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Hi! So, I was planning on traveling through the Balkans in June, starting off in Romania (fairly easy to access country) and was wishing to go from there to Belgrade (Serbia) and then Sarajevo (Bosnia) before maybe going into Croatia. Turns out though, that getting from anywhere in Romania to Belgrade is impossible - the Interrail timetables doesn't even recognize Belgrade as a location,which is odd.

Looking into other Serbian cities, although they ARE listed, this image comes up with every single city connection. On the other hand, in the section about Serbia (https://www.eurail.com/en/get-inspired/top-destinations/serbia-train) on the interrail webpage it talks about several connections from places like Zurich or Bucharest.

 

So, what is the deal? I hear it's impossible to cross over from Romania directly right now, but even if I get a bus to cross the border, how come serbian trains aren't even showing up?

Sorry, I know the questions is kinda specific. Any sort of help is welcome. :)

Hey

There no direct trains between Romania and Serbia since 2017 so therefore, you would need to travel via Hungary to Croatia and then into Serbia.  
There’s also no direct trains from Serbia/Croatia to Bosnia so maybe there’s a bus available for you to consider as alternative option

In addition, Serbian railways haven't shared their 2022 timetable with the rest of the world, so even if there were trains from Romania to Serbia, you wouldn't find any.

Also, check if Interrail isn't too expensive for your plans. Normaal fares in Romania and the Balkans are quite cheap.

You might make a train+bus combo. From Arad or Timisoara you can get a a train to near the border (Valcani, Cruceni). Then cross the border by foot. On other side try to hitchhike (or get a taxi) to nearby bigger towns (e.g. Zrenjanin), from where you can get a bus to Belgrade.
Unfortunately train traveling in Serbia is no fun - due to construction works almost no trains and scenery is super dull (on lines to Croatia and Hungary), only the ones to the South have some nice scenery (Montenegro, Macedonia, Bulgaria), but there are also (almost) no trains…. 
Only Novi Sad - Belgrade has a frequent (and fast) service these days.

Interrail definitely doesn’t pay off on this route (except if it is part of a bigger trip and you have so or so a continuous pass… some of the train operators are even not included in IR I think).

These railfan advice about walking/taxi will add enormous more time to simple trips and are only for for hardcore ´allontherails´ people. Normal tourists take a direct bus-but even these are very sparse from RO to RS. In fact as for now the ONLY remaining INtern train to Rep. Serbije is to black mountains=Cerna Gora=MonteNegro

We did the trip from Timisoara to Belgrade this year, end of July 2023. Since the train between Romania and Serbia is still not running we asked the friendly people at the office of Timisoara European Capital of Culture 2023 how we could get to Belgrade.
They suggested several companies to go with:
- Gea Tours: The Serbian Company goes from Belgrade to Timisoara several times a week and they can take travellers on the way back. They charge 25 Euro per person. https://geatours.rs/, gea@eunet.rs, WhatsApp: +381 64 9722 449. Caution: Phone calls to Serbia can get pretty expensive.
- Simplicity: A Romanian Tourism Agency from Timisoara which can bring you to the other side of the border. https://www.simplicity.ro/, Phone: +40 744 222299.
- Recreation: A Romanian Tourism Agency from Timisoara which can bring you to the other side of the border. https://www.recreation.ro/
Since Gea Tours was booked out on the day we wanted to go, we took a taxi booked via Simplicity. We went from Timisoara to Vršac, from there we took the train to Belgrade. For the one-hour drive to Vrsac including the border crossing we paid 100 Euro (3 persons).

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