I'm planning a trip from Vienna to Athens and would like to stay a few days in Ljubjana and then see a bit of Dalmatia. I'd like to end my trip in Athens and am wondering if there is safe, easy way to get from there Dalmatia, going overland through Montenegro and Albania by bus.
Reply to this I've not travelled through Albania yet, I'd venture to say it's as safe as anywhere in the region. If you go from Dubrovnik to Belegrade, there is a bus service that arrives in Thessaloniki, but it's only once a week.
www.eurolines.com - not a very good site, requires going to the national sites for timetables.
There are many more trains though.
reiseauskunft.bahn.de
Hope that gives you some ideas...
Reply to this Ali-- thanks a lot for your help!
The quickest overland option that I found involved spending a solid 40 hours on a bus or a train and traveling through Kosovo. The other option, taking a ferry to Bari and then another one to Patras, would be a little more comfortable (and not invovle traveling through a semi-active war zone) but would involve two nights on a ferry and a day in industrial Bari. Judging from the prices posted on the Internet, getting a sleeping compartment for one of those nights would be rather expensive.
I found that SkyEurope offers very inexpensive flights from Dubrovnik to Budapest and Bratislava. They also have slightly more expensive flights Budapest and Bratislava to Athens. The only problem was that the flights leave Brat & Bud for Athens at 23:30 the day after flights arrive from Dubrovnik.
Reply to this How's about a slightly slower trip to Greece? - Belgrade and Sofia are both worth a visit.
That's generally the problem with the cheap flight deals... you get to sleep on the airport floor, wait for days between connections...
Budapest is also worth some time too.
Reply to this Ali-- Thanks for your help.
I completed my trip (though I still need to blog most a lot it.) Because I only had two weeks and was traveling with a buddy, I wanted to keep the transportation times down to as low as possible.
For better or worse, we wound up taking the flight and missing out on the chance to see Belegrade as well as the rest of the Balkans on the train ride. The flight landed in Bratislava and we were able to see the interesting and under-touristed city of Brno as well as the neighboring and beautiful Moravasky Kras cave system. More details in the upcoming blog entries.
While the Brno area was a lot of fun, it would have been an incredibly interesting experience to meet people from all sides of the recent conflict and see Belgrade and Sarajevo. The most interesting thing about being in Croatia was hearing about the conflict. If I had another week, I'd have certainly have made the trek.
Reply to this But, maybe it is not a bad idea going thorough Montenegro and Albania to Greecce because you have many interesting places to see.I have never been in Albania, but I know about Montenegro by www.sveti-stefan.net.Before two days I spoke with mister ambasador from Bosnia which I met in Sveti Stefan (Montenegro) and he told me that Albania is a very unusual place and how thay rebilt the contry.Maybe that can be realy an adwenture for you;especialy if you go through Montenegro.
Reply to this But, maybe it is not a bad idea going thorough Montenegro and Albania to Greecce because you have many interesting places to see.I have never been in Albania, but I know about Montenegro by www.sveti-stefan.net.Before two days I spoke with mister ambasador from Bosnia which I met in Sveti Stefan (Montenegro) and he told me that Albania is a very unusual place and how thay rebilt the contry.Maybe that can be realy an adwenture for you;especialy if you go through Montenegro(don't miss to visit Sveti Stefan!!!).
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