Hi, My friend and I are going to the Exit Music Festival in Novi Sad. We fly into Budapest and are thinking about hiring a car and driving from Budapest to Novi Sad and back.

Do you know how long it would take, what the road is like and what we need to have to go through the boarders. Are they always open?

I've got a Swiss passport and my friend has a New Zealand one.

any help would be appreciated.

cheers, Rosie

from Budapest to Szeged the road is very very very good..

and from szeged, it's errm.. ok

you cross at Szeged Roszke (hu) - Horgosh (scg) (that's at the border)

and it's always open..

then you go to Subotica (scg).. and then straight ahead to Novi Sad..

it will take you cca 6 hours to get to Novi Sad

and what we need to have to go through the boarders. Are they always open?

I've got a Swiss passport and my friend has a New Zealand one.

Neither you nor your friend needs visa, you only need passport and borders are open 24/7

Thanks for the info people - very helpful. Can't WAIT to get there. 

You should double-check with a car rental agency in Budapest if it's OK to take a rented car to Serbia! 

In 2004, a colleague of mine from France tried to do that and the company wouldn't let him because Serbia wasn't included in whatever-satellite-car-surveillance-scheme. He had to leave the car at the border and improvise his transport. At the same time, he was being phoned by the agency several times A DAY during his stay in Serbia. Apparently, they found it suspicious that the car was sitting at the border for such a long time!! 

http://www.mfa.gov.yu/Visas/f_without_visa.htm

so you both don't need visas to enter, just ordinary passports.

for driving, you'll need international driver licence, and ask in rental company if they know if Serbia requires green card insurance, because I think you need that one too, but not quite sure.

Distance between Budapest and Novi Sad is no more than ~300 km. There are no ups and downs, definitely flat drive with probably endless fertile plains and zillions of sunflowers all around. Easy easy drive. Border posts are always opened, no worries about that.

From Budapest, take E75 corridor (in Serbia,also named E75), it should be full motorway as far as town of Kiskunfelegyhaza, where normal two lane road begins, and goes until the border with Serbia. You have approximately 180km to the border point, and this is scenario when you drive via city of Szeged, and arrive to the border crossing Szeged-Roszke (Horgosh from serbian side). There is also alternative border crossing at Kelebija, but that's not of your interest, unless you take some other route via Hungary, like via Pecs.

From Roszke/Horgosh border crossing, which, if the newly built one is opened (not sure) should be the most modern one in Serbia, so it probably means no delays bigger than usual up-to-30minutes, you head to Palic and basicaly, city of Subotica is on your right. 3 kilometers from the border posts, starts half-motorway, which is basicaly normal two lane road with additional track for those who go in direction to Belgrade. That is as far as Novi Sad, so some 112km total. On some stages, road is in perfect condition, repaired just a year ago, and the rest should be in good overall state. Still, whole corridor 10 (E75 included) was completely reconstructed in 2004/2005 period.

In Serbia, on E75, bigger petrol stations are on:

53rd km from the border - OMV

72nd km from the border - Rodic

86th km from the border - Mandic

and there are others as well, this info about petrol stations is, I think, little bit outdated

Anyway, Rodic and Mandic are mainly motels with additional stuff like restaurants, etc etc, but there's one general rule in Serbia, that stops along motorways or any roads in general are not well equipped with anything, so I would reccomed you, if you need some rest in a shadow from the heat, or need to use toilet, do not hope to see these facilities along the road, but better use these motels/petrol stations.

if you feel like having break from driving, Palic lake should be good choice for a short stop.

Speed limits are 120km/h in Serbia on motorways, 110km/h on half-motorways and other main roads, and probably 130km/h on Hungarian motorways.

have a nice drive, & enjoy Novi Sad and Exit.