I heard that things get a little dicey between Serbia and Kosovo. Rumour on the backpacker scene is that you can go from Serbia to Kosovo without any problems, but not the other way around. Apparently, since you have a stamp in your passport, you’d get denied crossing the border because Serbia doesn’t recognise Kosovo as a separate country.
Now that I’ve crossed Serbia into Kosovo, I don’t see how this rumour could be true, but what do I know.
My route Dec 2024- Jan 2025:
- Fly into Belgrade, Serbia
- [border crossing] Bus to Pristina, Kosovo
- Prizeren, Gjakova, Kosovo
- [border crossing] Bus to Skopje, North Macedonia
- (Lake) Ohrid North Macedonia
- Flight from Skopje to Belgrade, back to Amsterdam
I left Belgrade, Serbia, on a 6-hour bus ride (I had the choice of 4 buses that left that day) to Pristina, Kosovo.
On the way, the bus worker took everyone’s ID and wrote it down, then gave it back. At the border, the same thing happened; they took our IDs. Later, a border guard came on and checked that we weren’t doing anything shady. This all took 35 minutes at the crossing before we entered Kosovo.
Since I gave my plastic Dutch ID card, and most people had an ID card, there is nowhere to physically stamp (I get this is EU freedom of movement of people problem). Maybe if it was a passport, it would get stamped? Admittedly, I didn’t cross through back into Serbia via land- but I did transit through Belgrade airport to get back to Amsterdam and they didn’t deny me boarding the flight.
Online, there are a few buses a day going from Pristina, Kosovo, to Belgrade, Serbia, so I don’t see how they could deny the entire bus from entering the country. I suppose this is a lot of guesswork, feeding into the rumour rather than squashing it.
pristina, kosovo
Pristina has a fun cafe and bar scene, but not much else. Liburnia was cosy, but super busy, so we only got a spot at the bar.
The public library I thought, was under construction (rude, it’s just how it looks), one museum was closed, and the ethnography museum told us they were closed, but still opened the door for us (it’s a house).
But there was the cutest stray dog so…
The 606am call to prayer became my alarm clock, depending on what accommodation I was at. If you’re a light sleeper, make sure to check the vicinity of the mosques before you book.
prizren, kosovo
Arriving from Pristina, Prizren via bus is the bees’ knees.
It even snowed on Christmas!
A snowy Christmas means I turn into a 4-year-old. There is a fort built in 1330, so naturally, I made a snowman in it.
Prizren is really awesome. There is a beautiful walking loop you can do up by the castle and down along the stream/ river/ water body.
Tregu i Gjelber looked to be a market on Google, but when I went, it wasn’t.
I tried to find TEA HOUSE PRIZREN as it shows on Google, but it wasn’t there.
Teqja e Saraçhanës, Muzeu Arkeologjik i Rajonit të Prizrenit (Greek? archaeological museum with a tower you can go up), was on Google and it was there!
Orthodox Church “Sveti Spas” was gated/ locked when I walked past it a few times on my way to the fort.
I had a good reading session at Mulliri the coffee company.
I ate a few different places but nothing was outstanding. Gatsby Eat & Drink was kinda pricy and everyone wore cigarette smoke like they bought it in bulk from a discounted perfume store, so going upstairs was not a good decision. Sarajeva Steakhouse was pretty good, I didn’t have a reso and it was booked up, but they sat me down saying if I ate quickly they could fit me in. I also ate some soup along the river at a restaurant I don’t recognise anymore on Google maps, but it wasn’t that great.
Most of the restaurants look high-end with waitstaff and cotton white tablecloths so it weirded me out when the menu had kebab-type dishes for not-kebab type prices. You do you Kosovo.
In Jan 2023, Kosovo peeps were able to travel to the EU without a visa, so people left and during the Christmas time came back to places like Prizen- the grid gets overloaded, so there are bouts of power outages. The main strip restaurants have backup generators, but the hotel I was at didn’t; the lights went back on after 5-30 mins each time.
gjakovë, kosovo
I used Prizren as a base and did a day trippin to Gjakovë.
There are heaps of buses between Prizren and Gjakovë. Costing 3 euros each way for an hour bus ride. You pay for the ticket on the bus.
The one I took left at 1040 for Gjakovë and arrived at 1140. I caught a 1520 bus back, but we were stuck in traffic for an extra 40 minutes nearing Prizren.
Smoking on public transport slays me. More so when the bus driver does it in the middle of winter with no windows open.
Gjakovë is cute for an afternoon. There is a big bizarre. How bizarre?
Well, it was winter so they were redoing the street bricks.
Some places have a certain charm in the summer- people chatting in the streets, pouring out of cafes, sitting on whatever street debris they can find. In the winter, it was quiet. Not bad, but no bustle, which I think a bizarre needs.
In Gjakovë, I went into a tourist info centre. I miss these. Getting a map so vague that it only has one street and no names- super great for navigation.
I got awkward when trying to peek inside Hadum Mosque. I wanted to be respectful, and I never know if I can go into religious sites or not, so I just creeped around the outside instead.
Ethnographic Museum of Gjakova was quaint and free, if I remember correctly. The person working there walked me through the rooms, explaining everything upstairs.
I ate at Hani i Haraçisë– I went there for the grilled meats. All day I was thinking about it. I knew the exact meat dish I was going to order. I had the whole day ahead of me, so naturally, when the waiter told me it would take between 25-40 minutes to make it fresh, I panicked, said okay then proceeded to pick something else that I didn’t want.
Here we are.
onwards to macedonia
I took a Vector bus from Prizren to Skopje at 0900, paying 9 euros on the bus (can also be bought online, but the cutoff for the online purchase is a day or two ahead of time).
