Road trip to Montenegro
What is needed in order to go by car from Ukraine to Montenegro? Just a wish, some free time and, of course, a car!
And so, that's all you have, now what? Now let's decide how we will go, given our experience, we can go to Montenegro with four routes:
1. Kyiv - Uzhgorod - Hungary - Serbia (Belgrade, Chachak, Uzhice and beyond) - Montenegro.
2. Kyiv - Uzhgorod - Hungary - Serbia (Belgrade, the road to Nis and beyond) - Montenegro.
3. Kyiv - Mukachevo - Romania - Serbia - Montenegro.
4. Kyiv - Uzhgorod - Hungary - Croatia - Montenegro.
In terms of distance, all routes are almost the same, approximately 2.000 - 2.200 km, the distance can increase in one case - if you want to see the sights of the cities through which you pass.
So let's take a look at the first route. Why is he good?
Highways pass through the whole of Hungary and thanks to them, you will drive through Hungary in almost half a day and thus save time.
It is better to spend the night before the border in Uzhgorod, from Uzhgorod to the border is only 26 km. Early in the morning we head for Chop, we will spend from 10 minutes to cross the border and ...depending on the circumstances (unless, of course, you are carrying weapons, drugs, etc. contraband).
What should be taken into account? As soon as you have crossed the border, at the very first gas station you need to purchase a vignette (this is a payment for the passage on the motorway), since the passage is paid. Minimum payment for 4 days. An important clarification, if you are not staying in Hungary, you do not need to pay a motorway fee for one day. You save 6 euros. The number of your car will be entered into the computer and that's it. Just keep your receipt just in case.
From Chop we drive straight to Budapest. This is 310 km, from Budapest we head for the city of Subotica (Serbia). This is another 203 km.
So, all the way through Hungary you will have approximately 513 km. Unless of course you decide not to visit the thermal baths in Miskolc, Esztergom or Budapest. But this is a separate topic for conversation.
It is better to spend the night in Subotica (my opinion). Early in the morning we head for Novi Sad - Belgrade - Cacak - Uzhice (Serbia) - Bielo Pole (Montenegro). In order not to get lost in Belgrade, and you can do it easily, you can go around it. Passing through Novi Sad, you need to head for Ruma, then for Š abac, and from there it’s not far to Valjevo. But the speed limit of Ruma-Shabats-Valevo leaves much to be desired, because there are few straight sections of the road.
From Subotica to Ruma is only 137 km. From Ruma to Shabac 35 km. From Š abac to Valjevo 65 km. To Chernogoria, the city of Bijelo Pole is 214 km away. To summarize, only 451 km, but the road will take you 7 hours, or even all 8. Why? The quality of roads is excellent, the quality of fuel differs significantly from Ukrainian gasoline, it is also wonderful.
There are simply no large sections of roads where you can really accelerate. Yes, and they watch the speed limit here.
From Bijelo Polje through Mojkovac to Podgorica (capital of Montenegro) 119 km.
Route number two practically repeats the first one with the only difference that you boldly move to Belgrade and then look for the motorway in the direction of Nis. Before reaching Niš for about 25-30 kilometers you leave the motorway and move to the cities of Krusevac - Aleksandrovac - Raska - Novi Pazar. It is 30 kilometers to the border. Drive to Rozaje and Podgorica only 170 km.
This route was recently explored and I can say with confidence that it is much easier than the first one, most of the way goes along the motorway (by the way, the Subotica-Belgrade motorway - the exit to Krusevac will cost you 9.5 euros). It's less tiring and saves time.
Route number three will start for you from Mukachevo, but you only need to go to the border checkpoint, which is located near the settlement of Nevetlenfolu, it is 67 km from Mukachevo.
As for the safe passage through the territory of Romania, you can be absolutely calm. The roads are excellent, the quality of gasoline is good. The only thing that is slightly burdensome is that the roads pass through settlements (as in Ukraine) and therefore the speed limit often does not exceed 70 km/h.
Throughout the route there are many information signs, it is almost impossible to get lost.
Next destination Timisoara (Romania) 331 km. On booking. com you will find accommodation for yourself in this city. As well as an afternoon activity, sightseeing.
From Timisoara (Romania) we leave towards Novi Sad (Serbia), this is 167 km, and you know the further route.
Route number four is probably the easiest.
passes mainly along the autobahns of Hungary and Croatia. Although it is 200 km longer, given the quality of the roads, you will not be tired. The only thing that can upset you is a significant difference in the payment for the Croatian autobahn (31 euros for 700 kilometers).
As in the first route, crossing the border, we head for Budapest and, already approaching the city, we look at the signs for Zagreb. You will cross Hungary very quickly, you don't have to worry about it.
Try not to get into a funny situation, which happened to us. There is practically no neutral zone at the border crossing between Hungary and Croatia. That is, here you are giving documents to the Hungarian border guards and after three meters you are already submitting passports to the booth of the Croatian border guards. We just slipped through them, we decided that the Croatian territory would start in a few hundred meters.
Head for Zagreb, there is a good hotel "Zagreb", inexpensive and unprepossessing in appearance, but clean inside, breakfast is included in the price and there is Wi-Fi in the hotel. From the border to Zagreb, the motorway through Croatia will cost you 6 euros.
After a good rest and sleep, move towards Dubrovnik. The main route will pass along the motorway and will cost you, as I said, 25 euros.
Please note that this road will take you to the transit route through Bosnia Herzegovina. It goes along the sea, and you will pass through Bosnia for no more than 10 km.
Most importantly, if you will not be staying overnight or resting in Bosnia, you do not need a visa to travel on the transit route.
And then you can decide for yourself which of the cities of Montenegro is better for you to relax. It can be Budva, Kotor or Petrovac, a holiday for every taste.
According to our own experience, the road from Kyiv (Ukraine) through Romania - Serbia to Budva (Montenegro) was 2.100 km, because we decided to stop by Bucharest for sightseeing. The total budget of the trip for two, and it included the cost of issuing transit visas (Romania - $ 50 per person, Serbia - € 3 per person), the cost of food and gasoline, an overnight stay in Chernivtsi (25 €), an overnight stay in Bucharest (35 € ) and an overnight stay near Belgrade (25 €), amounted to 300 euros one way.
