The car was packed, and with butterflies in our stomachs, we were ready to set off. First up was a ferry trip from Helsinki to Tallinn, and we had booked the 9 am ferry from Eckerรถ Line. Upon leaving Tallinn, the plan was to drive as far as we could and find a suitable place to stay closer to the evening. We hadn’t booked any accommodations in advance for the trip, as we felt it was best to decide on the next place to stay depending on the situation.
The route to Montenegro was planned as follows:
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro.
The Baltic States and Poland
In Estonia, we made a quick stop at the sandy beach of Pรคrnu, cooked some food on the camping stove, and continued southwards. There were no major traffic jams in the Baltic States, except for a bit of queuing on the bypass around Riga. As dusk began to fall, we were near the border between Latvia and Lithuania, and we started looking at the map for a suitable city for accommodation. We decided that Kaunas would be a suitable distance to drive, and from there, we booked our first accommodation.
The hotel was a small, charming family hotel called Olympus Hotel. Partly due to the choice of route, arriving in the dark raised some prejudices, as we were in the middle of a residential area and some kind of industrial halls, but the hotel had its own clean yard and was all in all a neat hotel. The staff was very friendly, and the room was clean and spacious. The breakfast was good with a nice variety of options. The price for one night was 60 โฌ, and we can definitely recommend this hotel if you’re passing through. The distance from Tallinn port to Kaunas is 570 km.
After breakfast the next morning, we continued our journey towards Poland. In Poland, we made a quick stop in the village of Tykocin while passing Biaลystok.
We navigated using Google Maps, and we often choose the option “avoid tolls.” Partly this is due to costs, but even more so, it’s because when driving on smaller roads, you see places differently. Although we intended to drive straight to Montenegro, we weren’t in a hurry, so staring at motorways didn’t appeal to us. By the way, it’s a good idea to download offline maps because the internet doesn’t always work perfectly, especially in rural areas, so offline maps are very useful.
In Poland, we stayed overnight in the city of Czestochowa at Hotel Wenecki. The night here cost 45 โฌ, and the hotel was just a basic, clean, and comfortable place. A small downside was that we arrived here in the dark, and there were some questionable people wandering the streets, and the littered streets didn’t add to the comfort. Fortunately, the hotel had a small courtyard where we could park the car behind locked gates. Since our car was full of stuff, it wouldn’t have been tempting to leave it on the street. The distance from Kaunas to Czestochowa was 630 km.
Through the Czech Republic Towards Croatia
From Poland, we continued our journey through the Czech Republic, Austria, and Slovenia to Croatia. The Czech Republic seemed really charming, and we would like to go back there someday with more time, this time we just drove through. We’ve been to Prague, but not the Czech countryside before.
We needed vignettes, or toll stickers, for the Czech Republic, Austria, and Slovenia. We were planning to return to Austria and Slovenia later with more time, so we bought longer vignettes for them, but we bought the shortest available one for the Czech Republic (10 days).
When entering the country, we bought vignettes from the first gas station that sold them. If they weren’t available at the first place, the staff directed us to the right place where they were available. One vignette was a sticker to be attached to the windshield, and the others were electronic, so they worked automatically based on the license plate number, meaning you only had to buy them, and then they worked for the purchased time. If you don’t buy the vignette, you’ll get reasonable fines, so always remember to check the country’s toll payment practices to avoid fines.
Vignette prices:
Czech Republic 13 โฌ / 10 days
Austria 28 โฌ / month
Slovenia 30 โฌ / month
In Croatia, we stayed overnight just after crossing the border between Slovenia and Croatia at Hotel Trakoscan. The distance from Czestochowa in Poland was 751 km.
The Final Leg from Croatia to Montenegro
Hotel Trakoscan was a really cozy spa hotel with lovely mountain views, and there was a magnificent Trakoscan Castle nearby. The breakfast selection was extensive, with tables filled with various options, and they also had gluten-free bread upon request. This is not something you get to experience everywhere; other gluten-free folks will surely know ๐ Breakfast could be enjoyed on the outdoor terrace while admiring the beautiful views. The room price was 88 โฌ per night.
After breakfast, we went to admire the castle, and then we continued our journey. We were planning to drive through Croatia next and arrive in Montenegro the following night.
The border between Montenegro and Croatia was the only border on this trip where there was a border control. We crossed the border from the Karasoviฤ border crossing, and there was a bit of a queue, but the border crossing went quite smoothly with passport checks. Stamps in the passport and finally in Montenegro!
From the border to Tivat, the distance was about 30 km and included a short ferry ride (Kamenari – Leptane). It was quite an experience, as newcomers to a completely new country, in the darkness of the night, starting to wonder how this works. Cars were lining up haphazardly, and presumably, a ticket was needed to get on the ferry. We found a small shack at the edge of the car queues, and from there, we managed to get a ticket for the ferry. The ticket price was โฌ5 per car. Loading the ferry was more of a “who gets there first” principle than what we were used to as Finns, queuing and following order ๐
Definitely an amazing journey to Montenegro, but also long and a bit tiring, so PHW, finally there, and the “vacation” can begin! The distance from Trakoscan in Croatia to Tivat was about 730 km.
Along the way, we mostly cooked with the camping stove and enjoyed snacks in many beautiful landscapes. The journey provided a comprehensive overview of the landscapes of Eastern Europe, from the forests of the Baltics to the mountains of Southern Poland, and to the turquoise waters of the Adriatic Sea, but of course, we also saw a lot of motorway and fields ๐
The total distance from Tallinn to Montenegro’s Tivat was 2685 km, and it took us four days. Next time, we would definitely travel more slowly to get there, as it took a couple of days to recover from driving.
