A month in the West Balkans - itinerary and specific planning advice?

Hello everyone!

I’m a solo 30sF traveler planning a 32-day trip in the West Balkans from Mid-August (arriving midday in Belgrade) to Mid-September (departing midday from Tirana) looking for feedback. I’ll be covering Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Albania (all non-Schengen / visa-free for me). Of these, Albania and Bosnia & Herzegovina are my priorities.

What I'm looking for: I know the region is beautiful, but I'm trying to avoid the trip where everything just blurs together (which has happened to me before in similarly long trips to beautiful countries). I want to do easy to intermediate hikes (more a mountains than a beach person) as an amateur hiker, but I'm also very interested in culture, art, architecture and history, with a particular interest in Yugoslav and Soviet era; as well as just overall cool and artsy/hipster places. Since it's a long trip, I also wanted my city days to be slow, exploring museums and sitting around in cafes kinda days.

Budget: Given that I'm going at the tail end of summer, I'm thinking of around EUR 4,000 excluding international flights for mid-range comfort. I'm targeting to spend about EUR 50-80/night for hotels on average, so that leaves me about EUR 1,500 - 2,000 for everything else. Is that realistic for a month in the region? If not, where do costs usually creep up? Or am I overestimating?

Other notes: I tried to reduce the number of times I switch hotels unless it's a unique stay (Theth, Ohrid) or logistically needed, which is why I focused more on day trips where I can. I'm used to 2hr travel times per way even on a regular day so a long journey isn't too much of an issue. I am also unable to drive in these countries.

Itinerary: I have not booked any hotels yet, so happy to hear any recommendations to add, skip, or reallocate days.

Serbia:

• D1: Fly into Belgrade by mid-day
• D2: Belgrade
• D3: Novi Sad + Sremski Kalovci day trip
• D4: Belgrade
• D5: Scenic Transfer to Sarajevo (Visegrad, Andricgrad, and Drvengrad)

Bosnia & Herzegovina:

• D6: Sarajevo
• D7: Lukomir Village Hike
• D8: Sarajevo (recovery day)
• D9: Sarajevo (recovery day)
• D10: Sutjeska Hike
• D11: Sarajevo (recovery day)
• D12: Travnik and Jajce day trip
• D13: Sarajevo
• D14: Scenic Transfer to Kotor with Herzegovina Tour (Konjic, Jablanica, Mostar, Blagaj, Počitelj, Kravice Falls)

Montenegro (mid-trip beach downtime. Meeting with a friend. ):

• D15: Kotor / Perast / Budva
• D16: Kotor / Perast / Budva
• D17: Kotor / Perast / Budva
• D18: Transfer from Kotor to Theth

Albania (with North Macedonia side trip):

• D19: Theth
• D20: Theth with late transfer to Shkoder
• D21: Komani Lake and Shala River day tour
• D22: Shkoder City with evening transfer to Tirana
• D23: Transfer to Ohrid in the morning
• D24: Ohrid
• D25: Ohrid, with evening transfer to Tirana
• D26: Tirana
• D27: Berat Day Trip
• D28: Tirana
• D29: Kruje Day Trip
• D30: Bovilla Lake/Dajti or Cape of Rodon
• D31: Tirana
• D32: Departure from Tirana mid-afternoon

Some questions:

• For my city days (Sarajevo, Belgrade, Tirana), I'm thinking of taking classes or workshops. Aside from cooking classes, are there any more cultural ones you'd recommend? Or perhaps any events I should look into?
• Regarding inter-city/country transfers, these are my plans but happy to hear any advice or suggested providers/companies:
  • For the scenic transfers, (Belgrade to Sarajevo via Meet Bosnia, Sarajevo to Kotor via Funky Tours), I plan on booking arranged tours and they come up to about EUR 120-130 each. Considering it's both a guided tour and an intercountry transfer, it seems like a fair price?
  • For Kotor to Theth, I saw a shuttle (EUR 60) via Montenegro Hostels. If this does not pan out, is it worth the cost to get private transfers (EUR 240) or should I just take the public bus (via Jadran Ekspres Kotor) to Shkoder, do a stopover overnight and take the shuttle (via Info Point) the next day?
  • For Shkoder to Tirana, is Berisha reliable?
  • For Tirana to Ohrid, are Nela Travel and Euro Bus reliable?
  • For any of these transfers, is it worth splurging for private transfers instead?
  • Any potential issues with border crossing given my plans?
  • Someone also mentioned not to use airport taxis so I plan on prebooking transfers for my Belgrade arrival.
• I saw that there are usually luggage fees in buses. How much do these usually cost and do you pay in advance or right there in cash? As it's a long trip, I plan on traveling with 1 medium check-in and 1 hand-carry luggage (I know I need to lug this around), but will this be a problem in buses? Additionally, thinking of just storing my big luggage in Tirana when I do the Ohrid side trip. The one I found online is Skanderbeg Square, but is there any near the bus terminal perhaps?
• Regarding the day trips, I plan on booking for the Lukomir Hike and Sutjeska Hike in B&H as well as the Komani Lake and Shala River Day Tour in Albania. The rest, I plan on DIYing. Happy to hear advice here on whether the abovementioned 3 are easy to DIY, or if the ones I plan on DIY-ing are better off via tour operator.

Sorry this post got so long, but thanks so much and looking forward to hearing from locals and seasoned travelers in the area!