The guide to balkan border crossings i wish i had

I drove through all the Balkan countries apart from Greece, Serbia and Kosovo. I started out in Croatia and then travelled down the coast through Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania than crossed in,and through north Macedonia and into Bulgaria before crossing into turkey - then from turkey I went through Bulgaria and into Romania. I found border crossings to be very anxiety inducing and I never managed to find much information about them online so here I’m writing everything I experienced and hopefully it can be useful.

Sleeping under the blue mosque in Istanbul after travelling through 10 countries

Do I need an IDP? No - you don’t need one if you’re from a country using the Latin alphabet. Those are mostly for countries using a script different to the ones commonly understood in the Balkans and are more of a confirmation that the license is legitimate. We were never asked for an idp or a drivers license - just the van papers and the passports. Getting an idp is a hassle if you’re already abroad as they are only obtainable in the home country of the license holder.

Crveni Grm crossing 

Travelling by car from Italy into Slovenia then Croatia is easy: they are all Schengen countries and there are no border checks. The old border posts still remain between Slovenia and Croatia, but you can drive right through. From Croatia to Bosnia, however, is the first border post leaving Schengen and entering the Balkan countries: both sides are keen to check the vehicle and the border staff (at least on the night we passed) were quite scary. We got a very rigorous search of the van and they brought dogs out too. It goes without saying that these countries are more conservative than the Schengen zone and there is a zero tolerance policy to drugs or any prohibited substances - and being searched is extremely likely here. Crossing this border is free and the documents asked for were the v5 and our passports. The road after crossing into Bosnia became pretty rough very quickly. We were not asked for any insurance documents.

Granični prijelaz crossing

The border from Bosnia to Montenegro was pretty straightforward. We took the one that goes over a wooden bridge - cars have to take turns waiting for the next one to come. The road on the Bosnian side is very rough and more of a dirt road but it was great fun to drive and felt like a real adventure. We arrived at this one pretty late and there was barely any queue. We were not asked for any insurance documents and did not purchase any at the border. They didn’t search or look inside the van. The Bosnian border was on one side, then you cross the bridge and go through the Montenegrin side. The roads in Montenegro are much better than the roads in Bosnia - and we found a town close to the border where we were able to buy a SIM card with 500mb data for around 10€ - a crazy good deal. 

Shtuf border crossing 

The border between Montenegro and Albania was the same as the one between Bosnia and Montenegro - we got through with absolutely no problems, were not asked to provide proof of or buy insurance and it was extremely fast. We took the crossing nearest to Skroder and drove straight there afterwards. I think they had a small look inside the van but nothing too dramatic. We did arrive late at night and this helped as there was barely any traffic on the crossing. You don’t need any vignettes or fees to drive in Albania.

Kafasan border crossing

From Albania to north Macedonia was a bit more of a hassle - we were required to buy insurance to pass through this country and it cost about 50€ in their currency. They border staff were very friendly and managed to get this sorted for us despite it being late at night. They even gave us some homemade candy and were the nicest border guards out of the lot. Again, we had to provide van documents and passports, and that was all. 

Delchevo crossing

Coming from Macedonia into Bulgaria was pretty straightforward. We had to buy a vignette for their motorways - there’s a booth on the border where you can buy one electronically and it gets sent to your email. Do make sure to buy it for at least the duration of your stay as we ended up overstaying and got fined for the two extra days. They looked inside the van but I don’t think they could really be bothered having a big search. We were not asked to provide or buy insurance and we did not buy any. 

Lesovo crossing

From Bulgaria to turkey was a bit more of a hassle. We took a slightly smaller border crossing than the main one close to Greece in an attempt to avoid too much traffic and this did pay off. We got stopped by Bulgarian traffic police and had to pay a vignettes fine and then went through four Turkish security gates with passport and document checks - they leave no room for error in this one. We had to get insurance and it was about 50€ for 45 days: not bad. They had a small look in the van and then we were through no problem. It helped that the van was always a mess and this made it unappealing for anyone to search - not that we had anything - but it’s always invasive. Coming back over this border one month later we were fined for ‘traffic violations’ in turkey coming to about 40€. They decided that the van was an HGV because it had no back windows - and we had to take it through the truck section and get it x rayed by a comically large machine in comparison to the van. Again, coming into Bulgaria we had to buy a vignette and didn’t have to get insurance. 

Friendship Bridge - Bulgaria to Romania

This crossing was done in the same day we came from turkey back to Bulgaria and we were all very tired. This crossing, like the one between Bosnia and Montenegro, is also a bridge but this one is much bigger and isn’t made of wood. It crosses the river Danube which acts as part of the border between these two countries. We didn’t get searched or have to buy insurance but we did have to get a vignette for Romanian roads. There are a bunch of stalls selling this but the best way is online if you want to save money. 

Romania to Hungary

We used a really tiny crossing for this one - and it was probably the easiest out of all of the,. We deliberately took a detour to take a really small road instead of going through one of the bigger border posts and it paid off - we read a lot of stories of people having a bad time crossing this one back into Schengen so decided to play it as safe as possible . It’s always worth taking the smaller crossings and doing it at a less busy time of day. The Hungarian roads also require an e-vignette and the website is a nightmare - I ended up buying the wrong sort by mistake and got sent a fine in the post to my uk address around three months later!

I hope this guide was useful if you’re planning on doing something similar. It’s always a gamble taking these crossings - it depends on the mood of who is working that day - but we always found that being polite and having all our documentation available helped massively.