r/travel • u/AutoModerator • Aug 01 '19
Advice r/travel Region of the Week: 'Balkans (North) - Slovenia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Kosovo'
Hey travellers!
In this new series of weekly threads we want to focus on regions that have a lot to offer to travellers: the towns, nature, and other interesting places whether they are lesser or more known. If more known provide more in depth suggestions like tours, things to do, places to eat, etc.
Please contribute all and any questions / thoughts / suggestions / ideas / stories / highlights about this travel destination, whether it be places you want to see or experiences you have had.
This post will be archived on our wiki destinations page and linked in the sidebar for future reference, so please direct any of the more repetitive questions there. Please click here for list and dates of future destinations. If you notice an area of a region is not listed it is likely it will be a future topic or it may have been a prior topic as a country or city. Please focus on the specific regions in the submission unless it was not a prior or future topic.
Only guideline: If you link to an external site, make sure it's relevant to helping someone travel to this city. Please include adequate text with the link explaining what it is about and describing the content from a helpful travel perspective.
Example: We really enjoyed the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. It was $35 each, but there's enough to keep you entertained for whole day. Bear in mind that parking on site is quite pricey, but if you go up the hill about 200m there are three $15/all day car parks. Monterey Aquarium
Unhelpful: Read my blog here!!!
Helpful: My favourite part of driving down the PCH was the wayside parks. I wrote a blog post about some of the best places to stop, including Battle Rock, Newport and the Tillamook Valley Cheese Factory (try the fudge and ice cream!).
Unhelpful: Eat all the curry! [picture of a curry].
Helpful: The best food we tried in Myanmar was at the Karawek Cafe in Mandalay, a street-side restaurant outside the City Hotel. The surprisingly young kids that run the place stew the pork curry[curry pic] for 8 hours before serving [menu pic]. They'll also do your laundry in 3 hours, and much cheaper than the hotel.
Undescriptive I went to Mandalay. Here's my photos/video.
As the purpose of these is to create a reference guide to answer some of the most repetitive questions, please do keep the content on topic. If comments are off-topic any particularly long and irrelevant comment threads may need to be removed to keep the guide tidy - start a new post instead. Please report content that is:
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u/superfli Aug 02 '19 edited Aug 02 '19
I'm in Slovenia now and it's great. The weather is not perfect but it's fine for us. It's warm but there is rain and thunder from time to time but on the whole it's fine. I'm near Lake Bohinj and there are a lot of outdoor options like cycling, paragliding, hiking (lots of choices), swimming and plenty of water activities like kayaking, stand up paddle and canyoning.
The Julian Alps are all around so it's very scenic and next to Lake Bohinj you can take a cable car to Mount Vogel which is a ski resort but offers some great views as well as further hiking options. You can hike up and down from there.
What else? You can visit Lake Bled which is lovely, waterfall called Savica by Lake Bohinj, and there are are the Pistojna caves which is an hour and a half drive. There is Soca Valley nearby which you can drive to from here or take the car train from Bohinjska Bistrica. Went to see the Tolmin Gorge at Soca Valley which I would recommend going to see. There is the Vrsic Pass which is one of the highest points you can reach by car and has 50 hairpins in total on either side.
There is a lot of history round here from WW1 due to all the fighting around the mountains to gain strategic points. As already stated, everything is so closeby within the country as well as access to other countries.
Tip: Get a Julian Alps card if you are in the Lake Bohinj area. It will save you lots of money for activities, entrance fees, travel and parking especially as the latter can really add up. Available from any tourist offices. You can thank me later... 😀
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u/aigildalyn Aug 04 '19
Oh i would love to go to Slovenia! That’s on my bucket list. I should have gone when i was in Croatia. I’m just curious, is there a lot of Americans who travel there or is it mostly other Europeans?
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u/superfli Aug 05 '19
Mainly lots of Europeans from nearby ie Germans, Austrian, Dutch & Italians. I did hear a few American accents but not loads. Like Croatia lots of Slovenians speak English and to a very good standard too.
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u/break_a_bitch_neck Aug 01 '19
Hold on... Are we considering Montenegro and Kosovo part of the North Balkans, but not Croatia and BiH? (off topic, I know, just struck me as curious)
I'll echo all the praise for Slovenia, which is basically beautiful in any direction you look. From the lovely towns on the tiny coastline to the peaks of Triglav NP to the vineyards and river valleys of the east. And the fact that Ljubljana (itself a great, cosy city) is located so centrally just makes Slovenia an ideal country to travel, even if you haven't got long.
I went for just under a week earlier this year, and while I could've just as easily spent twice as long, the fact that most of the country is reachable within an hour and a half from the capital means that I still got to see and do much more than I would've expected.
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u/swollencornholio Airplane! Aug 02 '19
From the post:
If you notice an area of a region is not listed it is likely it will be a future topic or it may have been a prior topic as a country or city. Please focus on the specific regions in the submission unless it was not a prior or future topic.
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia has been covered as country topics:
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u/hoopbag33 Aug 01 '19
Hey I'm an American in Montenegro now AMA.
More about me: I have been here a month so far. I am a graphic designer. I only speak English (and some French, but that doesn't help here at all). I'm staying in Bar but I've spent time in Bodra Voda and Kotor as well.
To start on Mte:
- There are much more people in general in Kotor/Podgorica/Budva than there are in the other towns, but that's not to say there isn't anything to do. Just that there are many less people. Budva for holiday/parties is pretty universally the choice from what I have gathered.
- The beaches are pretty rocky and I wouldn't say "require" water shoes, but its highly recommended. They are sold all over the place for cheap so as long as you have a common-ish size, you'll be fine.
- Dobra Voda is SLAMMED with people. If you do not like crowds on the beach, I would avoid it.
- Kotor is the most beautiful place I've seen in Mte. It is a bit more expensive than the rest, but 100% worth it. If people want specific recommendations I can give some around there as well.
- For sport, you're looking at basketball, volleyball, tennis, and football (soccer) here as far as games you would ever find. Those are all pretty easy to find within reason (or at least a court/pitch to play on)
I'm headed to Serbia in Sept (Belgrade) if anyone has suggestions on things to see/do there relating to sport or modern art. :)
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u/hithere5 Aug 01 '19
I’m going to Kotor next month! Would love some recs!
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u/ThisisPhunny United States Aug 03 '19
If you have time, travel to the other villages around the Bay of Kotor. Just taking the time to explore for yourself is worth it.
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Aug 05 '19
I'd say just walk around through the old town, it's a very charming city to just walk around in, if it's in your interest you can walk up to the fortress, the price is around €5 I believe. I also recommend you to drive around the entire bay, it's only about an hour drive but it has something special to it.
If you've got the time make sure to drive up the mountain to the east, further doen you'll have great views over Kotor itself, but if you go further up you'll be overlooking the entire bay which is a very special view. If it's in your interest, you can also drive further up towards the mausoleum, it's €2 per person to get into the national park, but the views are beautiful. If it's in your interest you can also enter the mausoleum, not sure what the price for that is again, I forgot, but walking up to the mausoleum and peeking inside is free.
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u/test25492 Aug 07 '19
Catch a football game in Belgrade if you can. I’m not a fan of the sport personally, but it was a lot of fun.
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u/hoopbag33 Aug 07 '19
I most definitely want to get to a Red Star match.
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u/kurtoncina Aug 07 '19
Yeah you definitely should! Matches in Serbia are real crazy. Just make sure you pick a good one.
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u/hoopbag33 Aug 07 '19
I'm only there for 3 weeks so the one I'll pick will be there one that is happening at the time lol
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u/MountainGoat84 Aug 01 '19
Soteska Vintgar in Slovenia. It's an easy drive from Lake Bled. Its a path with boardwalks and bridges inside a gorge with several waterfalls.
Skocjan caves. Huge cave network that goes down really deep. In a very pretty part of the country.
Not far from Trieste Italy or Prosecco for a full day trip.
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u/InversedOne1 Aug 04 '19
As Slovenian I prefer Skocjan caves to Postojna cave. Cheaper, less crowds, but also harder to get to.
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Aug 01 '19
The Belgrade Aviation Museum is a super cool place - had a layover there and was able to leave the airport for a few hours and check it out!
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u/srslyeffedmind Aug 06 '19
This museum is an absolute gem! I had my taxi leave me there and then walked the last bit to the airport. Absolutely a great stop!
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u/mmmbeavertails Aug 01 '19
I spent 3 days in Kotor and the city really changes from cruise ship time to the quiet mornings. Make sure to make a trip to Perast, where you'll see the lake along the way and all the mussel farms along the way. I believe you can bike or take a bus- I was a fool and Google maps said it was walkable but there are a lot of curves in the road, so it's pretty danegrous. I can't recall if I ate at Conte or Konoba Skolji but I ate the best mussels of my life there!
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u/srslyeffedmind Aug 06 '19
Found Serbia to be beautiful when I was there last fall. Uzice is a great city of you want to go somewhere smaller and less tourist heavy. Belgrade is amazing. There is something to see around every corner
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Aug 02 '19
[deleted]
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u/InversedOne1 Aug 04 '19
Pristina is really cool, I've spent 4 or 5 days there few months ago
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u/vullnet123 Aug 04 '19
I’d love to spend more time there but whenever I go back to my hometown I plan on spending more time exploring Albania because I’ve really only ever been to Tiran in Albania.
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Aug 02 '19
In Kosovo I highly recommend Prizren, I spent a lot of time there and it's lovely. There is an awesome spot to have drinks by the river and people watch as the evening wears on, lots of young people there partying and going out to the clubs. I did a day trip to Gjakova and it was a bit scary, I got a lot of glares, but I looked like a hippy at the time.
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u/Pinkjasmine17 Aug 04 '19
Question: do you need an international driving permit to drive in any of the above countries? Thank you!
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u/InversedOne1 Aug 04 '19
If your driving licence has latin letter and arabic numbers, then no. You don't need it.
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u/Yellowchese28 Nov 17 '19
If you are British, you need to have an IDP for the above countries apart from Slovenia (unless there's a no-deal Brexit, in which case you would also need an IDP for).
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Aug 05 '19
Not gonna lie, when we went to Kosovo to visit Prizren we went in without knowing what to expect and we've been pleasantly surprised by the city. Make sure to make the walk up to the fortress to get great views overlooking the city, and just spend the late afternoon/night strolling around the city center to experience the lively city
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u/leojg Aug 06 '19
I'm going to Montenegro, plus Croatia, Albania and Greece from mid October to early December.
For now I'm planning to stay in Kotor for a week and use it as a base to explore the country.
I have a couple of questions, is possible to swim in early November?
How is the bike renting situation? Is worth renting a bike for a day or two?
Also is Kotor the best place to stay or are there some nicer spots?
I will be working so I can really move too much, so a central location from where to make afternoon/half a day trips is what I'm looking for.
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u/ikhix_ France Aug 01 '19
I've spent a week in Slovenia, just at the entrance of Triglav National Park, close to Bohinj Lake. It's a really amazing place if you want to just relax, it's small villages, the mountains everywhere and not that crowdy. If you really wanna see it you have Bled like 20 minutes away and Ljubljana a big hour away. Basically if you wanna hike or relax this is just the perfect place and you can be in Italy and Austria in a big hour if you want to.