Below is our 22-day itinerary for an overland, self-guided trip of six countries in the Western Balkans, across an ancient land of fascinating cultures and history. We started at the northwestern edge of Greece and made our way through Albania, Montenegro, Bosnia, Croatia and Slovenia, by bus, minibus, train, rental car and even ferry.
This is an itinerary I would wholehearted recommend to fellow independent travelers. Spectacular scenery and delectable local cuisine are a given, but we also sampled the broad cultural diversity from a tropical Greek island to medieval Ottoman towns in Albania to Istrian hill towns to a cattle herdsmen's village in the Slovenian Alps.
Day 01: Arrive at Corfu
Day 02: Corfu
Day 03: Corfu - Saranda (Ferry) - Butrint (Taxi) - Gjirokaster (Taxi)
Day 04: Gjirokaster - Berat (Minibus then Taxi)
Day 05: Berat - Tirana (Bus)
Day 06: Tirana - Kotor (Bus)
Day 07: Kotor
Day 08: Kotor - Dubrovnik (Bus)
Day 09: Dubrovnik - Ston (Rental Car) - Dubrovnik
Day 10: Dubrovnik - Mostar (Bus)
Day 11: Mostar - Split (Bus)
Day 12: Split - Trogir (Bus) - Split (Ferry)
Day 13: Split - Sibenik (Bus) - Zadar (Bus) - Plitvice Lakes (Rental Car)
Day 14: Plitvice Lakes National Park
Day 15: Plitvice Lakes - Hum (Rental Car) - Motovun
Day 16: Motovun - Groznjan (Rental Car) - Oprtalj - Zavrsje - Motovun
Day 17: Motovun - Porec (Rental Car) - Rovinj
Day 18: Rovinj - Ljubljana (Bus)
Day 19: Ljubljana - Skocjan Caves (Bus) - Ljubljana (Train)
Day 20: Ljubljana - Lake Bled (Bus) - Ljubljana (Bus)
Day 21: Ljubljana - Velika Planina (Bus)
Day 22: Velika Planina - Kamnik (Taxi) - Ljubljana (Bus) - Airport (Bus)
P.S. For anyone still worried about the safety of the Balkans for independent travelers -- 20 years after the Yugoslav wars -- our experience was that the Western Balkans is VERY SAFE as of 2018. But feel free to ask me questions below.
No comments:
Post a Comment