Balkan road trip – Serbia

We decided to have a Balkan road trip while we were in Paraguay, in January. Most of the people talk against visiting Serbia, who have never actually been there but assuming it is an unsafe place – based on news and stories they have heard from others. The common topic is everywhere there are “migrants” in Serbia. We want to give a chance to this country to see the beauty and feel the real taste of it. It is a Part of the truth that Hungarian citizens can freely enter to Serbia without any quarantine and PCR test requirements, so it was more convenient for us to make this journey now, while many countries are still under lock-down. I will update this post regularly and share all our experiences here. The Experiences of a Hungarian couple with their dog by car. Hope you will find useful information from these posts if you are also planning to have a trip to Serbia and to the Balkan Peninsula! With confidence, these upcoming posts will help changing the opinion of those, who have negative thoughts about this country.

09/05/2021 – Subotica – After having a small break in Hungary, today we arrived to Serbia. We crossed the border of Tompa from Hungary. We got the latest information about the entry requirements from this website and called the border customs at Röszke. Even we read that crossing is not restricted for us, we were feeling a bit skeptic and had a bit worry, they will not let us in to the country without a negative PCR test. You know the feeling, when something looks too nice to be true, this is travelling in 2021: unbelievable when no Covid test and quarantine needed.

While crossing the Hungarian border the officer asked to open the car boot to have a look and kindly informed us that we will need a quarantine when we are coming back based on the current restrictions. Arriving to the Serbian border, the officer took our passports but asked nothing more. Two days ago we visited a vet in Kaposvar who updated Poppy`s (our dog) pet passport. Only a general medical check was required and the latest worm treatment to be done, Blood test was not necessary. We wanted to show the pet passport to the officer at the Serbian border but she showed no interest looking into it. She looked into our passport and showed we can drive away. We were the only car traveling into Serbian through the border of Tompa, however there was a long queue traveling backwards to Hungary as being Sunday.

Our first accommodation is in Subotica (Szabadka), which is only 20 minutes from the Hungarian border. The flat is nice and the host is friendly and welcomed us in English. Half of the population of this town is speaking Hungarian, so we will have an easy life while we are here for a week. We bought a local SIM card as Serbia is not a member of the EU and roaming is expensive. A Telenor pre-paid SIM costs 300 dinars (2.50 EUR) and if you top up with 900 dinars, you get 3GB data plan for 7 days for free. There is an ATM too nearby , we took out some cash. So tomorrow we are ready to make our first grocery shopping and see the town center. Serbia is the 24th country we visited and so many landmarks on our list to visit!!

11/05/2021 – This is our 3rd day in Subotica. So far the weather is great, 26-30 degrees. The bright and the blue sky is clear with the burning sun! Yesterday we visited the town center and it was surprisingly beautiful. I say surprisingly because I never heard much about Szabadka but actually found it nicer than many of the Hungarian towns! It has the most beautiful antique buildings built in the Art Nouveau style. Most of the old buildings are refurbished in the centre, you can see clean streets and warm-hearted, welcoming people of mixed Hungarian- and/or Serbian-speaking who make Subotica look so charming and unique. Parking was easy using the EasyPark app (for 2 hours, it was less than an Euro). We had a nice two hours of walk, with a small break in the middle for eating Langos on the main square (90 dinars a garlic & salted one). We walked in some ice-cream shops but it seemed, here all ice-cream made with egg and milk, so we did not have any as being Vegans. Reni visited some paper-stationery shops and a book shop where she had fun. I just enjoyed the nice summer breeze and our first full day in Serbia.

Covid: No masks have to be worn on streets, most of the shops seem to be open! We really enjoy the Covid-panic free life here and I am sure many people choose Serbia as their destination nowadays because of this.

We have not much luck with our first accommodation. The double bed has a mattress with well-used sprung and your back can feel it all…but luckily there are two single beds too, so last night I used one of them. A morning yoga will be a must from now on to keep our lumbar pain away. There is a small house in the garden and today builders arrived to start de-cluttering the house and preparing it for a new roof – what information our host forgot to disclose. So in the nice weather we got stuck all day in the flat because of the dust everywhere. Another lesson learnt: when booking an Air B&B, ask the host not just about the quality of the mattress but also if aware of any refurbishment is going on near the apartment.

please continue reading our trip at Lake Palic, Sombor, Becej on Page 2…

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