Originally Posted by
LAX_Esq
Hi, we're hoping to do a ~2wk Balkans self-drive in May/June 2024. I'd like to book award flights now, since we're 11 months out.
I've vaguely researched the a Balkans in the past, and don't have any time to do detailed research any time soon. So I'm hoping to pick a major airport to fly in and out of, just to have flights in place.
Ideally we'd do an open jaw, i.e., flying in to one city and out another, so we don't have to backtrack. But I'm not sure if this makes sense given that I've read that one-way car rentals across different countries in the Balkans might be prohibitively expensive.
Please let me know what ideas you'd have. Thanks!
I've driven through the Balkans three times. Once with an Italian plated car, which got vandalised in Dubrovnik; another time I had a Croatian car, and that got broken into in Republika Srpska. Third time, I went in from Budapest (less than a day's drive from Zagreb) and it went on without a hitch, plus we saw a bit of Hungary I'd never seen. On the basis of not having problems owing to your perceived nationality I'd go for BUD.
In terms of places to visit, Bosnia is by far my favourite. Beautiful roads, great scenery, lovely people, though tragic past. The low point are the coastal roads of Dalmatia in the summer. If you get stuck behind a Polish caravan, or - worse still - a German driving a Skoda saloon, "c'est la catastrophe" as my grandad said. Zagreb's also very beautiful. Take the time to savour the interior, don't just see the coast. Oh, and be careful: Google sometimes often offers itineraries that don't exist...