Split to Thessaloniki
 

I'm planning London to Istanbul, and want to go down the Croatian coast. The leg then from Split to Thessaloniki looks like it can be done a variety of ways - going via Tirana, or Pristina etc, and across Albania, or Serbia/Montenegro. Does anyone have any experience of this hop?

TIA

Simon

BiH - Serbia - (Bulgaria -) Greece is fine.
Doubts for Pristina (Kossovo) and Albania. Risk of political disorder (Kossovo) and criminality (Albania).
I know pretty well the situation in the Balkans as I live and work in Sarajevo

I visited Albania a few weeks ago and people told me that if you travel there, you should stay on main roads and try to travel with others to avoid being alone on a deserted road.
Tirana and the area around it, is relatively safe but they told me the more rural areas in the North are not.

More about my short trip to Albania:
http://www.krijtenburg.nl/travel/albania/index.shtml

Have a nice and safe trip.

Jan Krijtenburg
htp://www.krijtenburg.nl/

Hi All,
What a coincidence. I am also travel from UK to Turkey on 15th of July. I suppose to travel on 25th of June but it looks that I will delay a bit. Anyway. My route will be UK>France>Belgium>Holland>Germany>Avustria>Sloveni a>Croatia>Serbia and Montenegro>Macedonia>Greece>Turkey.
All my investigations shows that there is no any treat for this trip. I have friend in Graz (Avustria), Belgrade (Sirbia and Montenegro), Theseloniki (Greece), and Turkey is my homeland http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif Only danger is the traffic as far as I see. Nothing else, also visa problems for me http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif Have a nice trip.


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ride safely
ozhan u.
www.ozhanu.com

I'm taking a similar route leaving 17 June from NW Germany. From Turkey I will head north through Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland then west through the Czech Republic and back to Germany.

I've heard both positive and negative stories about riding through the Serbia/Albania/Macedonia areas. I'm just planning to get through Serbia, Albania and Macedonia as quickly as I can in one day, staying on main roads along the coast with minimal stops.

Jimmi

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"Mark Twain: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do, than by the ones you did do. "

I was in Macedonia for a week and can say that its one of the nicest and safest countries I have ever visited. I also just exited Albania yesterday and am now in Montenegro. Albania has beutiful nature and wonderfully nice people, but it''s a mess. Traffic on all roads, main or not, is horrendous and coupled with more potholes per sq meter than the Trans-Siberian on most roads, garbage thrown everywhere, dangerous drivers (all of whom drive old Mercedes Benz cars! No joke! Its like the only type of car in the whole country!), the most tasteless food since Mongolia, etc... makes for a fairly miserable experience.



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Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius - William Blake

Jimmi don't worry http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif
I'm from Belgrade / Serbia. Belive me there is no need to be afraid. There will be NO problems driving through Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia. Only problem is driving through Kosovo which I don't recommend.
If you are planing a trip through Serbia please come to Belgrade. I will help you as much as I can with accomoditation. I also have a garage with some tools so you can make some small repairs (I hope that won't need that).
Wach for police on roads because they have radar guns and they will give you a ticket. Of course, here in Serbia, you can always give them 10-20 Euros and they will forget about ticket http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif
Anyway, you are all welcome here and please send me e-mail and I will send you my phone number, if you want, if you are traveling through Belgrade.

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Giuliano
Honda Transalp 1988
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hi guys,
as i am driving a trr 250 from thailand to belgium, i have to stick (happily need to) small roads. somewhere along the coastside..anybody some advice on smaller rural roads?
greetz
niels

Hi, I am now sitting in athens after the ride down from split.
After heading into Montenegro from croatia we had no problems. when we went to pass into the city of Pec (kosovo) via a smaller road we were turned around by the police to take a more major road in. No engish but they seemed friendly and it wasnt a huge detour. Kosovo felt very safe and was cheap. we even stoped and had a chat with some of the millitary guys there.
From there we went to go into Macedonia but we arrived at the border to find that without a green card insurance they wanted 50 euros min for 15 days. we turned around and headed for albainia. we crossed fairly north and found the border officals great and we never saw or felt there was a problem with security. apart from the warning from the previous posts about the pot holes and the mercs.

have fun

Ryan, 3 teneres, london to NZ 2005

>Macedonia>Greece