Oh Banja, Banja, Luka. This inconveniently located town in Bosnia and Hair of Genovia (most commonly known as Herzegovina) is where a little known low-cost airline called Ryanair flies to.
banja luka summed up
What’s here you might ask? That’s a great question.
I’ll take Tears and Sadness for 500, Alex. (I only use the most topical references in my writing).
They don’t have euros (they use the Convertible Mark (KM)) and my data plan from the Netherlands doesn’t work here. I’m glad I knew that when I went off airplane mode and 134 WhatsApp messages came through at €2.50 per MB. I’m not popular, I have a debatable max 4 friends– I just talk a lot and hope something sticks.
To get from the airport to Banja Luka city, you can take a van shuttle bus (I don’t know what to call it. It was a mini-van basically) that aligns with flight times. The airport is so small (how small is it?!) that after passport check, I walked out of a door to the outside world and completely missed the baggage carousel so I had to wait for the security doors to open again so I could dash back inside.
Props to this person who wrote a grand description of the van shuttle bus situation.
You pay in CASH €5 or 10 KM. I think some people found an ATM in the airport, but I wouldn’t know what it charged them to withdraw. The drop-off route from the grand description isn’t grand. With the shuttle van I took, the driver told us there were two drop off options: train station or center. Although the driver did drop-off some locals on the side of the road along the way- I guess you request it? No idea.
I asked someone who was from Banja Luka who got on the same airport shuttle van bus (my description is getting longer somehow) I asked her what there is to see and she said the nature is really beautiful but you have to go outside of the city…
Did I give Banja Luka a chance? The benefit of the doubt? Absolutely not. I high-tailed it out of there.
It’s not cheap to leave either. To get to Sarajevo, my bus ticket was €20 plus a service fee. I bought my ticket online with Get By Bus. Flix Bus doesn’t seem to run here and I was too panicked to get a ticket at the station the morning of. What if they were sold out? Then I would have to stay here longer and that thought made me sad. I just flew Ryanair from Vienna to Banja Luka and it cost me practically the same amount. I don’t mean to poo poo everything, but I didn’t sleep so I’m cranky.
The bus station. Let’s talk about the bus station for a quick sec. A solid 30-45 minute walk from “the center”. It’s in quotes because I arrived in the dark and had no idea where I stayed and when walking at 630am the next morning I shielded my eyes from soaking in my surroundings. Yes folks, that is the main bus station located near the only train station to leave this joint. Online, the bus station is rated 2.2 on Google. I’d say that’s being generous.
The bus station is gated so you can’t even touch the buses without scanning your ticket to go through the turnstiles.
It’s almost like they don’t want you to leave.
It’s almost like you’re trapped.
It’s almost like a prison.
I’m really glad I’m not a dramatic person or that could have gotten out of hand.
So I thought I was overreacting, but then I went to the ticket desk and she said I owed 1.5KM for gate. What that means is anyone’s guess, but I obviously pay it. I go to scan my online ticket. The gate doesn’t open, some rando goes no work. THANKS CAPTAIN OBVIOUS. I went back to the ticket lady- she says scan gate ticket (this receipt thing I paid for) so I did and it worked, but see I was right, they don’t want you to leave- they want you to stay forever and ever until you die. Oh, and the bus drivers charge 2KM per piece of luggage. Bring some change y’all!
Speaking of money, earlier I went to get some from the ATM, put in my pin, chose the amount, it said approved — and literally no money came out. That about sums up my experience Banja Luka.
Onwards to Sarajevo.
