I too reckon that 20 euros is the max you should pay in Albania. And that will get you somewhere quite plush. If a run-of-the-mill hotel quotes 20 euros or more, haggle. Most effectively by wincing and walking.

Turkey and Greece occasionally had chasing dogs, Albanian dogs were worst. I even left a piece of trouser leg behind. It was the only time on tour I wished I was wearing MX boots.

Be aware of those sheppard dogs that s for sure. Tax when entering Albania with motorcycle is only 2 Euros, and sleeping on the coast in hotels with 3-4 stars 2 bed room with breakfast is around 30-40 eur., guarded parking.
In the inland part, you can sleep a lot cheaper, around 10 eur per night with breakfast, and all the prices all almost always negotiable, even in the best hotels on coast, for example in Durres.

Police doesn't control or stop bikers, but be carefull if you are cought riding during the night, because they tend to ride without the lights on in their cars, and it can be very dangerous,

ride on

I've recently returned from the Balkans after having ridden with Colebatch on the Sibirsky Extreme Project.

Albania, Montenegro and Macedonia were great. Friendly people, good food and amazing scenery. The usual travel rules apply. It's a bit of a free for all on the roads but if you go in knowing that and be ready for anything you'll do just fine. In some ways it's safer than the west where you assume drivers have been trained to a high standard and should follow the rules and then catch you out by doing something dumb.

I've posted a lot of photos into sets on flickr. Essentially one set per country.

Collection: Sibirsky Extreme

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3310/...3c64917f5b.jpg

It's no place for Vegetarians :mchappy:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3594/...9dacb5963c.jpg

Marcin Safranow from Motosyberia joined us

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3314/...73e8933cec.jpg

Tirana to Elbisan

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3591/...7dea2ebbc3.jpg

Lake Ohrid, Albania. The snow covered peaks are in Macedonia and we would ride over them the next morning and approach this same lake from the east. This shot is taken looking south east.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3326/...1ff035fe51.jpg

Just thought i'd stick my oar in (ooh 'er Missus!). Can't add much to the most excellent suggestions from contributing Hubbers, but i'd take the main road (A22?) across the Brenner rather than the Autoroute - saves the toll. And take the road to Bruneck/Brunico then to Arabba for a scenic entrance to The Dolomites. Then any super-squiggly roads south should sort you out for the rest of the day (esp the Passo Di Rolle...). Nice camping 5km North of Cortina at a bargain price, but camping all over Dolo's no probs. Jajce in BiH is certainly worthy of a couple of hours and/or a night at the great campsite just south of the town by the lake. Sarajevo is a gem, with a bike-specific GHouse overlooking the Old Quarter (ask at accom-booking acency in town). Soce Pass just south of Kranjska Gora in Slovenia is just ridiculous :funmeteryes: ! Enjoy...

Thanks for the Information
 

Huge thanks again to Graham and Vaufi, Mandarax (any more information on the ferry would be grand, did do a internet search and found some basic stuff), Stephano (have not visited Nurnberg as yet, another thing on a very busy schedule), Desert Soul, jopos, Pottsy, erverywherevirtually, frgich, and Spitefire Triple.
All this information has been a huge help, esp the suggestions for the places to stay
We have decided to take on board as much as we can, but also decided to chill and not try and see too much. The maximum time we have after allowing time to break the bikes out of storage/ return to storage is only 18 days. Google Maps tell me in a straight line Paderborn/ Igoumenitsa is about 2,200 km or a bit over a Brisbane/ Melbourne run, but with about 100 times more things to do and see.
So we have decided to do the trip in reverse, ride down to Igoumenitsa, ferry back to Venice and high tail it home to Paderborn in two days.
If we find we are taking too much time in one place or the other we’ll increase the pace for a few days and skip a few sights. The aim will be to catch the ferry that leaves Igoumenitsa the night of the Sat 4th July, arrives in Venice 9 am on Monday 6th and get back to Paderborn evening of the 7th, boring return, but like doing Sydney/ Brisbane in two days. Means missing and stops in the Dolomites which is shame, but we have spent a week there in 2006.

Graham, you mentioned doing the trip from Montenegro North. How are you getting to Montenegro?

Pottsy, do you recall what was the price of the bike-specific GHouse in Sarajevo? As mentioned before I think we’ll use Sarajevo for some R&R.

Cheers and Thanks
Brett