nooriskandar

BALKANS

Hey all! I'm a visual artist and writer from Singapore. I am a postgrad researcher on Islamic art history. Finally heading to Balkans to immerse myself in the rich and recent history and culture. Was in Andalusia winter last year. May I know if this plan is sensible, I also listed some concerns I have with regards to border crossings and ease of travel. I hope you can help me out with this planning, thanks in advance!
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Wednesday 14-12-2016 08:20

14 Budapest, Hungary
15 Budapest, Hungary
16 Budapest to Ljubljana
17 Ljubljana -Zagreb
18 Zagreb,Croatia
19 Zagreb-Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
20 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
21 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
22 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
23 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
*24 Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
*25 Dubrovnik, Croatia
26 Dubrovnik, Croatia
27 Tirana, Albania
28 Tirana, Albania
29 Tirana, Albania
30 Ohrid, Macedonia
*31 Skopje, Macedonia
*1 Skopje, Macedonia
2 Prizren, kosovo
3 Prizren, kosovo
4 Pristina, kosovo
5 Pristina. kosovo
6 Sofia, Bulgaria
7 Sofia, Bulgaria
8 Bucharest, Romania
9 Bucharest, Romania
10 Bucharest, Romania
11 Belgrade, Serbia
12 Belgrade, Serbia
13 Belgrade toBudapest
14 Budapest
15 Budapest ….. 6pm at airport

Sunday 15-01-2017 20:25
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1)Which balkan cities hold much islamic heritage?
2)Is it too rushed for Slovenia? I just wanna see Lake Bled that is all, should I just make a day trip from Zaghreb?
3) Is montenegro okay to forgo?
4) Should I visit belgrade in the mid leg instead of saving it for last before hungary? this way I can fly from romania to budapest straight instead of long train/buses?
5) Will i have trouble travelling to belgrade after entering Kosovo?

Michael

This site might help you figure out where the cheap flights are in the area where you are traveling: http://www.flylc.com/directall-en.asp

The problem with major airlines is that they come from major countries, which means that they often connect through a non-direct home country hub. For example, we flew Turkish Airlines from Zurich to Sofia and had to have a layover in Istanbul. But Air Berlin goes directly from Zurich to Sofia.

kja

It is hard for me to work through this itinerary, as it makes no mention of the time you will need to spend in transit. For that reason, it is often helpful to lay out your plan in terms of nights, rather than days. And if this plan is for December into January, you need to plan for VERY short days – unlike Singapore, nightfall will be early and sunrise will be late with few hours of daylight in between. You should be able to find sunset and sunrise times wunderground.com or timeanddate.com

I haven’t been to many of the places you hope to visit, but it seems to me that you are planning exceedingly little time for Ljubljana or Zagreb. Dubrovnik may be too rushed – as a rule, planning on a minimum of 1.5 days there is a good starting point – but Dubrovnik is likely to be very, very quiet at that time of year and very few things are likely to be open.

If you are already committed to flying into and out of Budapest, see if you can find a way to put all of your time there at the end of your trip. If you haven’t already booked your flights, look at “open jaw” options – into one city, out of another.

If you just want to see Lake Bled, and don’t want to do anything there, yes, you could do a day trip from Zagreb. That said, I’d note that Ljubljana is absolutely charming, IMO.

Of course it’s OK to forego Montenegro – or anywhere else! It’s your trip, your call – and there’s no way you can do / see everything.

For ideas on your transportation options, you might consult rome2rio.com – just keep in mind that it isn’t perfect and so is best used as a preliminary step. I prefer to take trains rather than fly; you can get some great info on trains at http://www.seat61.com

Again – do pay attention to transportation times, and not just traveling between cities, but also getting to/from the train station, airport, or whatever; checking in and out of your hotels; packing and unpacking; getting oriented and lost and finding currency and all the other adjustments associated with travelling between countries.

Even if you pare this plan down, you should be able to see some wonderful things. Hope that helps!

danon

Bosnia, Kosovo and Tirana are places where you will find
Islamic heritage.