Prior to our trip to the Balkans, we had heard some of the border crossings could be difficult and that people had been turned away. We were especially concerned about the crossing entering Bosnia and Herzegovina from Croatia at Neum, just north of Dubrovnik, and again when you cross back into Croatia. Bosnia and Herzegovina has a small (5 mile long) stretch of coastline so you have to pass through that country if you’re driving south along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. If we couldn’t get across that border we couldn’t get to our next destination, Dubrovnik.
All told, we drove across borders into/from former Yugoslavian countries eleven times:
- From Italy to Slovenia south of Trieste, Italy
- From Slovenia to Croatia just south of Dragonja, Slovenia
- From Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina close to Nuem, Bosnia and Herzegovina
- From Bosnia and Herzegovina back to Croatia a few minutes later
- From Croatia to Montenegro close to Pločice (day trip to Kotor)
- Back to Croatia at Pločice later that same day (day trip to Kotor)
- From Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina at Pločice (day trip to Mostar)
- 5 miles later, back into Croatia (day trip to Mostar)
- From Croatia to Bosnia and Herzegovina close to Pločice, Croatia (day trip to Mostar)
- From Bosnia and Herzegovina back to Croatia close to Dubrovnik (day trip to Mostar)
- And finally a ferry from Dubrovnik to Bari, Italy
We never had any trouble at any of the borders. The most we had to wait was about 15 minutes, but that was only because of the number of cars in front of us. We were never asked to pull over or asked any questions. At one of the crossings between Bosnia/Herzegovina and Croatia we didn’t even have to show documents; we were just waved through.
We were pulled over for a routine traffic stop just inside the Croatian border coming back from Montenegro. The policija spoke very little English and we speak no Croatian. He asked for our papers and then realized we were in a rental car when we reached for the rental car agreement. He just asked Curtis if he had a valid drivers’ license and then said “OK. Go!” Easiest traffic stop ever! We didn’t have to actually show any papers or a drivers’ license to him.
So we would say don’t worry about border crossings in the Balkans. Maybe a lot of what we read online was a few years old. As of September 2015, the coast is clear!