Balkan Summer: My Road Trip Through Each Of The 8 Balkan Countries (Part 2)

In July 2022 I completed a personal travel milestone: A road trip through the Balkans spending time in every Balkan country for a total of just under three weeks.

After exploring Serbia, North Macedonia, Kosovo and Albania, driving from Tirana all the way down South to the city of Sarrande (see Part 1), I started my journey back up north with my first stop in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica.

Montenegro — Podgorica

Before I get into detail about my time in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica, I have to point out that Montenegro was one of two Balkan countries I had already visited before this trip, as such I had already been to the coast of the country before and visited the towns of Budva, which has one of the best nightlife scenes in the Balkans, and the historical Venetian city of Kotor.

If there is one thing to point out about Montenegro in general, it is that apart from being an absolutely gorgeous little country, the Montenegrins like to party, and they are surely the one of best places for nightlife in the Balkans, along with Croatia.

Regarding my recent road trip, as I had already seen the coast of Montenegro and its party hotspot Budva, I decided to visit the capital Podgorica this time around. To be fair, I didn’t expect much, just like in Kosovo. But, once again, I was surprised!

The day I spent in Podgorica, which is quite frankly enough to see the whole city, happened to be a Sunday, so I really didn’t expect much in terms of nightlife. So quite unexpectedly after I went for dinner, all the terraces in the Centre were absolutely packed, as if it was a Friday or Saturday night, and they remained packed until well after midnight! Party central!

So, if you’re thinking about a cheap and random weekend getaway with some mates to have a good time, then Podgorica might just be for you!

Montenegro’s capital is not the biggest and most spectacular city, so if you expect some decent tourist sites in this capital city, you’d be disappointed.

About Montenegro in general: an absolutely gorgeous and stunning country with amazing landscapes, good nightlife and friendly people, so definitely worth a visit, but as it has become quite popular over the years, you should be quick to visit it before the prices start increasing drastically!

Next up on my road trip was Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Bosnia and Herzegovina — Neum

First things first: obviously when you are on a tight schedule and are only spending a few days in a country on an exhausting road trip, it is inevitable that you’ll end up with some regrets. One of my biggest regrets about my recent road trip was that, when visiting Bosnia for the first time, I didn’t get to see the capital Sarajevo or the famous picturesque city of Mostar… they were quite simply put just too much off the road of my planned route up north.

I thus decided to visit Bosnia’s only coastal town, Neum, and I surely don’t regret that! But as I have only seen the coastal town of Neum and some rural villages in southern Bosnia through which I drove on my way there, it is quite tough for me to give an all-round judgement on Bosnia as a whole, therefore I’ll only judge Bosnia by the places I’ve seen, but already promise to the Bosnians out there that I’ll be back one day to explore more places in your country!

Concerning my recent trip to Bosnia, I entered the country via Montenegro and my route to the coastal town of Neum led me through some eye-catching and breathtaking landscapes: beautiful mountains, a constant sea of green, stunning shining lakes and rivers, some authentic and amazing villages and even some traces of the war. Of all the places I drove through on my road trip through the Balkans, driving through southern Bosnia on my way to Neum was one of the most beautiful routes I took.

One of the nice villages I drove through was called Ravno — I stopped there for a little pitstop and to take some pictures, the village offered some amazing views of its surrounding mountainous landscape.

About my Bosnian destination Neum, it is Bosnia’s only coastal town, as Bosnia only has a 15km coastline, and therefore I wanted to check out Bosnia’s only coastal resort. Quite simply put, like nearly every coastline on the Balkan Adriatic Sea: it’s absolutely picturesque and gorgeous! It’s also a pretty calm and relaxing spot, the tourists that are there are mostly day tourists or families. Neum is the perfect place if you want to have a calm and relaxing holiday with your family, and don’t want to be in an overcrowded tourist hotspot.

On the negative side though, Neum hasn’t really got any nightlife. Apart from some cafes and restaurants that serve drinks until midnight, there aren’t any clubs or discos around, so if this is what you’re looking for, Neum surely is not for you. It is a typical idyllic coastal town which is worth a visit if you just want to relax, especially with kids or elder people.

As such, I’ve still got to mention that the beaches of Neum were pretty packed though, but being the only coastal town of a huge country such as Bosnia, this didn’t really surprise me!

My conclusion on Bosnia: it’s a country I’ll surely visit again due to its stunning landscapes and intriguing, diverse culture and history, but I might never be back in Neum, even though I wasn’t disappointed at all by the town itself, but having seen it once was enough!

After Neum, my obvious next destination on my road trip was Croatia and the stunning but very touristy city of Split.

Croatia — Split

Croatia was the second country on this Balkan road trip that I had already visited before, in fact, this was my third time in Croatia and second time in Split. Before this trip, I had already been to Dubrovnik, Pag on the island of Novalja in the North, Zadar and of course Split.

Of all the places I had seen in Croatia before, I liked them all, and I always described Croatia as one of my favourite countries on earth due to its sheer beauty, but my absolute favourite place was Split…which is why due to pure nostalgia I choose to return there again on this road trip.

Now don’t get me wrong, my last time in Croatia and Split in particular, before this trip, was 6 years ago, and it hasn’t changed at all in regards to its beauty and eye-catching coastline and gorgeous streets. But it has changed drastically in regards to another aspect: the prices.

It’s fair to say that Split has been a tourist hotspot for some time now, but the prices in the city have increased so drastically that it has actually become as expensive as London or Switzerland. Due to all the Game of Thrones hype surrounding the City in the past few years, the city has become overwhelmed with Global Tourism, which is totally fine but, in terms of cost of living, it has become the Monaco of the Balkans. To give you an example I told you that I paid about 1 euro for a big beer and 5 euro for a decent meal in a restaurant in Albania. In Split, I paid about 6 euros for a big beer and about 16 euros for a decent meal in a restaurant, and if I wanted to eat something cheap I had to settle for a 5 euro Wrap or 7 euro Kebab. Another fun fact about the overpriced city of Split: my 2-night stay in a hostel was more expensive than my 3-night stay in a 3-star hotel in Albania.

So, regarding prices, Split has unfortunately become unbearable if you’re not a rich person and is therefore out of the question for me to visit ever again, but that doesn’t take away its beauty and, yes, great nightlife. But I can frankly say that I feel very glad to have had the chance to visit this beautiful city before it became so overpriced and overwhelmed by crowds from all over the world.

Croatia for me is the perfect example of what over tourism does to a country: it gets so overcrowded with tourists that it becomes unbearable and overpriced that you can either only spend a few days there anymore or have to be very rich to stay there for a longer period and enjoy the whole country.

Still though, taking away all these obvious negative points about Split and Croatia in general, which are related to its popularity, it remains one of the most spectacular countries on earth, and yet another thing I regret about my recent road trip is the fact that I only stayed in Split whilst driving through Croatia, but yes as I’ve mentioned before, it was pure nostalgia that brought me back!

About Croatia, it is still worth a visit, it is an absolutely breathtaking country with amazing landscapes and natural parks, but I would not recommend staying in one particular place, the country has simply become too expensive for classic beach holidays, but I would rather recommend road tripping the whole country, probably even in a camping van, because the over-tourism and overpricing doesn’t take away Croatia’s sheer beauty as a country, and that its people are absolute legends as well!

My last stop and country on my Balkan road trip was Slovenia.

Slovenia — Maribor

If there is one particular thing that makes Slovenia stand out among all the other Balkan countries: you don’t feel like being in the Balkans anymore!

In fact, in terms of architecture and scenery, you feel more like in Austria or Germany than in the Balkans. It’s actually not a surprise, Slovenia had always been the least Yugoslav country of all the former Yugoslav countries, was the first of the aforementioned countries to become independent and the first to join the EU, all the way back in 2004, and to adopt the euro. Historically, it had also always been the richest of the former Yugoslav Republics.

As a stop in Slovenia, I choose the country’s second-largest city of Maribor. It was on my route back up north and having visited many capital cities on this road trip before, I thought that in my final country, Slovenia, I’d go for the second largest city for a change.

Regarding Maribor then, it’s a calm but truly magnificent small city, with a cool, laidback vibe, very friendly and welcoming people and with a host of decent restaurants and bars, which are not expensive at all, compared to neighbouring Western European countries.

So is Maribor worth a visit? Surely yes, and I wouldn’t personally promise that I’ll be back there at some point in my life, but if I go back there, I’ll surely combine it with the capital city of Ljubljana because if there is a negative point about Maribor, it is that the vibe is so calm and laidback that there is literally no nightlife after midnight, which is why all the locals take the train to Ljubljana when they’re in the mood to go out!

And as I really liked the vibe and atmosphere in Slovenia, I’ll definitely be back one day to explore the capital and the coastline, but I’d definitely recommend Slovenia as a country, it might not be the most exciting one of all the Balkan countries, especially for Western Europeans, but it’s still got some amazing landscapes, is not expensive and has very welcoming and friendly people.

So to conclude, I would personally rate the 8 Balkan countries, taking all my personal experiences and judgements into account, as follows:

1.Albania; 2. Montenegro; 3. Croatia, 4. Kosovo; 5. Slovenia; 6. Bosnia; 7. Serbia; 8. Macedonia

Still, I’ve got to clarify though that every country has good and bad sides to it, and that in general, I enjoyed every place I visited, there are obviously those places I liked more than others, but all in all the Balkans are an amazing, diverse region and will always remain one of my favourite spots on the European continent, and I can only recommend the Balkans, and road tripping through the Balkans in particular to any adventurous traveller!