Thru Croatia to Greece?

Hi Folks,

We're planning a trip and would like any advice on visas, etc. for this trip, eg. montenegro, macedonia, and albania.

CUrrently the GS is off the road and would like advice on breakdown recovery in these areas.

Cheers.

Tom

when I did it, I went to Dubrovnik, got the ferry to Bari, Italy then Igoumenitsa the next day.
Was the right thing to do at the time - not sure now

Cheers for that mate, but I was really hopin to do the overland ride and return thru Italy.

Any suggestions?

Hi Mate,

We had a similar plan a few years back and done a similar thing to turnip and got the overnight ferry to Bari from Dubrovnik and then another overnight ferry (much nicer!) to Patras in Greece.

In hinsight we should have kept going through Albania etc but when we got to kotor in Montenegro we bottled it!

It was quite a long detour for us via Bari and we also had to wait about 7hours for the ferry to Patras.

My advise would be to go through albania etc. Sorry cant help with the breakdown cover etc.

Garry

Roads in albania are meant to be attorcious, so don't bank on doing many miles a day. Not been there (was put off), so don't take just my word for it!

The Croatian route takes quite a bit longer because of the lack of motorways - they are in the middle of building one which takes you inland and down to Dubrovnic from Slovenia, but it wasn't finished last August.

It seems that the border controls are a bit hit and miss down there - prepare to be fleeced even if you have the right paperwork - I noticed that a couple of the Turkey Trotters paid 80+euros for a Bosnian greencard - I paid 10. Not all/most of the border crossings won't be able to help you paperwork if there is a problem - they wouldn't accept my UK insurance on a piece of white paper because they didn't understand. Their solution is to turn you away... I tried 4 control points in a day!

I landed up going from Dubrovnic then Bari then igoumenitsa and actually wish I had done that fist time round. The Balkans are a great destination in themselves, and I wouldn't necessarily recommend them as a passing through option when you have the Italy/Greece route to pick - much easier!!

I rekon they got the motorway done,according to rough guide. I was thinkin more a coastal route then a dart thru the southern countries into Greece and then return thru Italy. It only seems to be maybe 200kms from Croatia to Greece.(famous last words eh)

I left Slovenia at 8am and didn't get to Dubrovnic the same day - didn't really stop much, but it was Saturday (change over day for holidaymakers) which meant lots of traffic and the pace was slow. Stopped off at a motel about 100km from Dub. Motel was actually quite cool - brand new and I was the only resident!

Oh, and I took the motorway to about half way down the country...

L said:

I left Slovenia at 8am and didn't get to Dubrovnic the same day - didn't really stop much, but it was Saturday (change over day for holidaymakers) which meant lots of traffic and the pace was slow. Stopped off at a motel about 100km from Dub. Motel was actually quite cool - brand new and I was the only resident!

Oh, and I took the motorway to about half way down the country...

Click to expand...

Looking at going down the coast of Croatia next year in June ie out of the main holiday season but using the Dusseldorf - Villach train. I was guessing one day to Zadar and another to Dubrovnik. With your comments this sounds almost sensible if I use the motorway to half way between Rijeka and Zadar.

I stopped in Bled, Slovenia then Zadar (YHA) Euros ok in Slovenia but had to change to local currnecy in Zadar - luckily bank seemed to stay open all night.

Coast road looks nice on paper and has to be done once but its not a laugh.

Very slippery tarmac and horrible queues behind German, boat towing RVs.

One queue was about a mile long, the local coach in front of me started over taking - I though WTF, where are you going to go, but he stuck with it, blind bend no prob, if something came the other way he just carved into queue (long drops with no barrier) when I got past RV I just had to give full respect - total nutter.
Couple of miles later there was a similar coach about 500ft down smashed on rocks

I met an interesting couple on a Honda riding to South Africa (for the 4th time)
Even they were not prepared to risk Albania (George W's watch stealers)

I booked hotel in Bari in Advance - was late getting in (Italians try to get on ferry before its unloaded) African adventurers didn't, spent half the night trying to find some where)
I had a quick run to Taranto to see if they had a memorial to the Fleet Air arm then got the ferry to Greece.

Came back through Italy - nice holiday did about 5000 miles in the end ( met the wife and kids in Thessonaliki)

Hopefully the inland motorway will take all the tourists in cars / buses etc and leave the coastal road to the locals and bikes. I'd heard you have to expect stunning views around every corner and it might include a bus / van / lorry on your side of the road

Did you see this:

http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112661

If you need any additional info, just ask.

Hi damir, I have sent you a pm asking for help planning a route . If you have any info it might be better to put it on here so others can benefit. When are you going tom? Im coming north through montenegro macedonia kosovo albania etc last week in May (I hope).