About ViaBalkan

We are a small team of drivers who have spent the better part of the last decade crisscrossing the Balkans by car. Not as tourists passing through on a two-week vacation, but as people who live in the region, use these roads year-round, and have strong opinions about which petrol station near the Albanian border has the cleanest bathroom.

Between us, we have crossed every land border in the western and central Balkans at least twice. We have been pulled over by police in five countries (always politely, usually pointlessly). We have driven the Transfagarasan in October rain, the Llogara Pass with a loaded Fiat Punto, and the Serbian highway system at speeds we will not put in writing. We know which rental agencies in Dubrovnik will let you take the car to Montenegro and which ones will smile, nod, and then charge you EUR 500 when you return it.

Why We Made This Site

The Balkans are one of the best road trip destinations in Europe, and the practical information available online is terrible.

Most travel blogs treat the region as a string of Instagram spots — they will tell you Kotor is pretty (it is) and that Mostar’s bridge is worth seeing (it is) but they will not mention that the parking garage under Kotor’s old town closes at 10 p.m., or that the “highway” between Podgorica and the coast is a two-lane road carved into a mountain with no shoulder.

We wanted a single resource that answered the questions we get asked by friends before they drive down here. Questions like: Can I rent a car in Zagreb and drop it off in Tirana? What is a green card and do I need one? Is it true that Albanian roads are dangerous? (No, but Google Maps will lie about how long it takes.) How much cash should I carry for tolls in Serbia? What do I do if the border guard asks me to open the trunk?

ViaBalkan exists to answer those questions with the specificity and honesty they deserve.

How to Use This Site

We have structured everything around how people actually plan road trips:

Routes are full itineraries — multi-country trips with day-by-day stops, distances, border crossing notes, and estimated budgets. Pick one that matches your timeframe and interests, and you have a trip ready to book.

Country pages go deep on the practical details for each of the nine countries we cover: Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovenia. Driving rules, road conditions, fuel prices, what the police are like, where to park — the things that matter when you are actually behind the wheel.

Utility guides — the driving guide, border crossings, and car rental pages — cover the cross-cutting topics that apply everywhere. Start there if you are in the early planning stage.

What ViaBalkan Is Not

We are not a generic travel blog. You will not find hotel reviews, restaurant rankings, or “top 10 things to do” lists here. Other sites do that well. We focus on the driving — the roads, the rules, the crossings, the cars.

We are not sponsored by any rental agency, tourism board, or car manufacturer. When we recommend a company or a route, it is because we have used it ourselves and think it is good. When something is bad, we say so.

We are not trying to convince you that the Balkans are some kind of undiscovered paradise. Forty million tourists visit Croatia alone each year — the word is out. What we are trying to do is help you see the region properly, at your own pace, with a steering wheel in your hands and a plan that actually works.

If you have a question we have not answered, or a road we should know about, get in touch. We are always looking for an excuse to drive somewhere new.