UK to Greece through the Balkans
 

Hello

i'm planning a trip to Greece this Summer. Thought I might go through Germany, Austria, Northern Italy, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania then into Greece.

Has anyone any biorder crossing or other hints or tips for this journey, thoughts on what documents I might need etc. I'm a UK passport holder.

I got as far as Croatia last year. Just needed the usual passport, drivers licence, insurance and V5. Only had to show passport at borders, they weren't interested in the bike docs. Got Croatian cover on my insurance free of charge, all the other countries I passed through were in the EEC, so I was covered anyway.

UK to Greece through the Balkans
 

we made an extended balkan tour last june.
that included all former yugoslavia, albania, greece, turkey, bulgaria, romania, etc.
what you need besides passport is an intl. drivers license and the green insurance document, proving the fact that your insurance covers the country you are travelling through. no baksheesh needed at all, except when we left albania to greece. here we had to pay 10 euros/each for something, wich was written on a filthy paper. btw. serbians were on top of that list with (if i recall right) 50 euros/each.

No International driver's licence needed for the countries in question. Of course, you will need the green card, but actually nobody checks it before you enter Albania (I'm not even sure they will want to see it, but still have it ready). In case of an accident though, you will be in big shit if you don't have one (even if you're not recognised as guilty).

Thanks for the tips
 

I'll make sure I have the right stuff with me

I went the slightly longer route thru Romania, as my insurers were really bad about Serbia in particular. Romania was great though. Border crossing info on my blog - see 'Kevin Payne'

Bad geography
 

Hi Wheelspin,

Reads funny as it tells me your insurer doesn't know much about the situation in that part of Europe. Serbia is actually a much lesser problem than Romania and Bulgaria in particular (which you also had to cross as I understand from your post).

Cheers,
DS

Just stating a fact. Both Carole Nash and Bennetts were an issue - I moved to Carole Nash to get the best deal, but Serbia was an issue with everyone I tried. No real issues anywhere anyway - take an older bike, and don't wash it. If anyone asks what its worth - lie.

Only at the Albanian border i had to pay 10€ ... it was "blah blah" tax.

Other then that no problem, or any kind of tip which might be useful (or needed) that i can think of.

Ohh... i heard rumors that Tiran(Alb.)-Igou.(Gre.) route was "not so safe". But thank god i hearded it, after i passed... :)

İt might be usefull to check if there is any security issue about a/m route.

Cheers,

Did UK, through the Balkans to Greece, Turkey and beyon in Summer '05 (check out www.transmedenduro.com for the route, pics and blog).

Inadvertantly arrived at a Military only border to Albania and, after a few hairy moments and some fast talking in my broken not used since school German we were turned away and sent towards the correct civilian crossing point! No bother there at all as I remember, everyone was very friendly and intersted in us and the bikes. We did pay an entry tax...probably the €10 that's been mentioned.

Some of the roads were truly truly dreadful – unsurfaced, with car size potholes, huge ruts and clouds of dust thrown up by trucks thundering by in both directions. Other roads were great however.

We found plenty of hotels in Durres though they were not exactly as cheap as you'd imagine them to be and we couldn't find any with secure parking for the bikes so decided (somewhat foolishly in retrospect) to push on and get to our next destination in Greece.

We were warned en-route that there was "much danger" at night but pressed on regardless encountering some equally dreadful roads, locals we asked for directions sending us up no through roads and packs of baying wild dogs whenever we stopped to shake the sleep out of our heads! What an amazing night!

Exited Albania at 3am and were let out by a bemused looking guy who didn't want to see any documents or try to charge us anything to leave.

No problems anywhere along the route through the Balkans and some breathtaking scenery and amazing roads you'll never forget. I'm jealous!

a
 

Serbia is a very safe country for tourist, and not complicated for entry papers!!! Who dont belive, come, be my guests! Dont believe media office, believe yours eyes! I see, so much people terrify to come in Serbia, bat its fanny! Serbs dont eat child!!!:welcome: :welcome: :welcome: :scooter:

Serbia is wonderful!!!
Very frently, wonderful monasteries to visit, great votka and beautiful people. Most of the people speacks english.
About Greece I have tons of information I can give you.
See you in Greece.

Mike.

Life is a journey....better done on a motorcycle.

I have done this trip a couple of times, on the last trip we went to Greece via Romania and Bulgaria and returned via Albania and the Balkans taking 6 weeks. It's a good trip to make. Bike insurance was not requested for Romania. Bulgaria we got it at the boarder. 30 euro for 30 days. Not asked for insurance for Albania. Montenegro was I think about 10 euros for a week. You probably won't get asked at any of the other boarders but you are taking a risk without insurance if you hurt anyone.
Accommodation was cheap around the 10 to 20 Euro for two.
Lots of speed traps in Greece and Montenegro. Be careful everywhere as all these countries have poor accident rates and the police use speed checks to try and reduce this.
We covered 6000 miles round trip taking 6 weeks with 2 bikes all in 30 quid a day
Make sure your UK bike insurance covers you for the time away as some only go up to 30 days per trip. Take good health insurance.
Highlights for us were Romania, Mountains of Northern Greece and Albania.
Albania can be dirty around the towns but the people are friendly lots of money coming in from Greece for buildings and a lot of church buildings being built or renewed. 20 percent of Albanians are Christian. The Albanians do have a tourist tax which is what everyone is referring to (10 Euro) this can be at 5 Euro per day although I am not sure about this. I once had a 2 Euro exit charge, you get receipts for everything.
Some roads in Greece can be very slippery in the wet take extra care.
The coastal drive through Albania is spectacular as is the rest of the coast up to Slovenia but it is best out side the holiday season so try and miss August.
All these countries are changing at an incredible rate.

The Euro is King everywhere you can pay for most things with the euro. Petrol on average is about 1 euro per litre.

I have some GPS waypoints for mapsouce if you are interested.

Steve

Last August I travelled from Greece to Croatia following the route : FYROM, SERBIA , KOSOVO , MONTENEGRO, CROATIA.

I found no problems in any of these border crossings, you don't even have to take your helmet off, they just have a look in your passport and away you go. Green card was valid in all of these countries with one exception. In Kosovo you have to pay for insurance on the border.

More info on the trip
Skopje-Serbia-Kosovo-Crna Gora-Croatia

If you would like some extra info don't hesitate to pm me.
Vlassis

That's odd, I went through Serbia in September last year and we got charged £180 for 'insurance' (for two bikes). We were only in the country for a day and felt a bit ripped off. Green card no worky.

Our one night in the country didn't really endear us to the place, either. We stayed in a hotel in Aleksinac, just north of Nis, and the reception was probably the least friendly on the whole trip (London -> Nepal).

steve