I not only collect WHSs but also 'countries' while geocaching. A quick hop over a border just to score a new country doesn't count for me. But things in Europe are slowly getting difficult for me. Slovenia is still on my list, but I can't get there from my home airport for a short trip, and prices at the coast for summer vacation are way above my budget. So I thought: why not stay somewhere in northern Croatia. I've visited WHS up to Zadar, thus there's still a lot to do and see. Would this be a good idea for say 2.5 weeks with a rental car? What would be a calm non-mass tourism place for that with good links all across the area? When I stayed in Croatia the first time I was on Murter, in Jezera because I knew their annual summer party thingy was off due to Covid. The mostly tentative karst sites in Slovenia look amazing and don't seem to be too far from the border. Maybe a long trip to the mercury mining site or an overnight stay in Ljubliana.

Suggestions? Thought?

The area is very well connected by land. You can stay around Porec and visit all whs in Slovenia, East Italy and West Croatia as a day trip with a rental car.

Actually, that is an idea! I'd thought of staying closer Rijeka to also visit the coast down towards Zadar, but of course I don't need to go to every part of Croatia. Hmm.. gives me something to think about. Thanks a lot.

Do you know if it is possible to visit all the countries of the former Yugoslavia and Albania with a rental car taken from Belgrade airport? If so, what can be the cost and which rental company offers it? Is this a better solution than flying between these countries and renting a car at each airport? Thank you for the information.

We just visited North Macedonia, Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania (and Greece) with a Hertz Macedonia rental car & we did not have any issues at the border crossings. However, we did contact Hertz in advance to make sure crossings are allowed and all paperwork was ready when we picked up the car. Ps: we visited Kosovo coming from Macedonia and eixting to Montenegro which was ok, but we understand entering & leaving Kosovo from Serbia can be a problem.

You don't need to directly inquire through car rental company. Open arguscarhire.com. Choose your pickup destination and dates. Choose one of the cars. Choose "important information" -> "car" and then "travel restrictions. As an example, if you take the car from sixt skopje, you can visit all Balkan and EU countries but they are charging extra 30 euro for each country. If you are buying insurance you may need to buy it separately for each country as well

There are some rental companies that don't like you drive to Albania and/or Kosovo. So better check what's possible first. Some rental companies want you to pay for each border crossing, others include all. Had good experience with a small and very personal company in Montenegro and the rental price was very reasonable. But in the end I took busses to all places I visited.

Btw, I know it's very early but my trip is booked :D Will stay on Krk for 3 nights and then in Kastelir for 2 weeks. This will give me ample time to also visit Slovenia and Italy. Porec and all the other resorts on the coast just didn't appeal to me, so I'm retreating into the hills. Maybe I'll drive from Krk to Istria via Cres to visit the tentative site there. Haven't yet checked which ferries allow cars though.

Sorry I missed this topic before.

Sounds like a lovely trip, I think good to avoid Porec as a place to stay, it is small and very touristy. Great for a visit (the basilica is lovely) but not ideal to stay in. Pula is well worth a visit for the Roman arena and my parents always tell me things about Rovinj and Koper.

For logistical reasons I stayed in Rijeka, it is pleasnat but if you don't visit no great loss.

When we hired a car in Croatia (in 2018) we had to pay an additional fee (around €30-40 I think) to enable us to drive it into other countries (specifically Bosnia), some internet forums said you could avoid this, but without it Sixt wouldn't give us the Blue book documents that were required at the border crossings. Croatia isn't in the Schengen area so there are still border posts when crossing to Slovenia, so will probably have the same issues there. Slovenia > Italy was completely free movement though.

Also if driving into Slovenia, you will need a toll vignette to drive on their highways, the shortest period you can get this for is 7 days.

I don't know how much time you wanted to spend driving, but Aquiliea and Palmanova (Venetian defences) are both close by if you wanted to venture into Italy. Also Cividale del Friuli can be combined easily with Idrija if you wanted to pick up the Longaboards site as well. I would thoroughly recommend all three Italian sites, but understand not everyone wants to maximise their WHS ticks at the expense of relaxing a little bit.

I don't think such a person exists among members of this forum. Maybe my wife but she is not a member though :)
Isn't maximizing your whs ticks relaxing at all?

That is very true!

And indeed there is nothing as relaxing as getting a new tick :)

Aww, thanks a lot! yes, I'm aware of the vignette. With two weeks in Kastellir I might take 2-3 days in a 7 days period to explore Slovenia and northern Italy.


Yikes! I've not checked Italy yet! I kind of feel like I've failed this site :D
I do when when to let go, but it's not easy. Thus will depend on how and what I'm doing then. It's still far into the future :) Next trip will be to the Fryslan part of the Netherlands, to visit Franeker and the WHS pumping station. Next to some other hobby things and to stock up on liquorice.