Balkan Road Trip

Fantastic that your son gets a two month+ holiday for his senior trip. I envy him.

-Has anyone successfully taken a rental car from Austria into Kosovo?

I would be concerned about more than Kosovo. Montenegro, N. Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia; none in the EU.

-Any issues re-entering Serbia after having visited Kosovo?

There use to be an issue and relationships are as bad now as they have ever beeen. Used to be you could not go from Kosovo to Serbia if you entered Kosovo from any border other than Serbia. Don’t know now. I do know if you enter from Albania there is no border check … well, 3 years ago there was no border check so no record that you were in Kosovo. I found this: https://expatpanda.com/crossing-the-border-between-serbia-and-kosovo/ but don’t know how current it is, not that it could be worse.

-Best sources for buying vignettes for Austria, Hungary, Slovakia?

From the gas stations or the rental company.

-What should we expect for tolls in Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, and North Macedonia?

You really need to do first hand research and not rely on the forum for this. If I had to budget a number for early planning I would use $30 a country. But that’s just a budget for very early planning.

If you’ve done a similar loop (or even part of it) we’d love your
suggestions, warnings, and any “wish I had known” advice!

This is not a joy ride across Western Europe. Your questions indicate that you don’t really know what’s ahead for you. You have tons of research to do. Firsthand stuff because some of this is critical if you get it wrong. TexasTravelMom has driven some of this, but it wasnt her first rodeo driving in Europe. Maybe she will chime in.

Finally, you list a bunch of cities. What is between those cities is maybe as good or better than what is in the cities. Unless you are just going to drive, drive, drive this is a trip of at least two months; which is maybe what you have planned.

Most important: Do some careful research on the Kosovo situation. Before my 2024 trip to that area, I did some reading online and came away with the understanding that you really cannot enter Kosovo, exit Kosovo, then later enter Serbia. I think the source of the problem is that Serbia considers Kosovo part of Serbia. I'm sorry I cannot provide you a link to the rules. I got around the problem by not going to Kosovo.

I think some car-rental companies may prohibit use of their Austrian cars in one or more of the countries you plan to visit. I imagine the consolidators AutoEurope, Kemwel and Gemut can clarify that situation.

ViaMichelin.com provides routing information and includes an estimate of both highway tolls and fuel costs. If you zoom way in on a map, especially scenic roads will be outlined in green.

Edited to add: I agree with Mr. E that you are planning to drive considerable distances between stops and--depending on how much time you have available--possibly bypassing lots of worthwhile places.

If this is a summer trip, you may encounter a lot of very hot days any time you're at or near sea level. I'd check hotel reviews on booking.com with particular attention to comments about the quality of the air conditioning.

Well, actually, from this list I have only driven in Austria, Croatia, and Montenegro. I hope to add a few more places this summer also, but haven’t yet. So I am not much help with the questions you have.

Tolls in Croatia were simple to pay at the toll stations. Albania only has one or maybe 2 toll roads, I think, and you might not end up on one. Montenegro about the same. Serbia has more. I think with the scope of this trip, tolls are not a huge concern.

My biggest concern about this trip is that you have 10 stops in 9 countries. Someone must love the planning process even more than I do - that is a lot of preparation, along with a number of different currencies and cultures. You didn’t mention how long you have but I do hope it’s a couple of months. With only 3 nights per listed city and no stops in between, you have a month of travel.

I have not checked this myself but it might be that you can’t take a rental car from Austria into Albania. However I know my daughter rented in Tirana and took the car into N Macedonia and Kosovo with permission and appropriate insurance. But she also returned it in Tirana.

If you run into issues, you could look at breaking your trip into parts utilizing more than one rental car, plus some busses/trains/ferries/flights - especially if you don’t have a lot of extra time to spend some nights in other towns in between your mentioned stops.

Its a long drive Vienna to Split, so I might be tempted to take the 1 hr 10min direct flight instead. Then ferry Split to Dubrovnik. You could bus to Kotor (and all along the coast) if you can’t take a rental car from Croatia or Montenegro into Albania, etc.

I would also suggest stopping in Pogradec or Korcë on the way to N Macedonia. Albania is fascinating and you will be missing most of it.

This is a really ambitious trip - it could be extremely interesting, but also more difficult than you think to put it together. Vienna seems like your outlier, so think about flights - and brainstorm transportation combinations if you run into car permission problems.

I would love to hear how this goes (and how the planning progresses), so I hope you’ll check in as you plan - and then report on how it went afterward!