The Balkans, a region rich in history, cultural diversity and natural beauty, never fails to reward the adventurous traveller - but a handful of local customs are worth knowing before you go. None of them are complicated, and getting one wrong won't ruin your trip, but getting them right tends to open doors to extra warmth and hospitality - or maybe even a friendship to return to! Start with understanding the geography: the Balkans is a block of countries in South-East Europe, stretching from Greece to Romania. There are 12 Balkan countries: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania. With the exception of Romania and Bulgaria, most of the above countries don't call themselves 'Eastern Europe.' This is because the Balkans were never part of the Soviet Union, except for Bulgaria and, very briefly, Albania. General Tito insisted on an independent socialist path for Yugoslavia. See our guide to 'Where is the Balkans anyway?' We brief guests on our guided adventure trips, but here we share five of the most common etiquette mistakes to avoid, and why. 1. Don't bring up politics or assume everyone has taken the same side The wars of the 1990s are recent enough that they still shape conversation, but things are never black and white. Families across the region are often mixed heritage, spanning ethnicities and religions that outsiders sometimes imagine as neatly separated. Asking a new acquaintance to summarise "what really happened" or assuming a whole country shares one political view is a fast way to make a warm conversation go quiet. One example is casually blaming Serbs when you are in Bosnia & Herzegovina - the person you are talking to might come from a Bosnian Serb family and have their own harrowing war
The Balkans, a region rich in history, cultural diversity and natural beauty, never fails to reward the adventurous traveller – but a handful of local customs are worth knowing before you go. None of them are complicated, and getting one wrong won’t ruin your trip, but getting them right tends to open doors to extra
