My Balkans Itinerary with Tips and Tricks

Caitlinepstein415/ May 29, 2019/ Europe/ 1 comments

My Balkans Itinerary with Tips and Tricks

Oh, the Balkans. A much overlooked region of Europe packed with fascinating history and stunning landscapes. Yes, Western European destinations dominate people’s bucket lists, but the Balkans are not to be underestimated. The second semester of my Sophomore year of college ended with two impactful weeks in Bosnia and Herzegovina (read about it here), and since I was already in the Balkans, I decided to set off on my own for a couple of weeks to explore more of the region. Here is a breakdown of my itinerary with all of the boring logistical details as well as some tips and tricks I picked up along the way.

Stop 1: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Yes, I was in Sarajevo and other parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina for school, but this country cannot be excluded from a Balkans itinerary. I’d recommend spending at least two days in Sarajevo to get a feel for the city and truly explore the meeting of East and West as well as the history of the city and country.

Accommodations: Franz Ferdinand Hostel; $13.35 a night in an 8 bed dorm room

I liked this hostel because it included breakfast, the staff was very helpful, and they host free beer and rakija nights in the main lounge.

Getting there: We flew into Sarajevo from Florence with two layovers because it turns out Sarajevo is not an easy city to fly into. I would recommend flying into a different part of the Balkans and making Bosnia part of your itinerary by way of bus.

Language: Bosnian is spoken here, although it is nearly identical to Croatian, Serbian, and Montenegrin. Greet people with ‘dobar dan,’ or good morning, and thank them with ‘hvala,’ but also be assured that a lot of people in Sarajevo and other cities speak English.

Currency: Bosnian Mark; $1=1.75 marks

Read more about Sarajevo here

Tip: On your way from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik, make a stop in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina for the day.

Mostar has quickly become the most well-known city to visit in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is known for its iconic arching bridge, and is worth a visit for a few hours or the day for the cute streets of the Old Town. It is easy to get a bus from Sarajevo to Mostar, and then Mostar to Dubrovnik.

Stop 2: Dubrovnik, Croatia

2 days and 3 nights

Dubrovnik is a Balkans destination that has actually gained a lot of notoriety in recent years, and for obvious reasons. Beyond its Game of Thrones fame, Dubrovnik is also well-known for its stunning location on the Adriatic Sea. I felt that two full days here was plenty of time because, while it is beautiful, it is also incredibly touristy, and by the end of my two days I was ready to move on.

Accommodations: Hostel Lina; $14.50 a night in a 4 bed dorm room

This hostel was perfect. It is run by a super sweet family that picked my classmates and I up from the bus station for free and constantly checked in on us to make sure that we were enjoying our time in Dubrovnik. The dorm rooms are nice and small – they don’t have 20 beds crammed into them like others. Also, the bathrooms are spotless and the showers are heavenly. The hostel is located relatively far from the Old Town – about a 25 minute walk – but the walk is nice and I enjoyed being in a quieter part of the city.

Getting there: The bus from Sarajevo to Dubrovnik was my longest throughout the Balkans at 6.5 hours. This bus trip is kind of irritating because it crosses into Croatia, back into Bosnia, and then back into Croatia, meaning you have to go through customs 3 times, but I don’t think it can be avoided if you’re traveling between these 2 cities by bus.

The bus company was Globtour/Croatia Bus. Bus schedules and tickets for this route can be found here. The ticket costs €20.

Language: Croatian is spoken here, but practically everyone in Dubrovnik speaks English due to tourism. However, it is nice to greet people with ‘dobar dan,’ or good morning, and thank them with ‘hvala.’

Currency: Croatian Kuna; $1=6.7 Kuna

Read more about Dubrovnik here

Tip: I found the food in Dubrovnik to be pricey and not that great, so consider cooking to save money here so you can eat amazing meals in other cities.

Tip: Ask locals which ATMs you can use without incurring a fee, and use these to take out money in the local currency. Or, if you have leftover currency from neighboring countries, try to exchange it for the local currency at exchange booths that do not take a commission.

Stop 3: Kotor, Montenegro

 

1 day and 2 nights

Kotor is an absolute must on any trip through the Balkans. It may have been my favorite stop over all because of its charming Old Town, the incredible hike up to St.John’s Fortress, and all of the cats running around. I felt that a full day and change was enough time for me to explore the Old Town, do the hike up to the fortress, and explore the surrounding areas on a boat trip, but an extra day in the area to further explore the surrounding villages would not be a waste.

Accommodations: Hostel Pupa; $11.35 per night in a 10 bed dorm room

This hostel was good. I wasn’t blown away, but it had everything I needed – a bunk bed with an outlet and light, clean bathrooms, and a kitchen. The huge upsides of the hostel were that it was just minutes away from the Old Town and the staff were super helpful.

Getting there: The bus trip from Dubrovnik to Kotor only takes 2 hours. Or so they say. My bus was 1.5 hours late leaving the bus station in Dubrovnik, and then the bus took 3.5 hours. You can’t really expect anything to be on time in the Balkans, so have patience, and be assured that places like Kotor are well worth the extended travel time.

The bus company was Globtour/Croatia Bus. Bus schedules and tickets for this route can be found here. The ticket costs €18.

Language: Montenegrin, although everyone I came across spoke English due to growing tourism in the city. Montenegrin is very similar to Croatian and Bosnian, and the same greetings and phrases used there can be used here.

Currency: The Euro; $1=€0.90

Read more about Kotor here

Tip: I have seen on many blog posts that you can do a day trip to Kotor from Dubrovnik. DO NOT DO THIS. The buses are too unpredictable and long, and you’ll end up missing out on a lot in Kotor, which is too amazing to be missed.

Tip: Get up early one morning and hike up to the St.John fortress before the masses from the cruise ships that stop in the Bay of Kotor. Check out my blog post about Kotor to see how you can hike up for free!

Stop 4: Podgorica, Montenegro

One night

If I’m going to be honest, I only stopped in Podgorica because I collect Hard Rock Cafe pins, and Podgorica is home to the only Hard Rock Cafe in the Balkans. Not a great reason to visit a city, and unfortunately, Podgorica was pretty boring. I’d recommend doing an extra day in Kotor or one of the nearby cities such as Herceg Novi or Budva and skipping Podgorica completely. But, if you want to spend a day in Podgorica, here are the logistics:

Accommodations: Montenegro Hostel B&B Podgorica; $9.08 per night in a 10 bed dorm

I did not like this hostel. It was really the only one throughout my entire trip that I had issues with. Check in was horrible, I was upgraded from a 10 bed dorm to a 3 bed dorm only to be put in there with 2 men, and I was always waiting around to use the bathroom. It wasn’t great, but fortunately there are about 15 other hostels in Podgorica listed on Hostelworld.

Getting there: This was my easiest bus trip through the Balkans, but that was probably because we didn’t have to cross a border. Kotor to Podgorica was only a 2 hour trip, and I think it was my only bus that arrived early.

The bus company was Strikovic, but there are several buses on that route every day. Bus schedules and tickets for this route can be found here. The ticket costs €6.

Language: Montenegrin, but a lot of people I interacted with spoke English. Montenegrin is very similar to Croatian and Bosnian, and the same greetings and phrases used there can be used here.

Currency: The Euro; $1=€0.90

Read more about Podgorica here

Tip: Most bus stations in the Balkans require you to pay a bus station fee before they let you onto the platforms. It is usually about $1-2 in the local currency. It’s super annoying and terribly pointless, but it’s common, so it’s best to be prepared with some leftover local currency at the bus station.

It was also common to pay about a euro or the equivalent in the local currency for each bag that you need put under the bus, so consider this as well when taking buses in the Balkans.

Stop 5: Tirana, Albania

2 days and 3 nights

This city really blew me away. I am biased as a lover of cities, but this one was super cool with its interesting history, funky street art, and variety of interesting things for visitors to see and do. I even found it more interesting than other European capitals I have visited, like Vienna and Madrid. I would highly recommend visiting Tirana if you find yourself in the Balkans.

Accommodations: Homestel Albania; $10.22 per night in an 8 bed dorm

Homestel Albania was one of my favorite hostels in the Balkans. The staff is super friendly and helpful, it is located just a 15 minute walk from the main square, the free breakfast is great, and I absolutely love their rooftop terrace with its view of the entire city.

Getting there: This bus was one of my longest ones through the Balkans, but it was on time, and the 4 hour trip went by relatively quickly.

The bus company was Old Town Travel, and they have a direct bus from Kotor to Tirana each day with a stop in towns near Kotor and in Podgorica if you decide to forgo Podgorica for an extra day in the Kotor area. Bus schedules and tickets for the route from Kotor to Tirana can be found here and the route from Podgorica to Tirana can be found here. The ticket from Podgorica to Tirana costs €15.

Language: Albanian, and yikes is this a tough one. I typically try to pick up key phrases before traveling, but for Albania the only one I could manage (barely) was ‘faleminderit,’ or thank you. Fortunately, a lot of people speak English in Tirana, and if they don’t, you can probably get by on the charades game.

Currency: Albanian lek; $1=110 lek

Read more about Tirana here

Tip: 2 of the best museums in Europe, in my opinion, are located in Tirana, Albania. Bunk’Art 1 and Bunk’Art 2 are housed in old nuclear bunkers built during the communist dictatorship of Enver Hoxha, and now they give a masterfully curated look into life during that communist regime in Albania. They are a must visit in Tirana.

Tip: Tirana is an affordable city that also has great food options, so this is a great place to treat yourself to an amazing meal. I would recommend snagging a reservation at Mullixhiu, a wonderful restaurant featuring fresh, locally sourced food.

Stop 6: Prizren, Kosovo

One night

Prizren is considered to be the capital of culture in Kosovo, Europe’s newest country. I loved that the city felt very local and not overrun by tourists in the least. However, I felt that I saw and experienced everything at a leisurely enough pace in the one day or so that I had there. So, I’ll say that it is worth a stop, but it doesn’t need to be a long one.

Accommodations: M99 Hostel; $11.35 per night in a 6 bed dorm

This hostel was weirdly super empty when I got there, but that was probably more of a testament to a lack of visitors to Prizren in early May rather than a downfall of the hostel. Actually, the hostel was very nice – the owner was nice and helpful, and the dorm rooms were incredibly spacious, leaving a lot of open space for lounging around and socializing.

Getting there: Wow, was getting to Prizren a disaster. I got on my bus at 6 am and didn’t end up in Prizren until around 12:30 pm. My bus from Tirana stopped about a 30-minute drive outside of Prizren, and I incorrectly assumed that the bus would continue into the city and stop there before continuing on to the capital of Kosovo, Pristina. Spoiler alert, it did not stop again. Until Pristina, which is 2 hours past Prizren.

So, when I ended up in the capital city, I debated just staying there for the night and then continuing on to Macedonia from there the next day. But, I had read great things about Prizren, and I already had my hostel booked, so I got a €4 bus back to Prizren. I feel like I made the right decision, but travel mishaps like this are definitely exhausting and frustrating.

I guess the lesson here is ask lots of questions to make sure you’re where you need to be (if you’re on the way to Prizren from Tirana, your stop is at a gas station outside of the city), and to be patient with yourself. Make mistakes, learn from them, and keep going.

The bus company for my bus from Tirana to Prizren was Autobus Albania. Bus schedules and tickets for this route can be found here. The ticket costs €10.

Language: A mix of Albanian, Bosnian, Serbian, and even Turkish, so it can be difficult to pinpoint who speaks which. Like other cities I visited, however, a lot of people in Prizren speak English.

Currency: The Euro; $1=€0.90

Read more about Prizren here

Tip: Print out your bus tickets!!! While bigger bus operators like Flixbus in other regions of Europe accept mobile tickets, none of the operators in the Balkans that I came across do. They require printed tickets, so save yourself the headache and make sure they are clearly printed and in-hand when you enter the bus stations.

Stop 7: Skopje, Macedonia

1 day, 2 nights

Skopje is a weird city, but that is part of the appeal. You can’t hardly turn a corner in the capital city of Macedonia without coming across some weird statue or memorial, and that made simply wandering around Skopje interesting. If I did it all again, I’d add a day to Skopje to better explore the city and surrounding areas.

Accommodations: Lighthouse Hostel; $9.08 per night in a 4 bed dorm

I originally booked at Shanti Hostel, which has the best reviews in Skopje, but they were renovating that week, so they arranged for me to stay at the Lighthouse Hostel. This hostel had a nice free breakfast and was in a good location in between the city center and the bus station.

Getting there: I was able to pre-book every bus ticket for my trip through the Balkans except for this one. There is nowhere online to book this route, so I simply had to go off of information online for times and then show up at the bus station. It turned out to be pretty simple – Vector tours has 2 direct buses from Prizren to Skopje at 5 am and 9 am on weekdays and 9 am only on Saturdays and Sundays. I did not want to get up at the crack of dawn, so I got to the bus station around 8:30 and was able to buy a ticket from the driver and hop on the bus when it arrived around 8:45.

I was worried about not having a ticket ahead of time, but it ended up being pretty painless. The ticket purchased from the driver costs €10.

Language: Macedonian, which sounds similar to Bosnian but is written in the Cyrillic alphabet. This made things a tad difficult to read, but once again, most people spoke at least some English, so this made things a bit easier.

Currency: Macedonian Denar; $1=55 denar

Read more about Skopje here

Tip: Take a day trip from Skopje to Matka Canyon, a beautiful area just 14 km from the city. There, you can admire the beauty of the canyon, take a boat ride out onto the lake, and do some hiking. Details can be found in my blog post about Skopje.

Stop 8: Sofia, Bulgaria

3 days, 4 nights

Sofia is where my solo travels ended and I met up with my best friend, Emily. We had a great time exploring the city and relaxing together after a long semester and a long time solo traveling. If I went to Sofia again, I’d check out more museums and consider a day trip to Plovdiv, another city in Bulgaria. I did like Sofia, though – it had a laid back vibe, there was a lot to see, and the free tours there are some of the best in Europe.

Accommodations: Hostel Mostel; $8.68 per night in a 20 bed dorm.

This hostel is the bomb. For less than $9 a night, we got a comfy bed and TWO meals a day – breakfast and dinner! I would recommend paying a bit extra to be in a 6 bed dorm rather than the 20 bed dorm, because it’s really just a huge attic space with mattresses. That is a ton of people to be staying in one room, and it could be pretty noisy at all times of the day. Beyond that, the hostel is great – they can recommend things to do in the city and the common space is pretty cool.

Getting there: This bus was relatively long at 4.5 hours, but it was also pretty painless. It was a van rather than a big coach bus, so getting through customs was a lot faster. The only thing I’ll say is keep in mind that there is a time change in between Macedonia and Bulgaria – Bulgaria is an hour ahead. So, my ticket said we’d arrive at 11:45 am, but we really arrived at 12:45 pm Bulgaria time.

The bus company was Makedonija Soobrakaj. Bus schedules and tickets for this route can be found here. The ticket costs around $19.

Language: Bulgarian, and I am ashamed to say that I learned 0 Bulgarian. Well, beyond how to say cheers (Nazdrave). It is another language written in Cyrillic, so I was thankful for a lot of English speakers in the city.

Currency: Bulgarian Lev; $1=1.75 lev

Read more about Sofia here

Tip: One of my best tips for the Balkans would be to take free walking tours. I did free walking tours in Tirana, Skopje, and Sofia, and I enjoyed each and every one. The guides often work for tips, though, so if you enjoy the tour, be sure to give them some cash.

In Sofia, there is also a free food tour through Balkan Bites, which is awesome. Free food? I mean come on. You can check out the tour here and make reservations on their contact page.

Tip: Look into AirBnb Experiences. Emily and I took a cooking class in Sofia through AirBnb that was AMAZING.

Bonus tips:

• As a solo female traveler, stay aware of your surroundings, be careful going out at night, and speak up if you feel uncomfortable in your hostel.
• Don’t run yourself ragged. If you’re feeling worn out, take a day or an hour or a few minutes to relax. Treat yourself to dessert, watch Netflix, or find a park to simply sit in and people watch.
• Take cable cars. This may sound like a weird tip, but I took cable cars in Sarajevo, Tirana, and Skopje, and I loved all 3. They forced me to get out of the city and they treated me to great views of the city and beautiful nature.
• Enjoy the local cuisine. Food in the Balkans is warm and hearty and very filling. A must have is a pastry called burek. It comes with a variety of fillings such as spinach, cheese, beef, chicken, and potatoes, it always costs very little, and it is delicious!
• If you’re a student, take advantage of student discounts! I found that there was a discount for almost every activity I did, from walking the city walls of Dubrovnik to the Bunk’Art Museums in Tirana.
• All of these countries are outside of the Schengen zone, meaning they make for great destinations if you are running out of days on your Schengen visa that gives you access to much of the rest of Europe.
• Don’t be too stingy with your money. This is coming from someone who is ridiculously cheap, but I had to remind myself that some of the opportunities in the Balkans were going to be once in a lifetime opportunities. And, a lot of things in the Balkans are incredibly cheap, so go on that boat tour for $30 and enjoy a fancy meal for $20. Budget travel doesn’t have to mean only doing free activities and cooking at your hostel every night!

And that’s all I’ve got. For now. I could talk about this trip for hours. The Balkans are terribly underrated, and I will tell people until my tongue falls off that they should visit this region of Europe. It’s budget friendly, the locals are happy to have you there and love to share their culture, there is a ton of natural beauty along with funky cities, and it makes for the perfect off-the-beaten-path trip! So, go to the Balkans before everyone else realizes it’s fantastic and it gets overrun with tourists!