Five Countries, One Road:

(content by Anil)

There is a particular satisfaction to planning a Balkans road trip that most European itineraries never deliver. Unlike the predictable sweep through France or Italy — countries whose charms are real but well-documented — driving through the Western Balkans involves a degree of genuine discovery. Roads that appear on no map. Border crossings staffed by a single official and a dog. A viewpoint above a valley so far off the tourist trail that the only sound is wind and, occasionally, a distant goatherd’s bell.

The Balkans reward the driver. Public transport exists — buses connect the main cities, and trains thread through some of the mountain valleys — but the great sights here are often between places: the mountain passes, the canyon roads, the stretches of coastline where the asphalt hugs the cliff edge and the sea opens out below in shades of colour that seem implausible from a northern European frame of reference.

This route covers approximately 2,000 kilometres across five countries over ten to fourteen days. It can be shortened or extended without losing its essential character. It begins in Albania, because Albania is where the Balkans begin to make sense — where the peninsula’s combination of raw natural beauty, complex history, and warm, unselfconscious hospitality is most concentrated and least diluted by mass tourism.

The Route: An Overview

Tirana (Albania) → Albanian Riviera → Gjirokastër → Koman Lake Ferry → Kosovo (Prizren) → North Macedonia (Ohrid) → Montenegro (Kotor) → Bosnia (Mostar) → Croatia (Dubrovnik)

The route is designed to be driven south-to-north, starting in Albania and ending in Croatia — though it works equally well in reverse. Each leg is manageable in a single day, though several deserve more time than that.

Leg One: Albania

Days 1–2: Tirana

Begin with at least one full day in Tirana, a capital city in conspicuous mid-transformation. The psychedelic apartment blocks commissioned by the former mayor (now Prime Minister) Edi Rama, the Bunk’Art installations converting Cold War government bunkers into contemporary art spaces, the increasingly sophisticated dining scene on Blloku — all of it coexists with Ottoman-era mosques, Italian fascist architecture from the 1930s, and one of the liveliest street cultures in the region.

The National History Museum on Skanderbeg Square is the essential first stop for anyone who wants the region’s complicated history to make sense: Albanian resistance to the Ottoman advance, the peculiar brutalism of Hoxha’s communist decades, the chaotic transition of the 1990s. It contextualises everything that follows.

Days 3–4: The Albanian Riviera

Head south on the SH4, stopping in Berat — a UNESCO World Heritage city of Ottoman-era white houses stacked up a hillside above a Byzantine citadel — before descending through Gjirokastrër to the coast. The Llogara Pass, where the road crests two thousand metres before dropping to the Ionian Sea, is one of the great drives in Europe. The view from the top is not easily forgotten.

The Albanian Riviera between Vunö and Sarandë is a succession of fishing villages and near-empty beaches that were, until perhaps a decade ago, virtually unknown outside Albania. Dhermë, Himara, and Palësë have grown, but remain far quieter than comparable spots in Croatia or Greece. The water is extraordinary. Eat grilled fish. Drink the local wine, which is quietly excellent.

The Llogara Pass is where the mountains meet the Ionian Sea — two thousand metres of sheer drop and one of the great drives in all of Europe.

Leg Two: Kosovo

Day 5: Prizren

Cross into Kosovo via the Morina border crossing — typically straightforward for EU and UK passport holders — and head for Prizren, Kosovo’s most beautiful city. It is a place that catches first-time visitors off guard: a dense Ottoman old town of cobbled lanes, hans (caravanserais), mosques and Orthodox churches crowded together above a river, all watched over by a Crusader-era fortress with genuinely panoramic views.

Kosovo is the Balkans’ newest country (declared independence in 2008, recognised by over 100 states) and one of its most hospitable. It is also, for now, one of the cheapest destinations in Europe. A meal of grilled meat and salad with beer will cost less than you think possible. The coffee culture, shaped by Italian influence, is excellent.

Day 6: Prizren to Ohrid

The drive from Prizren into North Macedonia takes you through the Sharr Mountains, a range of considerable beauty that forms the natural border between the two countries. The road climbs through pine forests and alpine meadows before descending to the Macedonian plateau. Allow a morning; the border crossing at Jazince is reliable but slower than Morina.

Leg Three: North Macedonia

Day 6 (continued): Ohrid

Ohrid is perhaps the most immediately beautiful city on this entire route: a medieval lakeside town of wooden-balconied houses, Byzantine churches, and a castle perched above the UNESCO-listed lake. Lake Ohrid is one of the oldest and deepest lakes in Europe — over a million years old — and is home to species found nowhere else on earth. Swimming in it, at the foot of the old city walls, is a particular pleasure.

The Church of Saint John at Kaneo, perched on a cliff above the lake, is the most photographed building in North Macedonia for good reason. Visit at dawn or late afternoon when the light is right and the tour groups have dispersed.

Leg Four: Montenegro

Days 7–8: The Bay of Kotor & Durmitor

Montenegro packs an implausible amount of geographical variety into a country smaller than Connecticut. The Bay of Kotor — a drowned river canyon that functions as the Adriatic’s most dramatic natural harbour — is lined with Venetian fortresses and medieval walled towns. Kotor itself is enclosed within walls that climb the mountain behind it to a height of 1,200 metres. The walk up takes about an hour and delivers views that justify every step.

From the coast, a day’s drive inland reaches Durmitor National Park, a landscape of glacial lakes, limestone peaks and one of Europe’s deepest river canyons: the Tara Canyon, which drops 1,300 metres from its rim to the river below. The drive along the canyon edge is not for the faint-hearted — the road is narrow, the drop is unguarded in places — but it is unforgettable.

Leg Five: Bosnia & Herzegovina

Day 9: Mostar

Cross from Montenegro into Bosnia via the border at Scučeri and head for Mostar, a city whose famous arched bridge — the Stari Most, destroyed in 1993 and rebuilt in 2004 — has become the central symbol of post-war reconstruction in the Balkans. It is more powerful in person than any photograph suggests. The old city around it, a layered accumulation of Ottoman craftsmanship, is one of the finest in the region.

Mostar’s war damage is still visible in places — bullet-pocked façades, abandoned buildings — and the city remains divided along ethnic lines in ways that the tourist quarter, busy with souvenir shops and cevapčici restaurants, does not immediately suggest. It rewards the kind of slow, attentive walking that most day-trippers from Dubrovnik don’t have time for.

Leg Six: Croatia

Days 10–11: Dubrovnik & the Dalmatian Coast

The final leg brings you to Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast and, eventually, to Dubrovnik — the walled city that has, in recent years, become one of the most visited places in all of Europe. The crowds are real; so is the beauty. Walk the city walls at sunrise, before the cruise ship passengers arrive. Swim from the rocks below the walls. Eat in the alleys away from the main drag.

The drive north along the Dalmatian Coast toward Split — if you have time to extend the trip — is one of the finest coastal drives in the Mediterranean: islands stepping out into the Adriatic, white stone villages above the sea, the Biokovo mountains rising behind.

The Practical Guide

What to Eat Along the Route

Food is one of the Balkans’ great under-discussed pleasures. In Albania, try tavë kosi (baked lamb with yoghurt) and byrek (flaky pastry filled with cheese or spinach). Kosovo does excellent grilled meats. In North Macedonia, the tavche gravche (baked beans in clay pot) is a national treasure. Montenegro’s smoked ham and cheese from the Šavnik highlands are extraordinary. Mostar: cevapčici, obviously. Croatian Dalmatia: fresh seafood, always grilled over charcoal.

Why Drive the Balkans

There is a version of this itinerary that will not be possible to write in ten years. Tourism infrastructure across the Western Balkans is developing at pace — new hotels, improved roads, growing flight connections, rising prices. The window for experiencing these countries at something approaching their current, relatively undiscovered state is narrowing, if not yet closed.

More than that: the Balkans earn a road trip on their own considerable merits. The landscapes are extraordinary and varied in ways that no single country quite matches. The food is underrated everywhere you go. The history — layered, contested, often tragic, always fascinating — is unlike anywhere else in Europe. And the hospitality, from Tirana to Dubrovnik, is the kind that makes you extend your stay.

Pick up a car at Tirana Airport. Head south first. Turn off the main road when something looks interesting. The Balkans will do the rest.

GETTING THERE

Wizz Air, British Airways, and several other carriers fly direct to Tirana from major European cities. Car rental from Tirana Airport, Tirana city, and Durrës Port is available through Rent Point Albania — a locally based company with a range of vehicles suited to both coastal cruising and mountain driving. One-way rentals ending in Dubrovnik or other regional cities can be arranged on request.

This article was produced in partnership with Rent Point Albania. All editorial opinions and route recommendations are the author’s own.