Have just returned from two weeks in the balkans. I would say in general it has a very safe feel about it. I would not want to be travelling around some parts of Bosnia at night. The biggest problem we encountered were the police - we were asked to bribe (and did) by police on the E73 somewhere near Doboj (Rep. Srpska) and again on the motorway entering Zagreb. Not unpleasant experiences, just more a warning, ride slow and respect the continual mandatory speed changes or take more cash.

I would say theye are many roads that are at the same level of the EU; however many interior roads need some care - no problem on a dual sport bike I would say. Finally there is a stretch of the E73 missing, it is being rebuilt, in one place it seems right down to the bed rock.

All in all a beautiful part of the world, prices are reasonable, people are in general pretty relaxed and you eat well.

bob

sorry forgot to mention the asphalt. Its is quite slippery and apparently scary in the rain. Due to a injury we went by car and not bike this time, but you could hear the squeeling when breaking and cornering at very normal speeds.

Hi,

KOSOVO - been there my self 20 days ago!

I still cant belive it!

I'v cycled from Medvedja to Pristina,
and from Pristina to Skopje(macedonia)
People say i'm realy brave,but it's not that,
i'm just in love with this girl,
and will do enything to be with her,
so i had to go were she goes!
I'm just foolish.

It did not seam to bad,as i imagine'd it,
She was feeling bad with all of the man staring at her,
and she was not feeling bether when I'v sey
that they are idiots,and probably never seen before,
a girl on a bicycle,in tights.
Thay prefer there woman with a scarf over head,at home looking after children!
The worse thing is that thay do not pay eny atention on lady's escort.
Thay ignore me or enybody else,and keep on stareing,
and useing there horns everytime!
She almost bursted into tears!

So ladies,be carefull!

The country in not realy a 'must see' place,
filty,no paint on houses,ugly woman,
bussy streets,loud music,no one seems to speak english!? German is beter.
Jogurt is awfull!
thay dont have electricity ca.4-5 houres in a day,
so if a shop does not have a generator to power the fridge,you could get bad stomac from
Jogurt,milky products,ice cream...

When we entered Macedonia,it was civilisation again.
I sware that the air feelt fresher over the border!

Good side: The Turkish sweeties,kababs...

Cheers

JonDoe

Yes.DO NOT MISS Skadar lake,
do not miss BOKA KOTORSKA fjord,
litlle fishing vilages...
Than you can go to PODGORICA,via main road,
or if you like some dirt/macadam
you can go north from RISAN-DRAGALJ-GRAHOVO-OSJECENICA-
-NIKSIC and on to PODGORICA via OSTROG monastery.
From SJENICA go west to PLJEVLJA-TARA cannyon-ZABLJAK-DURMITOR national park,do not miss a swim in "the eyes of the mountain" lakes on Durmitor.
From DURMITOR I sugest you to go to PIVA cannyon,via dirt/macadam track ZABLJAK-PASINA VODA-TRSA
from PIVA cannyon go north-west to Bosnia,
via main road to FOCA(aka-SRBINJE)
than on to SARAJEVO
Do Not miss out MOSTAR,a the reconstruction of famus 'old bridge' is finished,
and the city it self is nice.
From MOSTAR you can go to JAJCE and "Pliva waterfall" do not miss!
and if you then plan to go west to europe,
you can go west JAJCE-BOSANSKI PETROVAC-PLITVICE(Plitvicka jezera- Plitvice waterfall)
Eny road you take on the map should be ok,
everyone of them is beautyfull in its own way!

-----------------

I live and work in Sarajevo for almost one year now. I've travelled in most of the roads suggested above - sometime by car, sometime by motorbike - and I definitely conferm they are great.

In general most of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Montenegro have wonderful landscape.

I've never had any safety problem. Nevertheless, recently I've heard that some foreign cars have been attacked in BiH on the road Foca-Trebinje or, during the night, near Doboj. But in general I think the country is very safe.

The only Balcanic country I haven't visited is Albania, and I still think that it is not safe to travel there.



[This message has been edited by pietro.spera (edited 30 August 2004).]

we're back! the trip was great, no problems whatsoever, the bikes did a wonderfull job, the girls are tired (6700km) but happy, and some sort of travel report will follow... in the mean time, if we can help anyone out with info: our pleasure.

to be very very brief: macedonia was wonderful, and safe, albania was marvellous, the roads aren't as bad as everyone says after all, and safe (we stayed away from the north-eastern side), montenegro wasn't really our thing (frankly, they really drive like complete madmen, and we were the ones that got fined), but bosnia was great. overall i'd say: extremely friendly and helpful people, brilliant scenery, very nice roads (and we really did some lovely dirt-roads too), and no hassle.

a great thank you to everyone who gave us usefull info, and to all those who want to kick off in that direction: DO!

g&t

Update on western balkans
 

I am planning a trip from Dubai to London April next year and plan to drive via Istanbul, Thessalonika, Ohrid, Tirane (Albania), Dubrovnik and all the way up the coast to Trieste. This is an outline idea and we were hoping to get up to date advice on which roads to take or avoid, what is a must see and what to avoid.

All of the Balkans are fine - you simply need a green card.

I had a very funny experience two years ago. Riding down a main street in some town down there, suddenly a VW chips in on my lane right in front of me, idling along. Probably expected I would overtake. But I had lots of time and took it easy, since it was quite apparent a police car. Suddenly they accelerated and chased out of town. This meant trouble... And sure enough, a couple of kms out of town the buggars were waiting for me behind a bush with their radar pistol. But because I was expecting this, I dwadled along at a speed far below the limit. Still they stopped me, thoroughly checked all my documents and with last baleful glance at my bike let me go :tongue3:


@ raffexpat: There is more than enough infos in the prior posts. I simply love these countries and don't believe there is any road or area to avoid.

Hans

As others have said, get a green card. !

The mountain roads in Macedonia, Montenegro and Albania are fantastic.

Its all very normalised these days. Take Euros.