Recently, we drove our little stealth camper from Athens to Amsterdam, via North Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia (no stops), Slovenia, Austria (no stops) and Germany. It was an amazing trip.
In all the countries we visited, wild camping is not allowed by law. Before we left, I thought that would mean we would have to stay in hotels at least some nights. But it turned out to be quite easy to find a place to camp every night. Only in Slovenia, I would not recommend wild camping. The rules are quite strict, and we got so paranoid finding a “safe” place that we ended up at a terribly hot car park in the middle of a city.
We concentrated on Kosovo and Bosnia (12 days), unknown countries for us except for its capitals Sarajevo & Prishtina which we visited in 2012 and 2015. We had a fantastic time. They’re such beautiful countries with amazing nature and water everywhere. Almost every day, we stopped at various places to have a swim in the middle of nowhere. Or in the middle of a village or city even!
The people of Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina have (had) their unfair share of troubles in the last decades (and centuries!). It was fascinating to actually drive around and see the places I have read many books about from up close. One of the many sad stories I read is about the beautiful Yugoslav era Partizan cemetery in Mostar where locals are still afraid of visiting their relatives as it’s (again) under threat by neo-Nazis.
The highlight of the trip was the very reason we planned this Balkan tour: a wedding of good friends Mankica & Kevin – a Belgian and a Slovenian who met at one of the Spotters weekends that we organized at during our time at Spotted by Locals. They were wedded by our friend Jošt in a mock wedding ceremony – so lovely.
Our trip:
- Athens – Ioanina (4.5 hours)
- Ioanina – Prizren (6.5 hours – via Albania)
- Prizren (Docufest)
- Prizren – Gjakova – Peja (1 hour + 30 min)
- Gjakova is a beautiful town worth spending half a day. Tips on this great blog.
- There’s beautiful nature around Peja. We did a great hike
- Peja – Trebinje (5 hours)
- we camped close to here at Bileca lake
- Trebinje is the prettiest town in Republika Srpska. You can swim everywhere around the town, and there’s a mini old-town which is quite pretty.
- Trebinje – Stolac – Capljina (75 min + 45 min)
- Stolac castle: peaceful
- Fantastic place to swim
- We camped at this great riverside place
- A day in Mostar & Janica
- Camping at this nice riverside place
- Mostar – Konjic – Igman
- Great swim spot
- Good camp spot
- Swim: https://maps.app.goo.gl/WB2YkAnReGT8YkWh7?g_st=com.google.maps.preview.copy
- Camp in the middle of nowhere close to Igman
- Igman – Sarajvo – Travnik
- Travnik has the best sheep’s cheese and a lively shopping street
- We camped here
- Travnik – Jajce
- Jajce has a waterfall dramatically set in the centre of town, but other than that a bit boring and touristy
- Jajce – Una Park
- Una park is a huge park with lots of nice hikes\
- Difficult to wild camp though!
- Una Park – Ljubljana (4 hours)
