Bosnia to Craiova in three legs and two days: coach to Belgrade, a night by the airport, then a short flight into Bucharest Otopeni and a minivan south. Nobody sells this as a route and no single ticket covers it, so it is put together by hand. Written from doing it, not from a timetable.
| Coach, Banja Luka → Belgradepaid 55.00 BAM | 28.12 EUR |
|---|---|
| Platform ticket at the bus stationpaid 2.00 BAM | 1.02 EUR |
| Room by Belgrade airport, one nightpaid 30.00 EUR | 30.00 EUR |
| Flight BEG → OTP, taxes and fees inpaid 72.97 USD | 62.82 EUR |
| Flexible-ticket option on the flightpaid 10.22 USD | 8.80 EUR |
| Minivan, Otopeni → Craiovapaid 120.00 RON | 22.84 EUR |
| Total | 153.61 EUR |
Paid in four currencies across three countries. The small line under each item is what actually changed hands; the right-hand column converts it at the European Central Bank reference rates of 3 September 2026 — one dated set, frozen, so this stays a record of what the trip cost rather than a live conversion.
The Bočac ticket office is in the city, at Bulevar cara Dušana 1, not at the bus station — open 08:00 to 16:00 on weekdays, 08:00 to 14:00 on Saturday, closed Sunday. Go a couple of days before you travel. Turning up at the station on the day is how people end up not travelling. A one-way to Belgrade was 55 KM in August 2026.
The coach leaves from Banja Luka bus station on Prote Nikole Kostića, on the other side of town from where you bought the ticket. Budget the transfer. At the station you may be asked for a separate platform ticket on top of the fare you have already paid — a couple of marks, cash, at the window. It is normal here and not a scam, though it catches people out.
You do not have to start at the bus station. Ask at the office when you buy the ticket, then phone the office again on the morning you travel so the driver is told to stop for you. Done that way it works. The pick-up used was on the main road at Klašnice, north of Banja Luka towards Laktaši,. Expect the coach to be behind time by the time it reaches you — ours was an hour late, held up in the traffic between the bus station and the north of the city.
Roughly three stops on the way. There is no toilet on board, so the stops are the toilet, and the driver decides when they happen — do not count on one at a fixed interval. Take water and something to eat. This operator has a reputation for leaving late and running long; assume the journey takes more than the timetable says and do not book anything tight at the far end. The border is the Sava bridge between Bosanska Rača and Sremska Rača — everyone off with passports, and how long it takes is whatever the queue in front decides. The route card in the windscreen says it plainly: Beograd, autoput, g.p. Rača — motorway, border post Rača — via Bijeljina. Know what you are waiting for if you are being picked up on the road rather than at the station: a yellow coach with BOČAC-TOURS along the side in purple, Banja Luka underneath it, and Sretan put — good journey — on the door panel. There is nothing else on that road painted like it.
This is the part worth knowing. The coach comes in from the west on the E70 and passes the airport before it reaches the city. Ask to be set down there rather than riding on to the main bus station. Coming from the west you are put down on the near carriageway, where there is a bus stop. The footbridge — Pasarela Institut on the map — takes you over the motorway, and the bus to the airport is caught from the far side. It saves riding into central Belgrade and coming back out again the next morning, which is an hour each way you do not need, and the bus to the airport is free — Belgrade city transport carries no fare at all. The map below is pinned on the set-down point, with the footbridge and the far-side stop both in frame.
Plenty of flats to rent around the airport, and cheaper than the city. A flat for the night cost 30 euro in August 2026. We have our own contact at that end, so if you would rather not shop for it, ask and the bed is arranged for you — see below. Worth having somewhere fixed before you set off rather than finding it on arrival, since you will get in tired and it is not a part of Belgrade laid out for walking around with luggage.
Public transport in Belgrade carries no fare — no ticket, no machine, no validator. It was free in August 2026. That is what makes getting off at the airport road and finishing on a local bus cost nothing.
Fast. Passport control and security both move quickly compared with what the size of the place suggests, so the usual three-hour rule is generous here. The flight itself is Tarom, direct, an hour and a half — an 08:40 departure puts you at Otopeni at 11:10, with the whole afternoon left for the road south. Booked through a comparison site in August 2026 it came to 73 US dollars all in, of which two thirds was tax and airline fees rather than fare; a flexible ticket that let the flight be moved up to 24 hours before departure added 10 dollars on top. Watch the baggage: that fare carried a personal item and one cabin bag of 6 kg and no checked bag at all, which is the constraint that decides how you pack for the whole journey.
The minivans wait just outside the terminal in the car park — you do not need to book from the airport into the city first. It was 120 lei a seat in August 2026, paid to the driver. Two and a half to three and a half hours depending on traffic out of Bucharest. They set you down at a filling station rather than a bus station — the Petrom on Bulevardul Decebal, at the corner of Strada Bătrânilor, open around the clock. It is a working forecourt with a shop and a car park, not a terminal: there is somewhere to stand and wait, and nothing else. Know in advance who is collecting you or how you are getting on from there.
Out of Otopeni the minivan joins the A1 west and stays on it as far as Piteşti, which is the fast half — dual carriageway, service areas, flat country. After Piteşti it drops onto the DN65 and runs down through Slatina to Craiova on single carriageway, and that is where the time goes: villages with 50 limits, lorries, and overtaking when the driver gets a gap. Around 230 km all told. Nothing to see and nothing to do — the interest is that it is the only sensible way to cover this last stretch, because the train takes longer than the road for the same money. The last few kilometres are ribbon development: showrooms, a tractor dealer, gravel forecourts, then the city.
A full overland run Banja Luka to Craiova is probably possible — there are buses onward from Belgrade into Romania. It is not recommended, and this page does not describe it, because planning it is the problem rather than riding it. Operators on the Serbian and Romanian side largely do not deal in English, timetables are not published anywhere you can trust, and one or two of the segments could not be confirmed at all without turning up and asking at a counter. The workable combination is the one on this page: bus as far as Belgrade, then fly. The flight is 73 dollars and 90 minutes; the days you would spend proving the rest of the bus route are worth more than that.
| Banja Luka → Belgrade | coach, most of a day |
|---|---|
| Belgrade → Bucharest Otopeni | Tarom, 1h 30m, next morning |
| Otopeni → Craiova | minivan, 2½ to 3½ hours, 120 lei |
An overnight near Belgrade airport sits between the first and second legs. Trying to do it in one day is not worth attempting.
Banja Luka → Craiova
There is somewhere to stay by Belgrade airport at the end of the coach leg, and we have the contact for it. Send the date you travel and it is set up and confirmed back to you — one conversation, in English. Around 30 euro for the night in August 2026.
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