how safe are the Balcans? and albania, kosovo & macedonia?
 

ALBANIA/BOSNIA-HERZ./SERBIA-MONTENEGRO/KOSOVO/MACEDONIA


Hi,

We plan a motorbike tour through the Balcans this summer and have some questions about safety in this area / practical matters regarding border-crossings. Anyone who can help?

The route would be more or less this: Belgium->Austria, Hungary, Rumenia, Bulgary, Macedonia, Albania, Serbia-Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, A->B.

GENERAL QUESTIONS:

- Any general comment on road conditions/safety on dirt tracks in remote areas/traffic/local driving habits?
- how much time will most border crossings take, given that we will be driving our own bikes with foreign numberboards?
- Any trouble we’re likely to encounter, given the fact that we are two girls on motorbikes with foreign numberboards? (both bikes look old, cheap and dirty). Anything like over-zealous policemen, fines for false infractions, theft, robbery, bike-jacking? Or will we just attract curious glances and occasional stares?
- How about mines on dirt roads?
- How about safety on small roads in mountainous areas? And how about dirt roads and enduro-riding in general? We’ve read wild stories about banditry and car/bikejacking… is that true?
- We’ve heard that people in small villages tend to be rather unfriendly towards strangers, and that foreigners are not welcome there… this strikes us as odd… is it true?
- we' ve heard that women should be extra cautious... is that so? and how do people in general respond to women traveling alone, particularly in rural areas?


- ALBANIA:


- Several travel advisories mention both ethnical tensions and criminal activities such as banditry and carjackings in north Albania, and limited government control. Is that so?
- what about the safety in the north-east region in general? And in specific the north above shkoder, and the Kosovo and Macedonia border area (Tetovo-Struga)?
- How safe is the south-east border region with Macedonia? Korça and eastwards?
- How safe or unsafe is the road between skhoder and kukes, taken into account that we will be driving our own vehicles with foreign numberboards?
- How safe/easy is the border in Morinë (road to Prizen, Kosovo)? And the entire border area?
- How safe is the mountain road from Skhoder to Thethi?
- Any information on the condition of the coastal road between Vlora and saranda?

- BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA:

- Several travel advisories mention armed carjackings and heightened criminality in the Republika Srpska, especially in the region between Sarajevo-Gacko-Zvornik-Foca-Trebinje. Is that so?
- Landmines: will we be ok with our motorbikes on secondary roads and/or dirt tracks?

- SERBIA-MONTENEGRO:

- Several travel advisories advise avoiding south Serbia, specifically Presevo and Budjanovac (and Medvedja). Is that indeed necessary? – and where precisely are Presevo and Budjanovac anyway? We can’t find the districts clearly on any map...
- How safe are the mountainroads (banditry etc) in south-east Montenegro? E.g. podgorica and eastwards?


- KOSOVO:

- what is the current overall security situation? Is only the center (kosovska-mitrovica, mitrovice, pristine, etc) problematic, or is the whole area out of limits?
- How do people in the area react to visitors? (we’re not looking forward to hostile glances and an unwelcome feeling…)
- Several travel advisories mention, apart from the ethnical tensions, high criminality, including violent crimes and shootings… is that so?
- Is it all together possible to get into the area at this moment? And if so, by which border crossings, and which are safe (given the current situation in northern Macedonia)? As far as we understand, it is not possible to enter Serbia via Kosovo, since you will not get an entry stamp in your passport. Is that correct? And does that mean the border at Rozaje is closed for foreigners, or only an entry point to Kosovo?
- We would like to visit Pec (and maybe Prizen). How about the safety situation in this area?
- For the monastry of Pec you have to obtain a Kfor pass… is that true? And if so, how likely is it that we will get one?


- MACEDONIA:

- several travel advisories say that overall the country is safe, apart from the region between skopje, tetovo and kumanovo. Is that correct? How about the smaller roads and rural areas?
- What about the border crossing between skopje and pristina?

Thanks, and of course all travel info/tips/must see’s/beautiful routes and tracks from people who’ve recently been there are very welcome as well…

G&T

I was in Slovenia, Croatia, and Hungary last week - all three of those countries are up to the same standards as Western Europe in every respect (roads, fuel, hotels, free of hassles).

Can't comment on the rest, haven't been to them lately.

Dear G&T
From our experience, last year in Slovenia and Croatia absolutly no problems, this year we went down through Bulgaria to Greece (fantastic mountain roads) and across to Italy by ferry and had no trouble anywhere.
My only word of advice is don't leave your helmet on your Bike seat when taking photos on top of windy mountains - I did (ouch! that was expensive, and it rolled a long way down!)
I will send you some general info on Romania, enjoy the trip.

....can't see an email address for you?

Hi,

KOSOVO
I do NOT recomend enyone to travel in Kosovo,
it is far to dangerous!
Very high risk of land mines on roads,
even KFOR vehicles blow up regularly in recent time!
Shootings may happen,all over the place,at eny time of the day!
No one can garanty a personal safety to you!
Not even UN police or KFOR,or eny body else.
Situation is completly out of hands of the authoritys,and left to criminals,terorists and drug traficants!

It is a complete madness at this time!
Not so as in Irak,but not far from that eather!

Generaly the borders are open,both direction.
And it is not true that you can't enter Serbia from Kosovo.


You could get trough if you are VERY LUCKY but I would not take that kind of risk,
and there is not much to see there anyway!
But if you like that kind of thrill,well then...


ALBANIA

Not so unsafe now,as it was before,but avoid remote areas,especialy border regions with Kosovo!

Do not travel at night!
Even local people dont!

Driving habits - as rush hour trafic in downtown Istambul!
No trafic culture at all!
No turn lights,no trafic lights,...thay just get in the car and go where thay want to go regardles of others!

Some drivers do not use lights at night,thay say that thay see just fine without them!

As a guy closest to the region,and with some knowlege of the situation,
I would advise you NOT to travel in Kosovo and avoid Albania if posible.

The rest of the region,Serbia,Montenegro,Bosnia is totaly safe for travel,in eny region of the country.
Border crossing shoud not be more than 10-15 minutes,that is if some of the policeman does not, find that is very pleasent tallking to you ladies :-)

Do not expect much confort in remote areas (motels,hotels,restaurants)

Have a nice trip!

Feel free to mail me with questions regarding Serbia and Montenegro.

Cheers


Jondoe

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Just found it.

Thare names are Cliff & Jenny Batley
Ware on there way from UK to New Zeland

Here is there web site :

http://www.twowheeltrekkers.com/


Cheers


Jondoe

I was traveling Balkan with my motorbike and my girlfriend in the past 5 years for many time. I passed all the Balkan countries and there were no problems at all. The only area where could be some problems by travelling by night is Albania in the area bordering with Kosovo and Montenegro.


You should have all the regular documents and visas if they are required on the borders check.

It is very appreciate and good to know some local specifics for some area. It is not recommended to point out yourself too much or to make too much comments about political, religious or national questions without beeing inform well about local orientations.

The infrastructure is good enough, except in Albania, where you can expect also some bad roads suitable mostly for the enduro motorbikes.

If you are travelling for the first time in this region maybe it is the best for you to leave out only North Albania, Kosovo and East Macedonia.

Best regards!

ok, thanks all for the info... we'll read it through carefully and let you know if we have extra questions...

thank you, kovacic, for your reassuring info... however, we would be planning to pass through south macedonia (bulgaria-> albania), which should be ok, then slwoly up through albania, and we would cross the border to montenegro via shköder-podgorica, but without detours, using the main road (i suppose that should be ok?). as for kosovo we'd only want to go as far as pec and back... is that ok?

and one other practical thing: we've heard that servia doesn't give you an entry stamp if you enter via kosovo which causes trouble when leaving the country... is it ok if you enter and exit kosovo from serbia (because you already have an entry stamp from the albanian-montenegrian border then?)

thanks all,
g&t

jondoe,

thank you very much for all the info! we have some extra questions about serbia/montenegro, but i'd have to have a proper look at all the info you already sent first to make sure i don't ask you everything twice, so i'll get back to you this weekend.

one question already:

any specific roads you can advise us? beautiful scenery/nice tracks? we will probably both driving relatively light endurobikes... and we'd love to venture into the mountains in montenegro...

thanks
g&t

Hi gaea_trui,
a friend of mine just returned from Montenegro/Albania/Macedonia and Kosovo trip. If you need fresh infos, mail him on mail@vastag.com .
Regards,
AnteK

Yes,thay can not give you an entry stamp,
cause that is not a border crossing.
'On paper' Kosovo is a part of Serbia,
and there is no 'real'border Kosovo/Serbia
You should get an 'Serbia & Montenegro' stamp when you enter Kosovo,as it is a part
of Serbia & Montenegro,but cause things
are complicated,with UN protectorat,and everything,that does not work.
And you cant get one on 'administrative' border with Serbia,couse it is not a border crossing....

Confusing,aint it?

I think you should have no problem leaving
Serbia & montenegro with out an entry stamp.

If you just want to visit Pec,you can enter
Kosovo from Montenegro,via road from Berane-Rozaj-Pec ,
ang get back the same way,and than on to Serbia.

About senic road proposals,
tell me general route that you would like to do,so i can have some idea where you want to go,or you dont realy know where you want to go....

Cheers


Jondoe

hello jondoe,

back to the scenic road proposals issue... we're still thinking about our exact route, so if there's something you think we shouldn't miss, just let us know and we'll reroute...

what we had in mind was more or less this: enter via shköder->uljinc, check out the surroundings of lake skadar, and drive up to kotor and cetinje.
continue towards durmitor national park and tara canyon, where we hope to find some nice & windy mountain roads and/or (safe) dirt tracks (not too difficult however as we'll be riding a suzuki dr650se and an bmw gs 80 (i think... eh... trui?). any suggestions of nice roads in this area would be welcome, but on the map it all looks rather great... seems the scenery is great everywhere...
then maybe a brief visit to pec, and on to bosnia towards mostar or sarajevo, depending on where we'll cross the border.
o, and we've heard from a cyclist that the pass between podgorica and ivangrad is so beuatiful, but see various roads and mountains on the map, so if you can help us out on that one, that would be great...

thx,
g&t

Yes.DO NOT MISS Skadar lake,
I sugest that you take road from
VLADIMIR to VIRPAZAR than to RIJEKA CRNOJEVICA
on to CETINJE,LOVCEN,KOTOR,
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 if you like,the monastery is very beautyfull,'carved' in to the mountain...
but it could be a bit croudy on a weekend days.

From PODGORICA i sugest to avoid main road to KOLASIN,trough 'Moraca canyon' there is TOO MUCH trafic,
and road repairs,crazy suicidal drivers,...
insted grom place BIOCE go to the right,
and on to PELEV PRIJEG,LIJEVA RIJEKA,MATESEVO,
from MATESEVO you can take the road to ANDRIJEVICA via an astonishing mountain pass,
maybe the one your frend mentioned,
and hop to the PEC via MURINO,CAKOR.
From PEC go north to ROZAJ via KULA pass,
than north-east to NOVI PAZAR,
from there you can take tarmac road to SJENICA,
or a dirt/gravel road NOVI PAZAR-"Sopocani" monastery-MELAJE-UGAO-SJENICA trough amazing "Pester" hights.

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.
I sugest to go back from Sarajevo to ILOVICE-DOBRO POLJE and than south-west to KALINOVIK-NEVESINJE-MOSTAR
or from Sarajevo go west to KONJIC than south to BORCI-BORACKO lake-PRIDVORCI-NEVESINJE-MOSTAR

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)
Dont miss it!It is amazing.
If you have time you can take a bit of a detour to PLITVICE via numerous dirt/macadam roads,
or go via "Lika" KNIN-GRACAC-GOSPIC
some nice waterfalls south of Knin.


Best time to ride Montenegro is after September 1st,
after the summer breake,there is not much crowd,...


Eny road you take on the map should be ok,
everyone of them is beautyfull in its own way!
Some times,the locals may advise you not to ride some road,and take the 'main' instead,
but not listen,thay think you are a spoiled tourist,or like them,like to ride on a crowdy
main road,and overtake on blind corners,
spend hour's stuck in the line cause road works,or if an trafic accident acures it takes hour's till thay clear the way.


I think thats about all,that I wanned to say,
if eny cuestions...

If not...

Have a nice trip!


Cheers


Jondoe

thanx a million, jondoe!!!

can't think of anything else to ask, after this wonderful reply. we'll surely report back when we get home. (and indeed, september would have been better, but our bosses at work had a different opinion about that...)

thanx!
g&t

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.