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anonymous
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2467 comments

Posted 13 years ago

Hi!
Though I've been to eastern europe several times, including a 18 day trip in a van, it's my first interrail. I've been planning this by car since November but some of the lads who were going with me aren't available right now so I'll do this way. My initial idea was to drive from Oporto to Ljubljana in 2 days and then visit the following countries: Slovenia, Croatia, BiH, Serbia (including Kosovo), Macedonia, Greece and Albania. The problem is that going by train, this seems quite impossible due to train schedules and to the lack of trains in some areas.
So... I just bought one-way tickets to Istanbul (22nd May) and return tickets from Milano (13th June). As I've only been to Ljubljana and Zagreb before, I'd like to get some help organizing this. I'm not quite sure of which cities to visit and which to put aside. I want to go back to Ljubljana but not to Zagreb. Any help/suggestions would be appreciated as I'm kinda short on time and I haven't made my mind yet. By the way, I'll be traveling with my girlfriend and maybe a friend of mine, being the 3 of us party-people.

Thank you

Paulo

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anonymous
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replied 13 years ago

I'll get into a little bit more of detail.
I'll be for 2 or 3 days in Istanbul and then get the night train to Thessaloniki where I'll probably spend the day and sleep there for one night.
The next day, I'll go to Skopje, in order to get to Ohrid. Here is my first doubt. Is it worthy to stay in Skopje for a night? What about Kosovo? I'd love to see it all but as I'm kinda short on time, probably I'll have to make some choices.
Then I would like to go to Albania, stay there for a night or so and then head to Montenegro. Second doubt. I have seen all kinds of reports on Budva. Is it nice? I have to go to Podgorica to get the bus, right? What about Kotor? For what I've learned, nightlife in Montenegro ends pretty early. Is that correct?
From here, I'll head to Dubrovnik (only bus, correct?) and then Mostar. Here is the third, and biggest doubt: Stay along the coast of Croatia until Ljubljana or going to Sarajevo and Belgrade instead. A friend of mine told me that Hvar and Bol are awesome but about Split, quoting him, it is the ugliest city I've ever been to. Zadar doesn't seem quite attractive too. Also, I've heard a lot of different things about Sarajevo and Belgrade. Regarding the last one, is it's nightlife really one of the best in eastern europe? How many days are necessary to visit it decently?
From one of this routes, I would then head to Ljubljana and stay there for a couple of days (one to visit Bled) before getting to Milan. Notice that my return flight is at 7am or so, from Bergamo, and the train arrives after that hour so I'll be forced to stay there for a day. Is there an alternative? Bus?

I hope this sheds some light on what I pretend.
Hoping to hear some opinions,

Paulo

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SiDUDe
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752 comments

replied 13 years ago

Skopje is good for a night, interesting square/old castle, good food (see if you can find the socialist restaurant!) and its easy to do a day trip into Kosovo from there, although watch out with passport stamps etc, as you may find it difficult to enter Serbia if you cross the Macedonian/Kosovon border.

Budva is pretty industrial, but I was only there for an afternoon so there might be nice bits! Kotor is awesome, its very much cafe culture on the coast, although the bars stay open till late.

There are plenty of busses between Budva and Dubrovnik and then on to Mostar. There are no trains. From Mostar the train to Sarejevo is spectacular, and Sarejevo is a really cool city, small enough to do on foot, amazing food etc... Belgrade is very good for electronic music, but its pretty ugly and there isnt a lot else there. I thought Zadar was really nice, although spend most of the time camping further north in Petrcane, where there are frequent music festival (google Garden Festival, Outlook Festival...)

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anonymous
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2467 comments

replied 13 years ago

Thank you!
Skopje to Kosovo by bus, right? How long does it take to get there? What do you mean by difficult to go into Serbia after crossing Macedonian/Kosovon border? They won't simply let me in?
One last thing... Going from Mostar to Sarajevo, I'd have to get back to Mostar in order to reach Split or is there any direct train/bus from Sarajevo?

Paulo Carvalho

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anonymous
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2467 comments

replied 13 years ago

By the way, buying a IR pass isn't really a good idea for this tripe, is it? From posts I've seen in other topics, some of them posted by you, buses are better (cheaper and faster?), correct?
Once again, thank you for your help!

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SiDUDe
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752 comments

replied 13 years ago

I didnt do it, but there its only a couple of hours to Pristina by bus I think. From what I heard when I was in Skopje (now 2 years ago, so probably wrong) some people were getting refused entry into Serbia if they had a 'Kosovon Stamp' in their passport. Since the border with Macedonia is controlled by the Kosovons, they were stamping people passports. There is no official border with Serbia, so you wont get any stamps.
The best thing to do is to check with your foreign office and local people when you get to Skopje, as the situations changes a lot.

There are direct busses Sarajevo - Split, they might go via Mostar

Busses are usually faster, but also usually more expensive than trains (if they exist) The IR pass is very good value for money in Western Europe, or if you are doing long distance routes in Eastern Europe (eg to Istanbul). For your trip its very difficult. You start of on the train and then have a big gap accross Macedonia - Kosovo - Albania - Montenegro - Bosnia that can only be done by bus (or Taxis in Albania). Then you are back on trains. I think a continuous pass would be bad value for money but if you can get away with a 10 in 22 or something that would be OK.

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anonymous
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2467 comments

replied 13 years ago

Ok, after thinking a lot about this, I defined a route. The problem is that I still feel this are too many places for 23 days only. Is this feasible?

22nd May - Flight to [b]Istanbul[/b], arriving at 11 pm, local time.

24th May - Night train to [b]Thessaloniki[/b], arriving on the 25th at 9:30 am.

26th May - Train to [b]Skopje[/b] arriving at 8:15 pm.

27th May - [b]Skopje[/b] or day trip to [b]Kosovo[/b].

28th May - Bus to [b]Ohrid[/b].

30th May - Bus to [b]Tirana[/b].

31st May - Bus to [b]Budva[/b] or [b]Kotor[/b].

2nd June - Bus to [b]Dubrovnik[/b].

3rd June - Bus to [b]Mostar[/b] arriving at 8:15 pm.

4th June - Train to [b]Sarajevo[/b] arriving at 9 pm.

6th June - Bus/train to [b]Split[/b] and then ferry to [b]Bol[/b] or [b]Hvar[/b] (which one is best?).

9th June - Way back to [b]Split[/b] to catch a bus/train to [b]Ljubljana[/b] (is there any?).

11th June - Night train to [b]Milan[/b] arriving on the 12nd at 11 am.

13th June - Return flight.

Is this possible? Fisrt I had it like this but with one more day in Istanbul and one more in Dubrovnik, at the expenses of one day in Ohrid and one in Hvar/Bol.

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SiDUDe
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752 comments

replied 13 years ago

For me it is a little to busy. Its doable but you might get very tired and not see much! Remember when crossing into Albania you used to have to get a bus to the border, a taxi accross the border and then another bus the other side, which is time consuming. This may have changed however

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anonymous
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2467 comments

replied 13 years ago

I'm afraid that's the problem. But if I skip Albania, where can I go from Ohrid? Back to Skopje and then? I'm kinda stuck here:S Maybe I should forget this whole plan and do something like Istanbul - Sofia - Belgrade and then on to Bosnia or Croatia. Another thing I'm concerned is the weather. I'm saving a few days to go to the beaches (Ohrid, Budva, Hvar, Bol) but I'm not quite sure if in the last week of May and the first 2 weeks of June it will be good.

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SiDUDe
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752 comments

replied 13 years ago

You can get a train Skopje - Bar, thats what we did. It goes via Nis in Serbia

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anonymous
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replied 13 years ago

One last thing before I make up my mind about the IR 10 in 22 pass. Do you have any idea of the fares for the Istanbul - Thessaloniki and Ljubljana - Milan trains? Because apart from those 2 long trips, I will mostly use the bus and a few shorter trips in Bosnia and Croatia. Thank you once again.

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Flo
Traveller
10723 comments

replied 13 years ago

Hi!

Istanbul - Thessaloniki: [u]https://rail.cc/en/istanbul-athens-train/f2369[/u]
Ljubljana - Venice/Italy: [u]https://rail.cc/en/ljubljana-venice-train/f3663[/u] and [u]https://rail.cc/en/ljubljana-venice-night-train/f1388[/u]


Flo 8)

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anonymous
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2467 comments

replied 13 years ago

Thank you. Do you have any idea of the instanbul - tessaloniki full fare (without IR pass)?

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Flo
Traveller
10723 comments

replied 13 years ago

Maybe something ~30€ plus supplement...just guessing... :)


Flo 8)

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puck29
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replied 13 years ago

[quote]Do you have any idea of the instanbul - tessaloniki full fare (without IR pass)?[/quote]

Hello Paulo!

The current fares are listed on the site of the Turkish railroad company TCDD :arr: [ux]https://rail.shop/tcdd[/ux].
(Nota bene: On the original Turkish site Thessaloniki is called »Selanik« whereas the translated site uses the name »Thessaloniki«.)

Your Train is the »[b]Filia Express[/b]« and according to the site, the plain fare for [b]Istanbul – Thessaloniki[/b] is [b]25,58 EUR[/b] (2nd class) [b]plus[/b] a supplement for the sleeper, which is [b]30,- EUR[/b] in [b]DOUBLE[/b] and [b]50,- EUR[/b] in [b]SINGLE[/b].

By the way – not sure whether this fits your plans, but have you thought about a 10-days-in-a-month »[b]Balkan Flexipass[/b]« (which is valid in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, Turkey, Serbia, Montenegro and Greece). According to the same website you get it for [b]86,- EUR[/b] (2nd class), provided you are less than 26 years old.

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anonymous
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replied 13 years ago

Thanks a lot for that info.
It doesn't totally fit my plans it would help a lot. The only problem is that I can't find that price anywhere. I've already heard about Balkan Flexipass but the prices I find are above 200e :S
Anyway, from what I'm seeing, buying a IR pass for this trip isn't the best idea. But that price would be great, though. And by the way, I'm 25 (26 on the 1st September) :D

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puck29
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replied 13 years ago

[quote]Thanks a lot for that info.
The only problem is that I can't find that price anywhere. I've already heard about Balkan Flexipass but the prices I find are above 200e :S[/quote]

First, I have to say that I have never bought a Balkan Flexipass myself so far – thus I cannot really give you first hand information. But I found the current fares for it on the very [ux]https://rail.shop/tcdd[/ux] same website of the Turkish railroad company (scroll down to the bottom). And yes, if you buy it through an online ticket agent, it seems that all of them charge far higher prices. So I guess you would have to buy it in Istanbul.

Please note that on another forum I once read that tourists are at some places sometimes told that there is only the (more expensive) 1st class pass. So make sure that you insist on getting a 2nd class pass.

By the way, the same prices are listed on the website of the Serbian National Railways as well.

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anonymous
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2467 comments

replied 13 years ago

Hi there again!I'm at the end of planning my trip but I'm finding really confusing info about getting to Ljubljana from Split. Is there any direct Bus? I read somewhere there's a Summer direct Bus that takes 10 hours! Is that true? Is it better to go by train via Zagreb? What about ferry connections from Hvar or Bol to Split? Are they frequent?
Hoping to hear from you!, thank you!

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Peter
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9330 comments

replied 13 years ago

Hi.

I have only the information concerning train travel from Split via Zagreb to Ljubljana.
You can do it by night train (Split-Zagreb) or as well day trains.
Journey time between 8:30h and 12:30h.
[u]https://rail.cc/en/split-ljubljana-train/f4471[/u]

Peter :)