My parents and I are already planning our next trip to Europe. We want to see the Hill towns for a week and see some Balkan countries. We would like to see: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro. Is a week enough to see some of these countries. We just want to drive through Montenegro and go to Mostar and spend most of our time in Slovenia and Croatia. Thanks!!
Posted by
Seattle, WA, USA ☔️
6788 posts
I'm planning my next trip to North America. I have a week. I'd like to see the USA, Canada, Mexico, and a drive-though of Guatemala. See any problems with this plan? Granted, Slovenia ain't Canada and Croatia ain't the USA - sure, they're a lot smaller - but these are still countries, not towns than can be toured in an afternoon (although they do contain some towns that can be seen in an afternoon). It sounds to me like your goal - if it's really "to see some Balkan countries" in less than a week - is wildly unrealistic. My advice would be to get Rick's book on the region and invest a little of your time. You'll notice that his book has a "best of" suggested itinerary that only includes the top highlights, and that (IIRC) begins as a three week trip. Take a look at that and see which items interest you most, and then do the appropriate amount of subtracting.
Posted by
Magyarország / Rep of Texas
17908 posts
You've picked a pretty diverse set of countries. If the intent is to drive along and look out the window then I guess you could traverse the distance in a week; and you know, if the options were that or nothing, I would do just that. Otherwise I would try and set up a little tighter plan. I prefer is to find a fairly large home base to work out of. In your case with a week (you know a week can really be 9 days) you can probably do two bases. For instance you stay n Dubrovnik for 4 days and do a couple of day trips to Bosnia and Montenegro. Those are popular itineraries and there is a structure in place to support them. So you leave the US on Saturday morning. You arrive in Dubrovnik on Sunday morning. Monday you see Dubrovnik, Tuesday you see Mostar and Wednesday you head off to Boka and the Bay of Kotor or some such thing. Thursday morning you fly to Ljubljana and maybe transfer to Lake Bled. Friday at Lake Bled and the surroundings, Late Saturday back to Ljubljana so you can catch a flight home on Sunday. Okay, I didn't check any flights or connections or hotels or ..... but maybe it shows you how much time things can take. What I described is a pretty diverse trip. You could also spend 7 days in and around just one of the two major cities. Finally, Slovenia isn't a Balkan country. One of my favorite countries to visit is Bulgaria by the way. You could easily do a 7 day tour and see incredible things every day.