however you wish. The beauty about the Balkans is that everything is fairly close (in road trip perspective), so you can play around with the route and mix and match really.
Definitely also read the section after the route, as I will cover all the important things you need to know for your Balkans road trip - border crossings, car insurance, toll roads and more. All this from my personal experience as I did it all...and with a dog!
Alright, let me present you my perfect Balkans road trip route!
Balkans Road Trip Route
I will start this route in Macedonia and finish in Bosnia & Herzegovina, but of course, you can do it the other way round.
In short:
Skopje 🇲🇰
Matka Canyon 🇲🇰
Lake Ohrid 🇲🇰
Albanian Riviera 🇦🇱
Tirana 🇦🇱
Shkoder Lake 🇦🇱 & 🇲🇪
Kotor Bay 🇲🇪
Dubrovnik 🇭🇷
Mostar 🇧🇦
Kravica Waterfalls 🇧🇦
Let's dive into the route in a bit more detail.
NORTH MACEDONIA 🇲🇰
So we start with Macedonia's capital - Skopje. Just an hour away from Skopje is Matka Canyon. An absolute must-visit when in Macedonia. If you only go to one place in Macedonia, make it Matka Canyon! And then the final stop - Lake Ohrid. I would say book a couple of nights so you can also explore the surrounding area, like the National Park Galicica.
ALBANIA 🇦🇱
Then we cross into Albania. Lake Ohrid actually works as a border between Macedonia and Albania. And head down to one of the beach towns like Saranda, Vlore or Durres to experience the Albanian Riviera. All depends on how much time you have. If you have time, you can go down further to Saranda, where the beautiful Ksamil beach area is. But if you are short on time, then Vlore will be a great spot too. From there, make your way to Albania's capital, Tirana. Make sure to book a walking tour in Tirana as Albania's history via the communist times and beyond is really interesting. Final stop in Albania - Lake Shkoder.
MONTENEGRO 🇲🇪
Again, Lake Shkoder works as a border between Albania and Montenegro. I could list a few places to visit in Montenegro, but if I have to put the route together and pick the absolute gems of each, then I have to go with only one place, and it is Kotor Bay. Only one, but possibly the most beautiful place in the Balkans. An absolute must-visit. The area will be great to stay in for a few days and take a little break. It is just breathtaking wherever you go by the Kotor Bay. Of course, visit Kotor city and Perast, but please also take a boat trip in the bay.
CROATIA 🇭🇷
From there you cross into Croatia, and of course you can drive along the shore and stop at so many small and popular places there, but if you want to get the essence of Croatia and plan the route smart, then pick Dubrovnik as your main stop.
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA 🇧🇦
So you stick to the southern part of Croatia and from there make your way to Bosnia & Herzegovina. Mostar will be your main stop, and then from there, just around 40 minutes drive, visit the Kravica waterfalls. It will be an amazing end of your trip because you can actually swim by the waterfalls, which the ones on the Croatia side you can't do that there. And Mostar just takes you back in time. To the old days in the Balkans.
Sidenote: Then if you are going up North to get back, see if you can make a stop at Lake Bled. I promise you won't regret it. Such a magical and beautiful place. Also adds Slovenia to your route 🇸🇮
Of course I could go into more detail about what exactly to see and do in each stop, but in this guide we focus more on the actual route. Here are all the articles related to the above locations and more:
North Macedonia Travel Guides 🇲🇰
Albania Travel Guides 🇦🇱
Montenegro Travel Guides 🇲🇪
Bosnia & Herzegovina 🇧🇦 / Kosovo 🇽🇰 / Slovenia 🇸🇮 Travel Guides
Important Things to Know for Your Balkans Road Trip
Border Crossing
Overall positive experiences. The usual problem of you don't know if it will take an hour or 5 minutes. We got both because it depends on where you cross. If you cross at some of the main points, it usually takes longer. But the ones on smaller, less popular routes will be quicker. Some are modern and nice; some are little sheds on the side of the road. Be ready for everything.
Car Insurance
Car insurance, on the other hand, is probably the most complicated part. Unless you have some uber fancy car insurance that covers all, 99% of the time you will need to buy separate insurance for each country. Because most EU, EEA insurances do not cover Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Bosnia & Herzegovina. Kosovo is a totally different story, will cover that in a bit.
There is an option to get 'Balkans' car insurance from the local insurance companies, but they tend to be quite expensive and do not include Kosovo. I thought I would go with the easier option and pay and go with the one that covers all, but most big companies do not offer the 'Balkan' package. It is more something you can only get via the local companies in the countries in question. So after 3 frustrating weeks of trying to get it sorted, I gave up and thought I would go with the more popular option that most people do, just buy at the border. So we did, and honestly it wasn't that bad. Most border crossings have a little office once you cross where you can purchase it. It is definitely much cheaper, around 15 euros per week. Apart from Albania, which was 40 euros per week. Albania was the most expensive one. We got insurance after crossing in 5 minutes in Macedonia, Albania, and Kosovo, but Montenegro did not have the office; the border security told us it is because it is Sunday and guided us to get one in the town on Monday, which we did. So also not too complicated and seemed like everyone was fine with us not having the car insurance for a day.
The funniest story was in Bosnia & Herzegovina. We crossed and asked the guard about where we could get the insurance, as we didn't see the little office anywhere. The guard sent us to the side and sent his old collegue to assist. It was the weirdest conversation we had ever had. Firstly, English is minimal, more like sign language and some basic words. The guy says, 'You can't drive here without proper car insurance,' but with his hand he shows us to go. It was like you can't but you can, but you can't. After a very weird 10-minute conversation, we left without the insurance and sorted it out the next day.
I do not encourage you to wing it, but we winged it every time, and it worked. I don't think they are too strict with the rules. If you don't buy at all and get stopped, you will get a fine, but on the borders you can kind of explain the situation and sort things out the next day.
In Kosovo, you will need to rely on the fact that they will have an open insurance office when you cross because no one includes Kosovo in any policies.
Of course, in Croatia, if you have EU/EEA insurance, you can drive with it with no worries.
Tolls
The great news is that all toll stops accepted cards, so we did not have to worry about having some local currency in cash. Also, there is no pre-paid system; you just go and pay.
Road Quality
Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by how good the road quality was. You can definitely see some EU and Chinese money coming in. I think the quality on most big roads connecting big cities is good because they are quite new. Problems start when there is still an old road connecting main points. Those roads have one lane, which makes your trip longer because you most probably, at some point, will get stuck behind someone, because passing can be quite difficult.
Also, outside cities, the roads are fairly good, but in the cities - totally different story. The roads are horrible, and the driving style is quite aggressive. So I absolutely did not enjoy driving the city centers, but the long distances were quite pleasant because a lot of routes also go via the mountains so the beautiful views add to the trip.
Traveling with a dog in the Balkans
As I mentioned in my opening paragraph, I did this trip with my little maltipoo Rio, and one thing I can tell you - no one ever cared. During our many crossings, we were never ever asked for his passport or vaccination proofs. Nothing. My fiancé got questioned more than the dog haha
I really hope I covered all the important bits. If you are planning a road trip in the Balkans and have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me on Instagram - @aliki_travel_blog. I always respond and love to help!
