Montenegro

Montenegro is one of ideal countries for tourism. It has all necessary ingredients for a good holiday: sea, mountains, lakes and forests. And most important, everything is located on a small area.

Montenegro is also ideal for car rental. There are no large cities, no parking problems, no busy roads, but there are very scenic roads. And most of the main attractions are not easy to visit by public transport. We rented Daihatsu Terios for 600 euros for 14 days (http://www.renta-car.me). The price is in euros because Montenegro doesn't have own currency and uses euro.

Our route in Montenegro with links to articles:

Day 1

Tourists arrive at Montenegro to the airports of Tivat or Podgorica. The Tivat airport is tiny, but nevertheless accepts most charters and is often crowded. A charter is not a scheduled flight, so it's harder to find. Use Google Search "charter tivat".

From the airport we went to Budva where we settled in a mini hotel. Large hotels are not well developed in Montenegro, but in recent years they are under construction. We found all hotels in Budva, Bar and Zabljak on booking.com for 30-35 euros. And every time it was a spacious room with kitchen, air conditioning, Internet access and all amenities (our hotel in Budva, for example).

From the hotel we went to the Zanjic beach hoping to visit the Blue Cave and the Mamula island on a boat. But there were so many beautiful views on the way that we stopped several times and came to the beach at 5 pm when the boats stopped working. However, we had a backup plan for the next day.

On the way back we got lost on the Lustica peninsula, but quickly found the right way.

Day 2

Next day we went for a walk along the Bay of Kotor. There is a pointer to a castle Near Budva in the direction of Kotor. We turned and checked the location. In addition to ruins of the old Mogren Castle, this place offers picturesque scenery.










The article describes our trip around the Bay of Kotor.






We drove around the bay and found a boat in Herceg Novi on which went to the Blue Cave and the Mamula island. Then we returned to Herceg Novi and swam at the beach there. After that we took a ferry from Lepetane to Kamenari and had a dinner in Kotor. In the evening we watched the sunset and returned to Budva.

Day 3

On this day we went to the Lovcen National Park. Mountains above Budva offer wonderful scenery of the coast.


The park itself is great too, the scenery is not worse.






After the park we moved to the ancient town of Rijeka Crnojevića.


Then we returned to Budva, had a rest and went for a walk. We walked along the waterfront and then through the old town.




Day 4

On this day we had an interesting program again: we went to the Skadar Lake. Thanks to the new tunnel, the road from Budva to the lake takes less than an hour.




At the lake we bought a 3-hour boat tour. After returning we had a dinner at the Jezero restaurant near which we had rented a boat. The terrace offers great views on the lake.








Another half an hour of driving on a rural road and we are near the remains of the Zabljak Crnojevića Fortress.


We spent the rest of the day at the beach in Budva.

Day 5

We visited three different beaches. First we went to Sveti Stefan. We stopped at the observation deck and found a wild beach right next to the island.






Then we went to one of the best beaches in Montenegro, Plavi Horizonti.






And after returning to Budva we went to the Mogren beach behind the old town. On the way we saw the symbol of Budva, a gymnast.






We went back along the beautiful waterfront of Budva.




Day 6

It's time to move out of our hotel in Budva. Today we will move to the north of the country. First we went to Sutomore, then into the tunnel and after that to Podgorica. We didn't plan to stop in the capital and just passed through it. Just in 30 km begins the Moraca river canyon. We stopped near one of the suspension bridges.




The next stop was at the observation deck in the deepest part of the canyon.




In Kolasin we turned to the ski center, but in summer the lift works only if you have 100 euros. We are greedy so we didn't give 100 euros :)




The next stop was the Biograd Lake. Quiet weather allowed to make beautiful pictures.




In Mojkovac we turned to Zabljak and drove along the canyon of the Tara river which is a part of the Durmitor National Park. There are small waterfalls near the Ravnjak hotel and restaurant.






The next stop was the tall Durdevica Bridge. This was the final stopping point of tourist buses, but we continued to Zabljak.


In Zabljak we settled into a mini hotel and went for a walk around the Black Lake.






Day 7

The next morning we went by cableway to the top of mount Savin Kuk.




Next, we're going on an unusual route. We decided to cross the plateau in the Durmitor National Park. The plateau is gorgeous, and if you have a car, then you should definitely visit it.




From the plateau we went down on the other side to the Piva Lake and stopped to eat in Pluzhine. Prices at the restaurant were really cool, 2-3 times lower then in Budva.






Next, we went to Niksic and turned on the mountain road to the Ostrog Monastery.


From the monastery remained the last part of the way to Bar where we had booked the next hotel.

Day 8

We hardly saw the new Bar and immediately went to the Old Bar, where we walked in the old town and watched the 2,000-year olive tree.




Then we went to Ulcinj and walked around the old town. From Ulcinj we moved to Albania, about which we have a separate section at the website.

Day 9

Having returned from Albania, we still had half a day in Budva. We went by boat to the St. Nicholas island and bathed there.




Our tour around Montenegro is over.

Useful links:
Airports in Tivat and Podgorica
Ferry from Bar to Bari (Italy)
Railways of Montenegro (with a schedule)