Balkans bike trip with Nicole
 

Hi folks,

After a couple of years of going nowhere, Nicole and I are taking our 'adventure' bike to the Balkans.

I'll get a head start and get to Greece via France, Italy and a ferry whilst Nicole and my kids will fly out for a week's R&R before we head north.

The route as far as we've planned it is into North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, back into Croatia, Slovenia then Italy before heading home.

The information I'm hoping you can help with is bike insurance, passport/ visa requirements if any, and which border crossings to use.

I'm aware my insurance covers EU and Serbia but what about the others.

Thanks for your help.

I recently visited these countries, you will love it!

Where are you from and are you vaccinated?

You need to check your green card insurance for what countries it is valid in. Most likely it's like mine, it was not valid in Kosovo, so you will have to buy it at the border for around 13 euros. (I got mine for free but this is not standard)

Every border checked my vaccine status, it was easy because I am double vaccinated. If you are from the EU/Britt, you wont need any visas in advance, you can get them at the border (will be a simple stamp in the passport)

All borders should be fine, I encountered 0 corruption, on the contrary a lot of people were happy to see a biker at their border.

The kosovo - montenegro border goes over some mountains, so unless you are going in the middle of summer dress in warm clothes. I drove in -1C with snow on the road, not safe.

Basically what you need is:
Passports
Vehicle registration
Covid Vaccination certificate

For serbia:
Officially a PCR-test, but this was not checked at the border.

Thats pretty much it. Have fun and don't forget to try the local bakeries!

EDIT: Oh and you can not travel directly from Kosvo to Serbia, you have to transit through another country.

Thanks for your quick reply.

We are from the UK, fully vaccinated and thoroughly legit!

I have standard UK bike insurance so the Green Card countries seems to be limited to EU plus a couple more. Seems to be that insurance is available at the border but not at all crossings, not all of the time.

I'm hoping that by the time the summer comes the vaccination thing will be a thing of the past, even though we are jabbed.

I have a friend from Kosovo who we hope to visit and will ask him about the best route into Montenegro but I certainly hope we won't be experiencing snow in August as a fully laden bike with passenger would be a handful.

Nicole has started with some spreadsheets to have it all planned......me, I'm ready to go now!

Last summer I travelled through the countries you listed. Being a German citizen naturally the border regulations differ re visa etc.

All the countries were included on my green insurance card - nonetheless I had to buy a 3rd Party insurance at the Macedonian border. 10 € for a fortnight.

At that time I had the second jab plus the 14 days waiting period. The vac certificate was checked at every border-crossing.

The border crossing Kosovo/MNE at Novoselle - Rozaje is very scenic and shouldn't be a problem. Otherwise you could cross over to Albania at Kukes and take the old road to Skodra. Very beautiful! From there you have several choices: The road along the western shore of Lake Skutari is quite scenic with great views on the huge lake. A more adventurous route is from Skodra along the eastern side of the lake and just before the border to MNE turn right into the Vermosh valley, travelling north-eastwards and enter MNE at Gusinje. An absolute experience!!!

Hope this helps.

Thanks for your reply.

You mention a more adventurous route, can you explain what you mean? It needs to be tarmac all the way as far as I'm concerned.

I'll look up the Kosovo Montenegro border you mention.

That's the border crossing north of Peja where my friend lives. That would be our crossing of choice but we may need insurance there, would you know if there is an insurance office there?

I wasn't aware that you prefer sealed roads :mchappy: It's a few years back when I last travelled through the Vermosh valley. By then only the first part was tarmac, the was rest dirt road. This route is exceptionally beautiful, with a stunning mountain pass and through a picturesque valley.
But in your case I'd suggest you take the route west of Lake Skutari if you go through Albania. By the way - the old mountain road from Kukes to Skodra which I mentioned is all tarmac.

Has to be tarmac, my 'adventure' bike is a Honda Goldwing!