What do I need to consider before traveling to the Balkans? Which apps are helpful? What about safety? In this blog post you will find my ultimate travel tips for planning your road trip.
How do I plan a road trip through the Balkans?
My sister and I asked ourselves this question before our three-month trip through Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Albania . We always played this fun game in the car. What is the name of the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina, for example? Unfortunately, my geographical education at school had come to an end with the Dierke World Atlas of 1993. So we first had to look on the map to see which countries we would be crossing.
Some fixed points were clear. First of all, we wanted to climb Triglav in Slovenia. And as a major intermediate goal, we had a ten-day climb of the Peak of the Balkans, which we definitely wanted to do. Otherwise, we were still open.
Here are my travel tips for planning a road trip through the Balkans
Technical equipment: Admittedly, I would be pretty lost without my mobile phone . Firstly, it takes me to where I want to go via Google Maps and thus serves as an irreplaceable navigation system. And secondly, I find my apps with GPS simply unbeatable. This makes me feel relatively safe that I can at least find my way back in an emergency. A power bank ensures that this works over a longer period of time.
Since the countries from Montenegro onwards are no longer part of the EU, we bought SIM cards locally . You can also use eSIM cards (if the phone is designed for them), which is a little less problematic but also more expensive, e.g. via Saily.
Of course, I had all my photography equipment with me and also a drone.
Drone : If you have a drone, you will be very disappointed, as I am, that you are not officially allowed to fly it in almost any country. But no one seems to care. As of 2024
Apps:
Google Maps and outdooractive helped us a lot with the planning.
Google Maps: here, if you zoom in very closely, you can often find sights and also accommodations and campsites that you probably wouldn't find in any travel guide.
Outdooractive : here you can find official and unofficial routes and see which hikes are recommended around your location (or where you want to go). I found real highlights here, such as my favorite hike up the Korbab.
It is also very helpful to talk to locals and other travelers, who usually have one or two insider tips.
Overnight stay:
My sister has a caddy that we both slept in. Not very comfortable, but perfectly adequate as long as the weather is good.
Since we were able to sleep in the car, we did not book most of the accommodation in advance. Exceptions were mountain huts that we knew were well attended, such as those on Triglav or some stages on the Peaks of the Balkans.
During the season, it is particularly crowded in Croatia and Montenegro. Wild camping is officially prohibited almost everywhere. However, our experience has shown that the locals are relatively relaxed about it. Please take your rubbish with you when camping (especially the toilet paper) and behave considerately. This will ensure that traveling in this way will be possible in the coming years. From time to time we slept on official campsites or in a hut. This was mainly necessary for showering and occasionally for doing laundry. We found these accommodations (as already mentioned above) very often via Google Maps, as they were not officially listed anywhere else.
Hiking equipment:
For the hike we had hiking poles, a backpack, good hiking boots, a water filter, a sun hat, as it can be extremely hot and sunny in the Balkans, and refillable water bottles. We also had chlorine tablets in case of emergency.
We also had all our climbing equipment and a via ferrata set with us.
Streets:
Another important point is the roads in the Western Balkans. Don't expect tarmac roads. Many roads are gravel roads, which also have a few potholes. Sometimes we were totally surprised that there was only a real gravel road leading to relatively touristy destinations. My sister in particular was very worried about her car. A spare tire and knowing how to change it is definitely a good idea.
border crossings:
We crossed many borders on foot and by car. It was pretty easy everywhere. We were able to enter all the countries we visited with our EU ID cards , I had a passport as a backup but didn't need it.
Security:
At first we had concerns about traveling to the Balkans alone as two blonde women.
From our experience, I can say that these were completely unfounded. The people were all super polite and super nice and it was no problem to hike alone and even sleep in the car.Â
We never felt unsafe.
Before the trip we read a lot about (Shepherd) dogs . We also met a few, but apart from 1-2 situations it was never critical. Against bears, dogs and everything else we had CS gas with us, which we always had with us when hiking. Otherwise stones and sticks that you can throw also help.
Shopping:
Not all shops have the variety of food that you might be used to in Germany. But you can get basic foodstuffs with local fruit and vegetables in almost every village.
Water:
The drinking water supply was unproblematic, with a few exceptions. We got it from wells, at campsites or sometimes at a gas station. When in doubt, we filtered the water.
In many countries in the Balkans you will be confronted with a lot of garbage. Please do not contribute to this by buying plastic bottles.
Weather:
We left at the end of July. It was unbearably hot until the beginning of September. We could only do most of the hikes early in the morning or late in the evening. During the day we just dragged ourselves from shade to shade and from swimming spot to swimming spot. We found it extremely hot, especially in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
In the next few weeks I will share my favorite places with you here.