2025 South-East European Tour
In the past couple of years we've really enjoyed a couple of trips to Croatia and Slovenia, which have whetted our appetite, and we've heard great things about other East-European countries, such as Albania and Romania. So we targetted this for our first prolonged tour in retirement.
The original plan was to head down to Albania or northern Greece in early April, meandering north through Albania, North-Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Romania, Hungary... or at least some of them.
However, as Josie's titer-test showed insufficient Rabies immunity, we decided to split our tour into 2 parts:
- part 1: April/May 2025 - Romania and Bulgaria - staying within the EU, ie avoiding Serbia, Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
- Part 2 will include these non-EU countries. For non-EU countries (Albania, Bosnia Herzegovena, Kosova, Montenegro, North Mecedonia and Serbia) roaming is very expensive, so if we're there for more than a few days, it's worth buying a local SIM card. eg Albania SIM card ~ €20/month for 25GB. We could buy an eSIM for the next country before crossing the border (eg from Breeze)
This page shows potential routes, first for part 1, then for part 2, and has links to pages showing the highlights of each county.
As Josie's joining us, the rules for importing dogs are summarised here.
Spring
2025
SE Europe Part 1: Romania & Bulgaria
Romania & Bulgaria were both black spots on my map of the world: I knew they were both ex-communist countries with relatively low GDP, highly dependent on agriculture, both members of the EU and both with Black sea coastlines. But I was not aware of the amazing history of both countries, the lovely countryside and the friendliness of the people. We spent roughly 2 weeks in each country, and couldn't possibly see everything, so I hope we'll return, but with so many other countries on our bucket list, I don't know when!
We bought all motorway tolls online, except for the motorway-specific tolls around Graz in Austria.
- Autstria: 2xday pass @€12.90
- Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria: monthly passes (9th April-9th May)
Romania
We meandered from the west, starting in Timisoara in Transylvania, visiting lots of amazing old towns set in lovely countryside, then, after a brief visit to the capital, Bucharest, to the north of the Black Sea coast, the Danube Delta, before heading down the black sea coast and on to Romania.
Bulgaria
Having selected lots of places I wanted to visit, it was difficult to join them all up without spending most of the time on the road. By excluding some of the most off-route places, we arrived at an itenary doing a loop in the north-east, then along the Black Sea coast, before heading east to Plovdiv, Sofia and finally, Belogradchik (pictured).
Part 1: Romania & Bulgaria
Part 1 - Outbound & Homweward
Outbound: 950km, 10 hours.
Homeward: 1110km, 22 hours.
We set off early afternoon on Wednesday 9th April, driving through Austria into Hungary, stopping for a 5 hour rest at a motorway service station just over halfway between Vienna and Budapest, before completing the outbound journey to Timisoara, arriving at 11:00 on Thursday morning. After wandering around Timisoara, we headed off to a park4night campsite in Buzias and had a very nice evening meal in Restaurant Belvedere.
On the way home we stopped off for 2 nights at out favorite Vinyard in Slowenia (see Slovenia2024 page)
Part 2: Route
Two maps, one showing a potential route from Baldham via Albania to the Black Sea (Nessebar in Bulgaria) and one showing the return journey via Romania, Hungary and Austria.
Part 1 - Outbound
(2363km) and times (33 hours).
- Zagreb, Croatia
- Bihac, Bosnia&Herzegovena
- Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovena
- Mostar, BH
- Dubrovnik, Croatia
- Tirana, Albania
- Skopje, North Macedonia
Obviously we'd zig-zag to take in sights, so our actual distance would probably double, and we'll take several times longer!
LINK to route
Potential Countries to Visit
For each country there's a link to a page showing some of the most famous sights.
Travel Tips
Tolls, all purchasable online from the ADAC.
Austria Motorway Vignette (Day: €9.30, Week: €12.40)
Slovenia Motorway Vignette (2-week: €16, Month: €32).
Tauern/Katschberg Tunnel (€29 noth directions) and
KarawankenTunnel (€8.80 single).
Bosnia & Herzegovena
Tolls (BAM) for Mobile Home
- Zenica - Bradina (A1 bei Sarajevo) 21
- Čapljina - Ljubuški (A1 bei Mostar) 6,50
- Banja Luka - Gradisk (E661) 12
- Banja Luka - Doboj (Autoput 9. Januar) 22,50
1€ =~ 2 BAM
Montenegro
Sozina-Tunnel 5
Autobahn A1 - payable cash or card
ADAC Maut Calculator
The ADAC website includes a planning tool, which calculates fuel & toll charges. eg from
- Baldham to Sarajewo, €70 Tolls, €160 Fuel.
- Baldham to Tulcea, Romania, via Austria and Hungary: €31 Tolls, €284 Fuel (21 hours, 1670km)
- Baldham to Nessabar via Zagreb, Bihac, Sarajewo, Mostar, Dubrovnik, Skopje, Sofia: €83 Tolls, €429 Fuel, 2522km, 29hrs
ADAC Planner incl. Costs
to adapt, use this link:
Part 2 - Homeward
This map shows a potential route back to Baldham from the Black Sea, starting at Nessebar in Bulgaria, meandering up the Black sea coast to Tulcea in Romania, then back via Hungary:
- Nessebar, Bulgaria
- Tulcea, Romania
- Bucharest, Romania
- Timisoara, Romania
- Budapest, Hungary
- Tihany, on the Belaton lake (Plattensee), Hungary
- Vienna, Austria
- Baldham
Distance: 2266km
Time 28 hours
LINK to Google Map
Links to pages for each country:
Homeward Route, with costs
To adapt, use this link:
Alternative Route
Avoiding Hungary, returning through Serbia, with outbound and return following the same route between Baldham and Zagreb. Zagreb visited on the way back, replaced by Bihac on the outbound journey, spending more time in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Part 1 - Outbound
(2401km) and times (35 hours).
- Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Bihac, Bosnia Herzegovena
- Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovena
- Mostar, BH
- Dubrovnik, Croatia
- Tirana, Albania
- Skopje, North Macedonia
- Sofia, Bulgaria
- Nessebar, Bulgaria (Black Sea)
Obviously we'd zig-zag to take in sights, so our actual distance would probably double, and we'll take several times longer!
LINK to route
Part 2 - Homeward
This map shows a potential route back to Baldham from the Black Sea, starting at Nessebar in Bulgaria, meandering up the Black sea coast to Tulcea in Romania, then back via Serbia:
- Nessebar, Bulgaria
- Tulcea, Romania
- Bucharest, Romania
- Timisoara, Romania
- Nis, Serbia
- Tara National Part, Serbia
- Belgrade, Serbia
- Zagreb, Croatia
- Baldham
Distance: 3053km
Time 38 hours
LINK to Google Map
Links to pages for each country:
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