Spending 48 hours in Pristina, Kosovo

What do I need to know if I’m visiting Pristina?

Kosovo is a country I knew absolutely nothing about, and the one that most surprised people when I said we were going. We were always planning on visiting Pristina but we almost changed our minds at the last minute due to unrest in the country. We were sensible and kept an eye on government advice and the news, so when no one official advised us not to go, we decided not to change our plans. Prizren seems to be visited by more tourists visiting Kosovo but we wanted to see Pristina, the capital, so I was excited when we finalised the trip and knew we were spending 48 hours in Pristina during our 17 nights in the Balkans. Honestly, if you’re going to be in Kosovo or nearby, I highly recommend visiting Pristina.

If you’re visiting Pristina, there’s a few things you’ll want to know. First of all, cash is king. We’d read that nowhere in the city accepted card payments and that turned out not to be true, some places did. However, it wasn’t consistent and we were caught out a few times, so I’d recommend you carry cash. Kosovo takes the euro, meaning you can get currency in the UK (read Fiona’s guest post for lots of currency hints and tips) and any cash you don’t spend can either be changed back once you’re home, or saved to spend on future trips. That’s really handy, because cash machines in Kosovo all charge a fee to withdraw funds. We used our Monzo and Kroo cards which don’t charge a fee from their side, but the cash machines were all looking at charging around £5 a transaction. When you’re on a budget this isn’t ideal, so if you do need to withdraw cash, try to just do one larger transaction rather than multiple to save on those fees.

If you need transport, I can recommend Blue Taxis. They have an app which is the closest thing to Uber you’ll get visiting Pristina and it worked really well for us, giving us an accurate tracking system so we knew how long our taxi would be each time. We didn’t try local buses but if you’re needing to, download the Moovit app so you can find bus numbers, times and routes easily.

Never, ever travel without insurance, it’s not worth the risk of having a lost suitcase to deal with or a medical bill to pay. SafetyWing offers travel medical insurance, which you can buy after your trip has already started if you’re reading this and realise you forgot to sort your insurance before your trip! From a few pounds a day, their Nomad Insurance Essential covers travel delays, lost luggage and trip interruption, as well as medical treatment and hospitalisation. With zero excess and the ability to extend the policy if your trip plans change, SafetyWing is super flexible, something I really value. You can find out more about SafetyWing here.

How much will I spend each day visiting Pristina?

If you’re visiting Pristina, how much cash you’ll need in your pocket will definitely depend on both the length of your trip and what you’re planning to do. Spending 48 hours in Pristina was really cheap for us, we spent less than £100 between us over the two days, and we had a nice meal out for tea both nights, took a taxi to and from Four Paws Bear Sanctuary, and saw a Champions League qualifier football match too. We ate Kosovan pastries from a local bakery for lunch, had ice cream one evening, and I bought a couple of souvenirs, so we didn’t scrimp on spending.

How expensive is travel and accommodation?

We stayed at Hotel Denis & Spa for £43 per night and had a really lovely room with the most ridiculous shower I’ve ever seen-it played the radio, had a sauna, multiple different jets and a seat, that shower was definitely living in the future. We paid £14 each for our bus from Tirana, Albania to Pristina and around £8 each for the bus from Pristina to Skopje, North Macedonia. Visiting Pristina cost us under £125 each, a real bargain.

Planning prior to visiting Pristina was tricky, there’s barely any blog posts about the city for a start, so we relied a lot on Google Maps telling us about interesting things to see, and a lot of wandering just to see what we found. Kosovans apparently do a lot of just heading out and milling around, likely due to lower wages and a lack of stereotypical entertainment type stuff (I didn’t spot a cinema, for example) so it’s great as a tourist to do just that. I’ve covered the things you really need to do if you’re spending 48 hours in Pristina, so you can plan a mixture of doing things and just hanging around taking in the city.

What should I see when spending 48 hours in Pristina?

Our first day was only really an evening, as bus times meant we arrived late in the day and left early on our third day. We rushed around a bit, though, and managed to still see the small number of touristy sites worth seeing when you’re visiting Pristina.

We started with the Newborn monument. The sculpture was first unveiled on 17th February 2008 to celebrate the country’s independence from Serbia, and each year the design changes. When we saw it they’d switched the letters so it said NONEWBR instead of NEWBORN, and they’d written on the B and the R to make it clear they want No New Broken Republic-a nod to the unrest in the country, and the hope that things settle down quickly.

Our next thing to see was Mother Theresa Cathedral. We had a quick look inside for free and it’s really beautiful, but we also paid 1 euro 50 each to go up to the top of the tower (it’s a lift, there’s no need to worry about managing stairs in the heat) for stunning views of the city. I loved the high rise buildings, seeing the top of the National Library and the mountains in the background.

The National Library was the next thing on our list. It’s modern brutalist design is really striking, but it divides opinion as it’s been voted one of the ugliest buildings in Europe. You’ll have to let me know your opinion but I think I quite like it! You can also go inside of course but we didn’t have time, sadly.

The Church of Christ the Saviour wasn’t on our list, but as it was next to the library, through a little park, we saw it anyway. The church has quite an interesting history it was started but never completed and now it’s abandoned, which is very sad.

Our final stop on day one was the Rilindja Tower, a Government building with 19 floors that houses 4 different ministries. It’s a striking building with huge glass windows that seem mirrored, and worth seeing if you’re passing.

We didn’t feel like we missed anything else in the main part of the city, although I would have valued having more time to wander around. We had big plans for our second day though that we were really excited for, so we made sure we got a good nights sleep rather than spending more time exploring.

If you’re spending 48 hours in Pristina, you’ll likely find that your second day can be used for a day trip. We went to Four Paws Bear Sanctuary, a sanctuary full of rescued bears, to have a look around. It’s hilly and not easy to get around if you have mobility issues, but it’s well worth a visit.

To get to Four Paws, we ordered a taxi from Blue Taxis via their app. They have an agreement with the sanctuary to do the trip from the city centre to the sanctuary for 12 euros. You can pay 25 euros return and ask the driver to wait for an hour for you, or if you want longer at the sanctuary you can book a return taxi via the app when you’re ready to leave. We went for the second option as we wanted more time at the sanctuary and we’re glad we weren’t rushing.

On the way back you pass the Gracanica Monastery, which is highly recommended for a visit. We didn’t go, as our second Kosovo day coincided with the Taylor Swift Eras Tour ticket presale. We needed to get back to the hotel to get our tickets. We did get the tickets so it was worth the sacrifice, but it would have been great to see the Monastery whilst visiting Pristina.

Our day ended at the Fadil Vokkri football stadium to watch the Champions League qualifier between a Kosovan team and a Bulgarian team. J really likes football, we have Burnley season tickets and it felt silly not to take advantage of being able to see a Champions League game live for just 5 euros. We could even see the stadium from our hotel so this was so easy for us, just a short walk down the hill to the stadium.

On our way in they made me leave my phone charging bank and wire outside to collect at the end and obviously someone stole it. I’m a bit salty about that. Overall the game was a great experience and I’d recommend doing something similar if there’s a well timed game when you’re visiting Pristina. (A year later, as I’m editing this post, I’m still cross about that power bank!)

Where should I go after visiting Pristina?

If you end up with more time in Kosovo, I’d recommend Prizren for a couple of days to see a more touristy part of the country. If you’re like us and doing a longer trip, after Kosovo the easiest places to move on to are Skopje, North Macedonia, a 2 hour bus journey away or Tirana, Albania, a 4 hour journey. Both come highly recommended by me.

Would you consider visiting Pristina?