[confusion]

Hey all,

I have a friend that has a three week vacation ahead of him and he mentioned that he would have the opportunity to visit the Balkans. He'd like to rent a car and do an extensive road trip. If anyone has an experience/advice on how to make this happen (e.g., route, insurance, places to stay, etc.), please shoot me a PM or feel free to reply in the thread if you think it would be generally useful information.

Thanks!

[excalibur_of_CH]

The main question is, where do you want to stay in Balkan.
There is a big diference specialy in roads between Slovenia or for ex. Macedonia.
The highways in Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia were pretty good. But if you want to visit vilages for which you have to use main roads, that could be a problem because the state of this roads is not overall good.(Problems with the winter-service, holes and stuff like this)

If you have more detailed questions, be free

[confusion]

Originally Posted by excalibur_of_CH

The main question is, where do you want to stay in Balkan.
There is a big diference specialy in roads between Slovenia or for ex. Macedonia.
The highways in Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia were pretty good. But if you want to visit vilages for which you have to use main roads, that could be a problem because the state of this roads is not overall good.(Problems with the winter-service, holes and stuff like this)

If you have more detailed questions, be free

Thank you for responding. I will follow up in a PM.

[Luftwaffe1O1]

Originally Posted by confusion

Hey all,

I have a friend that has a three week vacation ahead of him and he mentioned that he would have the opportunity to visit the Balkans. He'd like to rent a car and do an extensive road trip. If anyone has an experience/advice on how to make this happen (e.g., route, insurance, places to stay, etc.), please shoot me a PM or feel free to reply in the thread if you think it would be generally useful information.

Thanks!

It really depends on what he wants to do? Where to go etc. As Excalibur said already, on the highways it should be completely fine, and even in the bigger cities its no problem. But he will have a rental car.... so it doesn't really matter too much. As far as insurance policy is concerned, that depends on the policy of the rental place so on. So it is really open to a lot of variables. Where is he renting, how long, which company. I know Europcar has some pretty decent deals on cars etc. It also depends on the type of car and where you are renting, for instance if you rent a Mercedes C class in Germany from sixt, they might have an exclusionary policy for certain countries. (The Balkans are usually on that list). But renting in Hungary, or in Serbia or Slovenia, you might pay a bit less. Just gotta make sure you can drive it across the border.

I drove from Belgrade to Florence a few years back (rented a chevy sonic in Belgrade). It was around 30euros a day with insurance from what I recall. From Belgrade drove through Croatia, Slovenia, and then into Italy. Roads were absolutely fine on the highways. But if you make it into a some backwoods village.... hehe cant vouch for those anywhere.

[confusion]

Cool, thank you. I got my friend to sign up on the forum. I think he's awaiting mod approval. Once he's in, hopefully he can chime in here so I'm not a middleman. Appreciate the feedback!

[Pikus]

Hey, I'm the friend looking for advice. My main goal is to explore as many countries as possible. I'm having a hard time finding a rental car company that allows travel across all Balkan countries. I'll probably stick to the major highways, as I'm covering as much terrain as possible. I'm renting from and planning on returning the car to the Venice airport.

[mir]

Originally Posted by Pikus

Hey, I'm the friend looking for advice. My main goal is to explore as many countries as possible. I'm having a hard time finding a rental car company that allows travel across all Balkan countries. I'll probably stick to the major highways, as I'm covering as much terrain as possible. I'm renting from and planning on returning the car to the Venice airport.

This is alternative for renting car

http://www.renaultusa.com/?gclid=CNq...FRYIvAodBEcCAg
It is for non European Union citizens
Min is 21 days,
Brend new car, full comprehensive insurance, road assistance
closest pick up/ drop of airport is Milan ( not far from Venice)
I have leased 4 years ago Peugeot 207 (Milan) and last year Renault Clio RS (in Munich)
I am not sure is Albania covered with insurance but all other Balkan countries are covered... You have all explained on that website