Our family of 4 has been backpacking through the Balkans for over a month, and we plan to for the next month also. We flew into Tirana, Albania and then took a bus to Kotor, Montenegro. We caught a bus from Kotor to Herceg Novi within Montenegro. We used a bus to get from Herceg Novi, Montenegro to Dubrovnik, Croatia. And our most entertaining bus ride so far was the one from Dubrovnik, Croatia to Mostar, Bosnia.
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| Our family arriving in Kotor, Montenegro after 6 hours on a bus from Tirana, Albania |
Tickets and the buses themselves
There are lots of bus companies and it's common to see many different 'stalls' at the bus stations selling you tickets for their company's ride from city X to city Y. We have bought our longer distance bus tickets ahead of time online (eg. getbybus.com or similar).
Sometimes we have had to print out our ticket, which can be hard because we don't have a printer. But our AirBnb host was able to help us with this.
Most of our buses have been large comfortable buses with heating and air conditioning, similar to a GreyHound style bus or coach in North America.
Our bus from Tirana, Albania to Kotor, Montenegro was more like a retro 15 seater van or small school bus.
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| Our smaller retro bus from Tirana to Kotor for 6 hours |
We did not buy our bus tickets within Montenegro ahead of time, but it is the off season. We had the tourist office in Kotor help us look up the bus schedule to make sure we had the right one, and they were leaving about every hour to go to Herceg Novi. This bus was a GreyHound style bus even and there were only about 5 people on it during the hour or so we were on.
Each bus has usually had a driver and another staff member. Not always, but usually the additional staff person assists with bags, interacts with the passengers for any questions, and helps assist and communicate at border crossings. Although none of our staff (drivers or assistants) has ever spoken much English.
I think every single one of our drivers and assistants has smoked. So there are pretty frequent breaks (maybe a 5 min break every hour and a 15 min break every so often?) and I think a part of that is an opportunity for the staff to have a smoke. So far we haven't had anyone smoke ON the bus, but smoking right outside the windows and doors and in line ups, and right beside the luggage cart are all common.
None of our buses have been crowded, except for the bus from Podgorica to Kotor, Montenegro, which was full and we barely found a seat. This was, however, the first day after the Christmas holidays.
Fees
Catching the bus hasn't necessarily been cheap. Although the region in general is quite affordable for lodging and food, transport is relatively more expensive. Costs for one adult shown below. Younger children sometimes get a discount, sometimes not. Whenever you cross a border, the cost will go up. All of these costs for a family of 4 each time do add up...
Tirana to Kotor (6 hours): 27 euro
Kotor to Herceg Novi (60-90 min): 3-5 euro
Herceg Novi to Dubrovnik (75 min): 15 euro
Dubrovnik to Mostar (2 hrs, 30 min): 21.50 euro
Mostar to Sarajevo (2 hrs, 45 min): 13 euro
These rates are the ticket prices. But in the region, you also have to pay about 1 euro per bag for luggage that goes underneath in the luggage compartment. They tag your bag with a luggage sticker and you get a receipt to show for it at the end of the journey to retrieve your bag.
In Montenegro, there are also station fees of 1-2 euro per passenger. We aren't quite sure if you can avoid paying this by standing outside the station and avoid going inside, but we were always charged it one way or another.
On top of all that, there are no toilets on any of the buses and toilets in any station cost about .50 euro to use.
Food
We always take snacks with us and water in our water bottles with us. There have been little kiosks available at some stations that have small snacks, or sometimes a coffee shop. But the coffee shops are often full of smoke and don't serve anything but coffee and alcohol that we can see. The kiosks sell things like cigarettes and bags of chips. But some of the stops have provided access to more of a little restuarant or a bakery or a little super market... you just never know when that may or may not come up and what may or may not be open.
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| Finding an open bakery that accepted euro cash in Neum, Bosnia! |
People are home may be curious but it's pretty rare for us to see any masks around here. We have only chosen to wear them when the bus has been crowded, but that's been rare.
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| Leaving Kotor to go catch the bus to Herceg Novi, Montenegro |
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| Our bus from Herceg Novi to Dubrovnik |
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| Sunset from the Croatian coast, North of Dubrovnik |
Border Crossings, including going in and out of the Schengen Zone
We have been entertained by the border crossings in the region. A few different things have happened at each one:
1) Leaving Albania / Entering Montenegro:
-When leaving Albania, the driver collected all the passports / ID cards from the passengers and took them to the border guard at the window. The border guard went through the stack, handed them back, and the driver handed the passports back to everyone on the bus, so we didn't get out. You are unlikely to get a passport stamp when entering or leaving Albania.
The bus drove forward about 50 meters and then we offically had to enter Montenegro:
All the passengers got out of the bus about 20 feet before the gate and stood in line at the border guard window. We came up, handed over our passports, didn't say much, we got an entry stamp for Montenegro, and our passports were handed back. We walked forward 20 feet. The bus pulled through the open gate and everyone got back on, and off we went.
3) Leaving Montenegro / Entering Croatia:
All the passengers got out of the bus about 20 feet before the gate and stood in line at the border guard window. We came up, handed over our passports, didn't say much, our passports were handed back. We did not get an exit stamp. We walked forward 20 feet. The bus pulled through the open gate and everyone got back on, and off we went.
The bus pulled drive forward for a few minutes and then we had to officially enter Croatia.
The Croatia border crossings felt very fancy and official. All the passengers got out of the bus about 20 feet before the gate and stood in line at the border guard window. We came up, handed over our passports. We were asked how long we were staying. Our passports were stamped with the day we entered the Schengen Zone and our passports were handed back. We walked forward 20 feet. The bus pulled through the open gate and everyone got back on, and off we went.
3) Driving from Dubrovnik to Mostar
So this is geographically very confusing and it was SO entertaining to do this drive. We left at 4pm and enjoyed a beautiful view of the sunset as we drove North up the coast of Croatia. The bus drives up the coast on the main road, all the way to Opuzen, Croatia before it goes inland.
Bosnia has a very small portion of coastline around the port city of Neum. So this means that the bus drives from Croatia, into Bosnia, then back into Croatia, before leaving Croatia and entering Bosnia again as it goes up the Neretva river valley toward Mostar.
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| The 'heart' is Mostar, and the blue dot was where we were after we re-entered Croatia. |
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| The Bosnian boarder entry gate (similar buidling on the other side of the bus) |
Anyway, we weren't asked any questions by any guards and all of these off-the-bus-on-the-bus served as little breaks to stretch out and have a break and be entertained as we went along. I think we succeeded in getting any stamps we might need in case we ever need to prove that we were only in the Schengen for 2 days... although I doubt passport stamps actually matter as our passports were swiped electronically every time and somewhere Big Brother knows how many days we have and haven't spent inside the Schengen Zone... right?
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