Budapest to Belgrade the Long Way: An Introduction to the Balkans
(Hungary) Budapest (Slovenia) – Maribor – Ljubljana (Croatia) – Zagreb – Zadar – Spilt – Dubrovnik (Bosnia & Hercegovina) – Trebinje – Mostar – Sarajevo – Visegrad (Serbia) – Zlatibor – Belgrade
This Budapest to Belgrade itinerary spends around three weeks travelling from Hungary, through Slovenia and Croatia, into Bosnia and Hercegovina before ending in Serbia. It’s the perfect introductory itinerary to the Balkans.
Leaving Budapest, Maribor is a great place to break the journey to the Slovenian capital, Ljubljana itself is not only a lovely city in which to while away a day or two but also the jumping off point for visiting the Julian Alps’ two star attractions – Lake Bled and Lake Bohinj. It’s a mystery why Zagreb doesn’t receive more visitors than it does and personally, we thought both Zadar and Split were nicer than Dubrovnik, but you definitely shouldn’t miss the latter if you haven’t been before. Trebinje in Bosnia & Hercegovina was a real find and Mostar is one of those cities in which you could linger for ages. East meets West in Sarajevo and the recent history is fascinating, while Visegrad, on the Bosnian/Serbian border, is home to one of the most attractive, arched bridges in the Balkans. Zlatibor is all about skiing in the winter and hiking in the summer and the Serbian capital, Belgrade, certainly needs no introduction.
Number of countries: 5
Number of UNESCO sites: 5
Best time to travel: Mid–April to early October but don’t travel in July and August if you want to avoid the bulk of the tourists on the Dalmatian Coast and steer clear of the hottest part of the year
Recommended duration: 3 weeks
Best places to slow the itinerary down: Mostar and Split
Mode of transport: Train and bus
Travelling along Croatia’s Adriatic coast – although perfectly feasible by bus, having your own transport for this part of the journey would be worthwhile
Belgrade – one of the coolest cities in the Balkans
The rugged scenery between Trebinje and Mostar
The Mokra Gora/Sargan 8 gauge narrow railway, which is situated between Visegrad and Zlatibor. Getting seats can be tricky as the train is often fully booked but the journey is definitely a highlight if you can get them (try the tourist board in Zlatibor if all else fails – they managed to get us two seats at the last minute)
If you’re following our Budapest to Belgrade itinerary, you may also find some of our blog posts useful…
Alternative Ljubljana, Slovenia
What to do in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
Trebinje: Bosnia and Herzegovina’s best-kept secret
The Old Bridge at Mostar in Bosnia & Herzegovina
Twelve Forts and Castles from Around the World
Breaking the journey in Maribor, Slovenia
Balkan Viator is a useful resource for finding bus and train schedules in the region, although it’s not 100% reliable so double-check timings locally.
Depending on our itinerary, often we just find our accommodation as we go, particularly in smaller places. In big cities, we tend to make a reservation in advance using Booking.com.
There are a lot of guidebooks to this part of Europe available but we’ve always used Lonely Planet and it’s hard to change a habit of a lifetime! They have a wide range of Europe guides both in print and eBook format.
Although the Eastern Europe guide is sufficient for a short trip like this one, we think Lonely Planet are missing a trick by not having guides to Serbia or Bosnia and Herzegovina. If you like more detail, Bradt travel guides are excellent and have a dedicated guide to Bosnia and Herzegovina and also a guide to Serbia.
And if you need a few more reasons to follow this Budapest to Belgrade itinerary…
Budapest, Hungary
Maribor, Slovenia
Zagreb, Croatia
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina
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Ah thank you so much for this itinerary! I’ve actually just been trying to figure out the best way to get between these two cities so this post is SO helpful.
Thank you. Glad you found it helpful. It might not be the quickest route between Budapest and Belgrade but it’s certainly an interesting one which will allow you to see a lot of the region. If you did want a more direct route then Budapest – Kesckemet – Szeged – Subotica – Novi Sad – Belgrade is a great option (that itinerary is coming soon!).
Happy travels and have a great trip! 🙂
Your tips and advice are really helpful.
Thank you again! 🙂
I’m planning a trip to the Balkans in 2019 so this (and all your other suggested itineraries) is really helpful! I’m trying to piece a few together to make a comprehensive route. I see you’re off to SE Asia next… Let me know if you’re coming to Hanoi – I’d love to buy you a beer. Thank you for sharing!
Thanks Emily. I’m very happy to hear you’re finding the itineraries useful. We’ve got a few more on the way too – if there are any particular countries you’re interested in, do let us know!
If we get to Hanoi, I’ll let you know. We’re making a trip to Central Vietnam in January but haven’t decided if we’ll go either north or south from there. Not too keen on the cold weather up north in the winter 😉 …
Hey, we are planning a 3 week trip with our 4 year old this October end to Budapest serbia and Romania. Any tips and itinerary advice?
Unfortunately I can’t give you any advice about travelling with kids although from what we’ve seen, children are usually doted on in that part of the world!
Are you flying into and out of Budapest? If so you could do a great circular route… We’ve got a couple more posts that might help if you haven’t already seen them…
This one will give you some ideas of where to stop between Belgrade and Budapest: https://www.kathmanduandbeyond.com/where-break-journey-between-belgrade-budapest/
And this one goes from Budapest to Bucharest: https://www.kathmanduandbeyond.com/suggested-itinerary-romania-hungary-bucharest-budapest-overland/
Then you just need to link Bucharest to Belgrade, which if you’ve time, you could drop down in Bulgaria. Something like Budapest – Kecskemet– Szeged – Timisoara – Sibiu – Sighisoara – Brasov – Bucharest – Veliko Tarnovo – Sofia – Nis – Belgrade – Novi Sad – Subotica – Budapest
That’s probably too many places in too short a period of time when travelling with a small child, but hopefully it’ll give you an idea of a route that works…. Does that help?
My wife and I leave San Francisco for Budapest on May 5. We have return tickets to SFO from Sofia, Bulgaria 7 weeks later. We’ll rent a car for 1 week in Split, but mostly bus our way through Croatia, Montenegro, Bosnia/Herzegovinia, Sarajevo, Belgrade and then possibly head for the Black Sea and then back to Sofia for our return. Any suggestions on where to stop along the way. We are hikers/ nature lovers, but we also love exciting cities and beautiful architecture.
That should be an amazing trip! Belgrade is one of our favourite cities, and Novi Sad north of Belgrade is worth a visit. In BiH don’t miss Mostar, and we also really liked Trebinje. Although we mostly travel by bus, we’ve hired a car in Croatia a few times and that’s definitely the best way to see some of the small places in between Split and Dubrovnik (like Sibenik and Trogir). Kotor is a highlight for many, but Montenegro is a beautiful country so it’s worth spending some time there. We took the Bar to Belgrade railway and made several overnight stops along the way which worked out really well. We mostly stick to urban areas so can’t give too much advice on hiking etc. If you have a browse through our posts and itineraries we have a lot of different route options covered, so I hope you can get some inspiration 🙂 Happy travels!