Riding the Croatian coast, border with Bosnia
 

Dear HUBBers,

Planning to ride through Croatia sometime in Spring next year.

I'm starting to have an idea of where to go and in how many days.
My post relates to Bosnia border crossing when riding eg. the coast southbound to Dubrovnik and back.

Are there any apecial requirements needed or recent experience that anyone could share ?

I mean in particular:
- personal documents - we're a group of riders from the EU/ Schengen area
- motorcycle insurance/ green card, what if Bosnia is not covered by it upfront
- motorcycle docs, what if the bike does not belong to the one riding it
- general experience, duration, straightforwardness, costs

Any other Croatian tip is of course welcome!

Many thanks and wishing us all good rides in 2022,
Luis

There are 2 controls within throwing distance with small town between. When I was there in August of 2019 all they asked just to show passport. I was completely unprepared with passport packed on bike deep so let me through without showing it. I would expect alot fewer people and things stricter due to pandemic.

That road is fine but it was very crowded you had to pass 20+ cars/RVs just to get 50 sec of breathing space. BTW road along the coast is quite old there are some spots you can still find abandoned sections dating first Dubrovnik republic, 5th century. IIRC there was a town with huge coliseum somewhere near Slovenia/Croatia border, bigger than one in Rome.. and small towns with typical venician architecture.

I ride this road a lot.

And it depends, sometimes they ask for papers, sometimes not.

But you actually need green card insurance for this countries.
An also you need a written permission from the owner of the bike if you cross borders in Europe, not only in Bosnia.

I rode through these countries a few months ago.

They were the strictest two borders in Europe.

I am a EU citizen so I have the EU covid pass. From hungry to Croatia they checked my passport and coivd pass. Only check I had within the EU.

Serbia to Bosnia border was strict. They checked passport, covid pass, vehicle registration and insurance. It was no problem since I had all of these.

Nothing like the Kosovo border were they gave me free insurance, but that is a story for another time.

When I did this in 2019 there was a queue and the cop just waved me to the front. The guy in the box looked at my passport and that was it, straight through. But note, there is nowhere to buy insurance at the Neum crossing so technically you should buy it beforehand, or cross at another place where there is an insurance booth. As it's only about 9 kms before the next Croatian border I didn't bother but I wouldn't necessarily recommend that.

Hi Luis:

Cyclopathic's commend about heavy traffic on the coast road in Croatia is worth noting. It is a busy road with a lot of tourist traffic - lots of campers and trailers (caravans). So don't expect to make good time on that road. Having said that, it is a very beautiful road to ride on, so it's not really a problem that traffic moves slowly.

Concerning insurance, the best advice I can give you is to check with your present insurance company in your home country and see if they can provide you with extended coverage for some of the former Yugoslavian countries. Otherwise, you will need to buy insurance at each border crossing. Country-specific insurance is normally sold in 7 day, 10 day, or 14 day blocks (it varies from country to country) and it can be a little frustrating to have to buy a two-week policy when you only plan to spend a day in a country... but that's just the way it is.

Here's a link to a post I made back in 2015 to provide details about how insurance works in all the former Yugoslavian countries: Balkans Insurance - Here's the story, with details & sample documents. That post is 6 years old, so the prices may have changed, but the general concepts are still the same.

FYI, the further south you go along the Adriatic coast, the less expensive things get. It's a linear decrease from Slovenia (pretty much the same prices as Austria or Germany) all the way down to Albania (ridiculously cheap, and a very pleasant country to ride in).

Michael

Hi all,


Bosnia and Herzegovina is now part of the Green Card Free Circulation Area (GCFCA). This means a green card is not needed anymore for vehicles from participating countries, which are all EU countries and United Kingdom, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Serbia and Switzerland. Of course the vehicle must have valid third party insurance but I think it should be in your regular vehicle insurance. Best is to seek information about this with your car insurance company.

Best regards,

Rögnvaldur

IIRC half of the license plates were from austria, and half as much german.. nothing against but they insist on driving speed limit which I think drops down below 30kmh in a few little towns.. and they have pedestrian x-ings too [emoji17].

I was told local law enforcement that congestion significantly goes down when schools start so early September is much better. Austria is in lockdown now maybe now is good time.

As for Dubrovnik walk the wall in old town and there is a motorcycle parking just near entrance in what used to be a moat. Dubrovnik is a tourist town, so getting in/out can take some time, get there early.

In Summer I rode down to Bulgaria passing through all Balkan countries except Albania. Although Macedonia is listed on my Green Card a local insurance was compulsory, sold at the border, whereas Kosovo isn't covered by the Green Card - but nobody bothered.


The vaccination certificate was checked at every border crossing, so it makes life much easier if you're vaxxed. Otherwise you will need an up-to-date negative test.


Crossing from Croatia back to Slovinia all documents were scrutinized closely since Croatia does not belong to the Shengen countries yet.

I'd agree with the comments on traffic. In most of Croatia the roads are empty and a joy to ride, but the coast road is torture from before Split all the way down to Dubrovnik. OK I was there in peak season but every fcker in a campervan and tourist car crowds on to the coast road and the queues are literally miles long. You can't filter past them either because the road is too narrow and there's constant oncoming traffic. Sat in the traffic at 38 degrees heat with the engine cooling fans coming on was not a pleasant experience. I arrived at Dubrovnik in the rain, which at least cooled things off a bit, and parked near the top where these were a bunch of other bikes parked. Walking down into the old town the place seemed to be crammed with American and Chinese tourists all jostling through the narrow streets and posing for selfies. Every place was a pavement cafe or souvenir shop. I'm sure in other circumstances it could be a lovely place, but this wasn't it.

And always has been. The first time I went down that road was in 1972, when it was still Yugoslavia. Even then it was a traffic nightmare with endless queues and hold ups. Nice to know nothing has changed :rofl:

Not so terribly crowded in November, I happen to know. Cold, though, and rainy, and sometimes ridiculously windy.

The USA is also full of wonderfully scenic roads and places which become virtual parking lots during popular times of year. I used to live in one, and as its high season expanded over the years it became harder to live a normal life there. Having options, I eventually moved away...but I still miss it. Pity the folks who actually live in such places, therefore have no practical alternatives.

A month ago I took a road trip through some of the iconic spots in the American west. This was off-season, with most places featuring snow and cold, but all were more crowded than I remembered even during mid-summer just a decade or two ago. Apparently, a lot of folks are traveling domestically rather than along the Adriatic coast (or through *your* backyards). I tried to stay focused on the immense privilege of being to travel freely in the first place. Sometimes this worked.

Mark