We spent only 5 days in Kosovo, mainly because Kosovo is a very small country and so it does not take long to drive around, but also because there is a real lack of places to camp (both in terms of campsites or wild camping spots). The places we stayed were fab, but it is such a shame that the country is not more setup for campervans as it is an amazing country with a very rich history. Maybe if the unrest on the Serbia-Kosovo border calms down, then more vanlifers will visit and more facilities will become available?
The current situation between Serbia and Kosovo, according to the UK government, has been slightly hostile for a while and continued to be whilst were there. Given the situation, the advice is to avoid getting too close to the Serbia-Kosovo border and avoid the city of Mitrovica in the North. This is somewhere we had wanted to visit, but we thought it was better to be safe than sorry, as we heard that there had recently been some unrest in the city with grenades being thrown.
We were a little confused about the Serbia-Kosovo border as many different forums and information sites online seemed to say differing things, but we eventually found out that, essentially, Serbia does not recognise the Kosovan border (it thinks that Kosovo is still part of Serbia) and therefore if you were to enter Serbia from Kosovo, you would be deemed as having entered Serbia illegally, as you wouldn't have a Serbian entry stamp in your passport. What this means is that if you want to visit Serbia from Kosovo, you will need to go via a third country, e.g. Montenegro or North Macedonia. Initially we had planned to travel up through Serbia to reach Hungary, but after reading about the issues at the border, and not fully understanding the rules about entering Serbia from Kosovo, we decided to just skip it this time.
1. Gadima Cave, Pristina Bear Sanctuary & Pristina
2. Mirusha Waterfalls, Prizren, Mountain guesthouse
3. Summary
Gadima Cave, Pristina Bear Sanctuary & Pristina
Our first day in Kosovo consisted of us visiting several places, before ending up in the garden of a hotel.
Our first stop was Gadima Cave. This was our first experience of the rolling blackouts that Kosovo is experiencing, something which we later found out is related to the energy crisis, born from the Ukraine/Russia conflict. Before heading into the cave, we sat down for some lunch the waiter explained they had no power and so we could only have a chicken dish or a salad. We were unsure how the chicken was going to be cooked if there was no power, but thankfully the power came on before we finished our drinks, and we were eventually able to eat. After lunch we paid our entrance fee to the cave and joined a tour. What we hadn't realised was that the tour was being conducted in Albanian (or possibly Serbian, which are the official languages of Kosovo) and so we not only had no idea what was going on, but we also learnt nothing about the history of the cave or the artefacts inside. It was still quite a fun cave to walk round, nonetheless.
After the cave we made our way to the Pristina Bear Sanctuary. This is a Sanctuary built in 2014/15 to give privately owned brown bears a new chance at life. Before being rescued, most of these bears would have been 'restaurant bears' and were kept in very small cages outside restaurants to try and entice more customers to eat. Some bears were surviving off of beer and bread, and all were being kept in disgusting conditions, constantly being harassed and teased by people visiting the restaurants.
Thankfully the Four Paws organisation had rescued the 20+ bears from this life and they are all now thriving in huge, varied, and mentally stimulating enclosures at the sanctuary.
The sanctuary cost only €2 each to visit and it was very well designed, with lots of information boards about how the bears lived prior to being rescued, and plenty of other information about bears in general. One of the first bears we saw in the park was being temporarily held in a cage whilst the park rangers fixed some structures in the enclosure. As we were walking past, the bear was released he went straight up to a hanging wooden triangle and played around with it. He was climbing through it and swinging upside down from side to side. This was, without a doubt, a very happy bear. A far cry from living in a 3m square cage being poked and prodded by humans.
Whilst wandering around the park we noticed that all the bears started pacing right next to the track where we were walking. We assumed this was a sign of continued distress either from still being in captivity, albeit a much happier existence, or a reflection of the terrible conditions they had been kept in prior to being rescued. It turned out that the real reason they were pacing, is that it was dinner time! They could clearly smell the food and were pacing by the spots they knew it would be thrown. As soon as they had been fed, they wandered off into their enclosure for a dip in their pools!
Our camp spot for the night, the hotel carpark, was a short drive from the bear sanctuary where we set ourselves up and had a long overdue shower, having spent the last few days in North Macedonia wild camping. The hotel was in the outskirts of the capital city of Pristina.
The next day we made our way into the capital and found ourselves a parking spot opposite one of the ugliest buildings in Europe. This is a Yugoslavian building that now houses the national library of Kosovo. We quite liked the architecture but could clearly see why it was voted as one of the ugliest buildings. It is an odd, shaped building and completely covered in a metal hexagon shaped façade, with white domes on top of each section of the building.
After admiring the library, we made our way into the centre of the city, via Mother Theresa cathedral. Pristina has a lovely pedestrianised promenade through the centre with lots of restaurants, cafes, and shops. Leading off the main promenade are several the city's attractions. This included the NEWBORN monument, that was erected at Kosovo’s independence to signify the country becoming Europe's newest independent country.
After enjoying some Kosovan donuts with jam and cheese we then made our way to the Pristina old bazaar to find some fruit and veg to stock up with. By this point it had started to get very hot so we decided we would jump back into the van and head towards some waterfalls where we hoped it would be much cooler.
Prizren, Mirusha Waterfalls, Mountain guesthouse
Before arriving at the waterfalls, we made our way towards a town called Prizren. After a quick stop for some cake and a stroll around town, we decided to leave. It's a very nice town, but it was an incredibly hot day and we didn't feel up to much exploring. One thing that sticks with us from this town is how friendly the waiter at the café we stopped at was. He seemed to be quite excited that English tourists were visiting and so made a real effort to make us feel welcome and recommended some local drinks to us.
The Mirusha waterfalls weren't originally on our list of things to do in Kosovo, however we stumbled across them when looking at the route towards Montenegro. This was worth the stop as the waterfalls are amazing. The falls themselves are not particularly dramatic or high, but the locals have made the valley an incredibly fun place to visit. The falls have 4 or 5 different levels that you can reach by clambering up rocks, climbing up steps bolted into the rock faces, crossing mini suspension bridges, and clinging onto cables bolted to the cliff edges.
It was not a particularly difficult route, but it was worth the climb. At the very top there is a waterfall and lake that we swam in. This was a very brief dip as a couple we had met in the morning had told us that they had seen a water snake whilst swimming there. Roxy didn't give it a go, and Charlie only stayed in the water long enough for a photo.
On the way back down towards the car park there is a waterfall that you can stand underneath. This was our shower for the day and it was the second time on this trip that Roxy’s scream was probably heard in the neighbouring town. The water was very cold.
Feeling refreshed after our natural shower, we made our way towards Bjeshkët e Nemuna national park in the west of the country. On our way there Roxy was searching Park4Night for somewhere with a shower (there are only a handful of places in Kosovo!) and found a guesthouse, Guesthouse Bujtina (N42.7093955, E20.1202033), in the mountains that allowed campers to stay completely free of charge. This included using the washing machine and use of the toilets and showers. The guesthouse is run by an amazingly generous and kind family. We asked them why they didn't charge and they simply shrugged and said 'we have the space, and it's not being used, so why charge'.
When we arrived there was another English couple, Charlie and Izzy (we will refer to him as Charlie V to avoid any confusion!), who were already parked up and it turned out that Charlie V grew up in the same village as Charlie! A short while later a German couple, Dirk and Christin, arrived this was actually the 4th time we had bumped into them on this trip! We all decided to eat the food on offer at the guesthouse, which turned out to be some of the best food we have eaten in the Balkans. The 6 of us then drank beer and Rakia and talked until around 1am.
The next day was spent recovering from the night before and making the most of some semi-decent Wi-Fi. It turns out although we had a local sim card, the signal in Kosovo is poor. We even struggled in the capital. That afternoon we were messaging our Dutch friend, Mathieu who we met in North Macedonia, with some recommendations for Kosovo, and it turned out that he was already on his way to the same spot as us. Dirk and Christin had left by this point, so there was now just the five of us at the guesthouse, but this also led to another evening of drinking plenty of beers, wine, Rakia, playing games and eating some more delicious home cooked food. It turned out to be the owner’s mother's 77th birthday and so this meant there was also lots of cake and free alcohol being shared out. The evening quickly descended into dancing to Kosovan music with the family before we all eventually went to bed at nearly 3am.
This was by far the best place we stayed in Kosovo, not only for the great hospitality that the owners provided, but also because of the great friends we made whilst there. Hopefully we get a chance to meet with Charlie V, Izzy, Dirk, Christina, and Mathieu at another point along the trip.
Before leaving we said our goodbyes and went to settle up for all the beers and food. The family were so carefree and, as it turned out, so happy to have had us all to stay for a few nights, that they had no idea how much they needed to charge for beers and so essentially just asked us how many we think we drank. We would highly recommend this spot if you are ever in Kosovo as the family are so kind. The sons both speak English, the father speaks German and the uncle speaks Spanish, so most people should easily be able to communicate with them.
Summary
Kosovo is another Balkan country that really surprised us. After hearing about the trouble at the border, we were a little apprehensive about visiting, but the hospitality of the locals is second to none. If we had unlimited time (and energy), we would have loved to stay longer and do some hiking and explore even more of the country. We would have also liked to understand more about the history (we tried to google it and I think we got ourselves even more confused!). Perhaps next time we will spend more time talking to the locals about the history to try and get our heads around it.
If you ever get the chance to visit Kosovo, it is certainly worth it!
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