During my visit to the Balkans, I took many bus rides in the region to experience how the process goes. and I wanted to document it and write about it. So the first road trip was from Belgrade in Serbia to Skopje in Macedonia. I also made a video of the whole journey which includes the number of stops , and other details.
From where to take the bus in Belgrade?
The main bus station in Belgrade is located just in the start of OLD Belgrade city when you are coming from New Belgrade and crossing the bridge built over the Sava river. You can see that in the video below, and this is the exact address of the bus station which you can put in Google Map: Železnička 4, Beograd, Serbia
The next thing is that, you can find buses to Macedonia, Croatia, Bosnia, Kosovo and many other countries in Europe from the same bus station. the bus station has currency exchange shops, cafes, restaurants and ticket counters.
How much the ticket cost?
There is a problem of English at the station, you’ll not find anything written in English on the sign boards, but you can ask the people at the counters. I had to ask about the ticket price from Belgrade to Skopje, and the guy said it’ll cost 2600 Serbian Dinar, which is equal to $26 (as of November 2017). I immediately bought the ticket, and the departure time was 14:30.
In order to reconfirm my journey, I asked the operator that, is this ticket from Belgrade to Skopje in Macedonia? he replied in sarcasm, there is only one Skopje in this region 🙂
How long will it take?
The journey is around 7 to 8 hours, and you’ll see most of Serbia during the bus journey. the bus stops at many places. it takes a stop in every town in Serbia after 1 hour. and will reach the border of Macedonia after 5 hours. at the border, Serbia immigration takes a few minutes to clear. the Macedonia immigration takes a little longer.
After you enter Macedonia, it’ll take another two hours to arrive in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia. I think, there are flights from Belgrade to Skopje which will just take an hour, and the price is something between $50 to $100 depending on the time you buy the ticket.
However, since I wanted to document the road trip experience, so I did this trip in the bus. I loved the trip and it was a smooth journey. if you are someone like me who wants to experience the real life on the roads then you can take the bus trip, and it’s also much cheaper than flight.
Please let me know if you have any questions, and do share your road trip experience if you have done one in the past. also, don’t forget to watch the video that I recorded during my bus journey from Belgrade to Skopje and Happy Traveling.
