Sofia Travel Forum

Hi, we are planning a family holiday for the summer and would like to visit Montenegro, preferably Kotor. What is the best way this can be done? Don't mind hiring a car and driving it, google maps says it takes about 14hours, but if driving where are good places to stop off to break up the journey? I have been told there are some nice areas to stop in Albania and then you can catch a ferry up Bar or Kotor from Durres.
I have tried to research trains and it seem there is a sleeper train to Belgrade from Sofia, and then the following Evening a sleeper train to Bar (Montenegro) which is 45minutes by taxi from Kotor. Are there any better or other of doing the journey?

Ben

About the trains, it may be possible to change in Nis rather than Belgrade, but the timing depends on exactly when you are going - the schedules change in June. The railway line through Montenegro to Bar is very scenic, especially the couple of hours just before Podgorica, so if possible, it's worth trying to take a daytime train, at least in one direction. Allow for the possibility of delays on these trains. You may already know that schedules are on www.bahn.co.uk .

From Bar there should be buses as well as taxis to Kotor unless you arrive late. It may work out a bit quicker to get off the train at Podgorica from where there are frequent buses to Budva and Kotor.

I don't think there is a ferry along the coast from Durres to Bar, at least I have not heard of one, if it does exist I would like to hear more about it. You could catch a ferry from Durres to Italy and from Italy to Bar Montenegro but there would be no logic in doing that.

If you want to drive you would need to check if a Bulgarian car hire company will allow you to take the car into the countries on your route. Of course you could combine the two, use trains and/or buses to get there and hire a car in Montenegro.

Thank you for that. Is there much to do or look at in Nis compared to Belgrade for the day before the sleeper train in the evening? Or with the day service how long does this take? I seem to remember that in the James Bond film "Casino Royal" they travel on a very sleek modern train in Montenegro, I don't suppose that is the real life one! I got the infomation on the ferry from wikitravel http://wikitravel.org/en/Durres

Do you have any idea how long the bus to Albania takes from Sofia?

Many Thanks,
Ben Robson

There is no direct bus from Sofia to Albania.
If you insist on seeing Albania, you can do it by traveling through Skopje (5-6 connections to Skopje and then 2-3 to Tirana). However, the most interesting sights of Albania are arguably to the south (Saranda resort, Berat, Gjirokaster, the ruins of Butrint). So, you can easily spend 2-3 days on the roads of Albania, because of infrequent connections and long travel times.
If you decide to drive a car to Montenegro, be careful with insurance. There are quite some countries to cross. The drive from Cacak in Serbia towards Montenegro is breathtaking for your companions and incredibly tiresome for the driver. There are countless curves and tunnels and maybe also the accident rate is higher than the average in the country. Any other road involves substantial detours. Driving through Albania is doable, but not really exciting, from what I have heard. Also, avoid the country for night driving.
Depending on how many are you and if there are small kids with you, the travel options can vary. For me, a good, but cumbersome way will be to do the following:
a bus to Nis in the afternoon (around 4, if I remember correctly, starting from the Traffic Market bus station in front of the Sofia Central Train Station) that takes about 3 hours to get there. An evening stroll and a coffee in Nis and then taking a night bus to Kotor or any other destination in Montenegro (Bar, Podgorica, etc.) In case you don't want to take a long night bus, just use the sleeper service to Belgrade and take the day train to Bar or vice versa. Allow time for delays and buying the onward tickets. Of course, you acn spend the day in Belgrade and take the next night train as well. Belgrade is fun, but it acn be incredibly hot in the summer. Still, you'll have the rivers to freshen you.

Picking up on your second set of questions:

There is more to see in Belgrade than in Nis, but there are a few things in Nis if you have half a day there, including the Skull Tower and the Roman mosaics in Mediana.

That reference to a Durres-Kotor ferry is frustratingly vague, maybe in high season there are occasional tourist excursions or something like that.

In summer the daytime train from Belgrade takes about 8 hours to Podgorica or 9 hours to Bar - in theory. Sadly these trains are nothing like the one in the Bond movie - in fact they are rather old and worn. Best to concentrate on looking at the views out the window ... that way you won't notice the mice so much ;)

I agree with Venelin that it's not so easy to fit Albania into the trip as many of the most interesting places are south rather than north of Tirana.

Hello all,

I have just read this interesting thread. In September we are also planning to travel from Sofia to Montenegro, preferebly Kotor. We would like to take a train or bus or a combination of that.

So from the above postings it looks like the best options are too go through Nis. Does Nis then have any more or lesee direct bus or train connections to e.g. Podgorica or even Kotor, preferebly during the day. How long does it take.

I find it quite difficult to find proper information about travel by bus/train in this part of Europe. So any help is much appreciated.

Thank you

HORSCHECK

The buses from Nis to Montenegro are frequent, but many depart during the late evening and travel in the night to arrive at their final destinations in the early morning. There is one Nis-Podgorica bus during the day, too. I haven' t traveled this road, but everybody says that the roads are curvy, so a night ride might not allow for enough sleep.

http://www.nis-ekspres.rs/redvoznje.php

Is the website of the Nis Ekspres bus company that runs most of the buses through Nis. It also lists some other companies, notably the buses to and from Sofia, too. The times listed are local times. "Od" means from, "do" means to, the days are listed from Monday to Sunday, but the buses in question run daily anyways.

The price from Sofia to Nis is some 15 euro, the price from Nis to Podgorica should be under 20 euro, I guess.

Hope this helps
Venelin

Sorry, I forget to add the train info:

No direct trains from Nis exist, as far as I know. There are some carriages that go to Skopje directly, i.e. they are attached to different trains en route. The dates below them are the dates of operation. I am pretty sure that there are additional stops, such as Podgorica, but they are not listed here.

http://www.yurail.co.yu:8888/kursnak/336_1141.htm
http://www.yurail.co.yu:8888/kursnak/897_433.htm

In any case a train ride will take a lot of time if a normal connection in Pozega is needed. There is one bus from Nis to Pozega listed in the website, and you can connect to the daytime train to Podgorica in Pozega with 50min spent at that small place.

http://www.srbrail.rs/redvoznje1/Direktni.aspx

Is the timetable for the Serbian trains. Pozega is written with Z with an inverted ^ and Nis too.

Hope this helps
Venelin

Venelin, thanks a lot for this really helpful info.

Greetings,
HORSCHECK