Travel between successor nations of the former Yugoslavia

Question

I would like to tour all of the successor countries of the former Yugoslavia at a moderate budget. How easy is it to travel by land between them?

Croatia and Slovenia are now in the EU so I expect that travel to and from them and between them is easy and safe. I would probably use one of these as a base with excursions to the others.

I expect that travel directly between Serbia and Kosovo is impossible or inadvisable. However, could I easily get to these countries from one of the others?

How about the remaining countries? Is it easy to travel between these countries?

A little more detail. I would like to avoid very expensive options e.g. a long distance taxi or a private driver. Other suggestions are welcome e.g. cheap local bus, more up market buses, or trains. It can be basic and rough (I am used to that) but it does not need to be.

Note that this question is not about passports. That has been addressed in a different question: Passport choice for travel to states of the former Yugoslavia.

Answer 1

This is quite a broad question, so I'll only attempt a general answer. Of course, the public transport level in the countries of former Yugoslavia is well below that of Western Europe (but that's part of the region's charm, isn't it?). Railway infrastructure is underdeveloped and cross-border trains are mostly non-existent, because many cross-border links have been damaged in the 1990s wars or fell into disrepair and haven't been rebuilt yet. AFAIK, the only possible cross-country connections are Slovenia - Croatia, Serbia - Kosovo, Serbia - Montenegro and Serbia - North Macedonia. None of them is faster than taking a bus, in fact, most of them are a lot slower. The Belgrade (Serbia) to Bar (Montenegro) route is nonetheless great for railfans, possibly the best one in the Balkans!

Inter-city buses (both domestic and international services) do exist everywhere in the Balkans, but the timetables could be sparse. Naturally, bus connections will be easiest to find when moving between big cities (such as country capitals). Plus, there's no single point of reference, so it requires some research. You can search sites such as Wikivoyage for links to bus companies or aggregator sites.

I expect that travel directly between Serbia and Kosovo is impossible or inadvisable.

Quite the contrary. As of now, the border is open and there are reportedly scheduled bus and even train services crossing it several times a day. However, unexpected roadblocks or temporary closures of the border checkpoints still do occur every now and then.

The biggest problem is that Serbia does not admit 3rd party nationals who are entering from Kosovo if their passport bears evidence (stamps) of having first entered Kosovo from outside of Serbia (i.e. from Albania, Montenegro or North Macedonia). Travellers who can enter Serbia with their ID card (including an Irish passport card) need not to worry, because an ID card has no stamps. Another option is to adjust your itinerary.