Summer 2012 closure of the Septemvri-Bansko railway

A reader has alerted me to some news about Bulgaria's narrow gauge mountain railway from Septemvri to Bansko and Dobrinishte. It seems that the line will be closed for construction works between June and September 2012, with the trains being replaced by buses for that period. There are more details (in English) at the Hiking Guide Bulgaria website, which also has other useful information such as the summer opening hours of various gondolas and chair lifts in the Bulgarian mountains.

A honeymoon on rails in the Western Balkans

In today's Independent Adrian Phillips describes his slightly unconventional honeymoon: a journey by train (mostly) from Hungary to the Croatian coast, calling at Budapest, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Mostar, and Ploče before a final leg by road to Dubrovnik. Unluckily, the couple missed out on the scenic trip by rail between Sarajevo and Mostar. The conclusion: "Dubrovnik fits the classic honeymoon mould. But we'd found romance too in the other stage posts on our Balkan journey: not frilly, chocolate-box prettiness but the hardier stuff of Shakespeare, tales of spirit forged in adversity's fire."

The Sarajevo-Mostar line

New edition of the Bradt Guide to Albania

Bradt Guides have published the 4th edition of their guide to Albania. Written by Gillian Gloyer (who was also the author of the previous editions), the guidebook has expanded to 272 pages.

Some of the changes compared to the previous edition reflect the rapid changes in Albania's road network. In particular the new highway to Kukës has opened up access to northeast Albania, and the chapter dealing with that part of the country has been reorganised and expanded. The author also mentions the addition of information aimed at the increasing number of visitors who arrive in their own cars or mobile homes. Another new feature is a selection of suggested itineraries for visits to Albania ranging from a few days to a month.

Albania's Lake Koman ferry

Articles about Albania in the travel pages of mainstream newspapers are rare, and articles about the country's remote northern mountains even rarer. So it's good to see a piece in today's Observer about a journey to the Valbona Valley in the Albanian Alps.

The article focuses on the scenic two-hour ferry journey on Lake Koman: "Just as you conclude you're heading straight into the side of a mountain, the water opens up again and you turn into a narrow passageway between two vertical walls of rock". The account of the practicalities of Albania travel are likely to strike a chord with many visitors to the country. Although finding solid information about the ferry trip initially proved difficult, "... eventually a taxi driver with a few words of English called a friend and arranged for us to be picked up early the next morning. This was typical of our experience. Ask someone on the street and, even if they can't help, they'll find someone whose second cousin definitely can".

At the end of the piece the Observer bravely commits itself to an actual timetable and departure point for the connecting buses that link the city of Shkodër to the ferry.

No more Malev flights to the Balkans ... or anywhere else

This morning the Hungarian airline Malév announced that it is to cease operations immediately.

This development will leave some large gaps in the air transport map of Southeast Europe, at least in the short term. Malév's flights linked all the Balkan capital cities, and some smaller places as well, to Budapest and onwards to the global Oneworld network.

On a personal note I am sorry to see Malév's Dublin-Budapest link disappear as I used it a number of times at the start or end of trips to the Balkans - on one occasion taking a connecting flight from Budapest on a tiny aircraft to the equally tiny airport at Targu Mures in Romania.

The news comes just a few days after the bankruptcy of Spanair. The collapse of the Barcelona-based airline is of much less relevance to the Balkans, but it does mean the loss of a route from Barcelona to Belgrade and of summer services to Croatia.

Last train from Italy to Slovenia

Rail connections between Italy and neighbouring Slovenia have been progressively reduced over the last few years. The only remaining direct link is the EN440/441 overnight train on the Venice-Ljubljana-Zagreb-Budapest route, which is inconveniently timed for anyone wanting to do the short hop between Venice and Ljubljana.

Now The Main in Seat 61 reports that even this imperfect connection is to disappear. The last Venice-Budapest night train will apparently run on December 10, 2011.

Many travellers are likely to give up on rail transport completely as a means of transport between Italy and Slovenia and take a direct bus instead. For those who would still like to do part of the trip by train, the Italy page on the Slovenian Railways lists some of the options (by bus from Trieste to Sežana; on foot or by taxi from Gorizia to Nova Gorica; and by bus from Triest to Koper).

Flights from Belgrade to Dubrovnik in 2011

After a gap of 20 years, it will be possible to fly directly from Belgrade to Dubrovnik in summer 2011. There will be four flights weekly on from mid June to mid September. JAT Airways will fly on Friday and Sunday, while Croatia Airlines will fly on Monday and Wednesday.

Kosovo for Beginners - new page

Anna Wiman, a journalist living in Prishtina, has kindly contributed some practical advice for first-time travellers to Kosovo: see Kosovo for Beginners. You can find more photos, and commentary about life in Kosovo, on Anna's own website.

Greece suspends international train services (this time they really mean it)

At the end of last year I posted about cost-cutting plans by the Greek train operator OSE. Among other things, the plans involved the suspension of all international train services into Greece from the start of January.

As it turned out, these trains were given a temporary reprieve and continued running until February. But it appears that from February 12 the suspension did really go ahead, and according to all reports I can find, the Greek rail system is now isolated from the rest of Europe.

This is my understanding of the specific changes:
- The two daily Belgrade-Skopje-Thessaloniki services will now run between Belgrade and Skopje only. It will still be possible to reach the border station at Gevgelija on domestic Macedonian trains.
- The two daily Sofia-Thessaloniki trains are cancelled. It will still be possible to reach the border station at Kulata on domestic Bulgarian trains.
- The Bucharest-Sofia-Thessaloniki train ("Romania") will run between Bucharest and Sofia only.
- The Istanbul-Thessaloniki "Dostluk/Filia Express" is suspended.

Although the websites of the Serbian, Bulgarian, and Macedonian rail operators carry news items confirming the suspension, at the time of writing the changes don't seem to have filtered through to the European rail timetables database used by German Railways (DB) among others. All online timetables relating to Greece should be treated with caution for the time being.

Wizzair flies from London to Skopje

Skopje is currently one of very few European capital cities with no direct scheduled flights to the United Kingdom. That's about to change, as Wizzair has announced that they will fly from Skopje to London Luton starting on June 20th. There will be three return flights weekly (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) until the end of September. It also appears that the route will continue into the winter, with the Wizzair site currently showing flights scheduled on Thursdays and Sundays from October.