Dubrovnik to Shkoder in 3 hours?

Lads has anybody used this route planner www.viamichelin.com , it's the Michelin route planner site which is meant to be decent for planning road trip accross Europe.

Anyway i wanted to have another look at this 6 hour route and when i entered that i wanted to travel from Dubrovnik to Shkoder it recommended another route that went via Bosnia onto Montenegro and into Albania. It give a longer distance by approx 40 or 50km but it give a travel time of just half the time of the other route.

You can get the coastal route (6 hour one) by splitting it into 2 i.e Starting from Dubrovnik with your first destination being Kostar, Montenegro while that is your second start of point with your with destination being Shkoder, Albania. This trip is indeed given as a 6 hour trip.

Just wondering has anybody used this Route planner before? As it seems to well thought of on the various travel blogs and forums. Also when i read the Champion, John Mullaney i think it was did mention that you go through Bosnia which is the same route i would say which has being recommended by the ViaMichelin site as the best and quickest route.

Anybody know of any pan-european route planners we could cross check this info on? As it could half our journey time.

Seems reasonable.... Seems about same length as Sligo to Mullingar, obviously poorer roads though.

Sligoman,you should email the company and see what they say.

Maporama and Green flag both recommend the best route as the one via Bosnia into Montengro and onto to Albania.

funny enough i was speaking to my mother this evening and she has just come back from that part of the world last week, she said there is a motorway from Dubrovnic that travels south in that direction, there or there abouts. When she first went there years ago they used the costal road which was a nightmare but this isnt the case anymore. She also read the piece in the Champion and refered to what John Mullaney was saying about travelling through a certain region.

I have travelled out there in the past. The road planning is about right, but I found the biggest hold ups was at the custom posts. Eg: Leaving Croatia and entering Montenegro. First you have the Croatian customs post and a kilometre down the road you have the Montrnegroian customs post. You need to show travel documents, pasports etc at both posts. Usually there is a cue of cars and buses. You will find the same entering Albania. You need to plan for these long hold up's.

There's no motorways in Montenegro.

It's not that the roads are bad, but just that the place is so hilly, there's no real space for motorways. You're often winding up the sides of steep hills, which is where the extra time comes in.

Six hours for the trip sounds about right. You'd be doing really well to make it in three, and I certainly wouldn't plan on a three-hour trip.

I think maybe the best thing is to enquire of the bus company which route is best, or if any of the lads or the MC who are heading down on Monday and Tuesday can contact somebody on what route they went down.

Surely there has to be some decent roads as countries needs to get goods in and out no matter how backward it is.

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Originally Posted by Rovers Maniac

I think maybe the best thing is to enquire of the bus company which route is best, or if any of the lads or the MC who are heading down on Monday and Tuesday can contact somebody on what route they went down.

Surely there has to be some decent roads as countries needs to get goods in and out no matter how backward it is.

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TBH Maniac I'd imagine that the bus company would be going the best route anyway. Im sure when they gave the journey time as 5.5 hours they are doing so based on experience.

As Stu said above, Montenegro is very hilly so it will be a very slow crawl up hills with a 52 seater bus. Remember back to what it used to be like years ago going up over the Curlews in a bus, thats what it'll be like......... but you'll have that for 5 hours!:D

Im looking forward to our short 2 hour spin from Tirana! :p:)

You could possibly do Podgorica-Dubrovnik in 3 hours in the middle of the night. I reckon it took me 3.5 on the journey back from the Montenegro game.

Add another 1.5 hours during the day because of traffic and border queues. E.g. It will take you 30mins going through Budva during the day, about 2mins at night.

The roads wind along cliff edges and overtaking opportunities are almost non-existant, unless you're a local, in which case wait until a blind bend and then horse on!

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Originally Posted by OneRedArmy

You could possibly do Podgorica-Dubrovnik in 3 hours in the middle of the night. I reckon it took me 3.5 on the journey back from the Montenegro game.

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Were you in a car? Could easily add half an hour anyway for a bus as it's bigger.

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

Were you in a car? Could easily add half an hour anyway for a bus as it's bigger.

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Yes, I was in a car.

I took longer again on the way down to the game as I stupidly ignored her indoors map reading advice to take the Sozina tunnel, instead I took the mountain pass option. 40 switchbacks (no guardrail) and a driving through fire incident (due to wildfire) later I regretted the decision. Great view from the top though!

Took the tunnel on the way home :D

Its just as well ireland is all motorway........

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Originally Posted by Jeebus

TBH Maniac I'd imagine that the bus company would be going the best route anyway. Im sure when they gave the journey time as 5.5 hours they are doing so based on experience.

As Stu said above, Montenegro is very hilly so it will be a very slow crawl up hills with a 52 seater bus. Remember back to what it used to be like years ago going up over the Curlews in a bus, thats what it'll be like......... but you'll have that for 5 hours!

Im looking forward to our short 2 hour spin from Tirana! :p

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It's a pity this game is getting in the way of all your flying :p, Myself and Griff will have 6 drinks (Mickey & Colin can share) waiting for you lads once you get to Shkoder, all though they will have to be bottles not sure if you will have the time for a pint:).