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.
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| Our rented car in Montenegro ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Zanjich beach ©Yuriy Buriak |
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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.
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| Mogren Castle ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| St. Nicholas island view ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| View of the old town of Budva ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Budva Riviera view ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Budva Riviera view ©Yuriy Buriak |
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The article describes our trip around the Bay of Kotor.
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| Islands near Perast ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Island near Perast ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Perast ©Yuriy Buriak |
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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.
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| ©Yuriy Buriak |
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The park itself is great too, the scenery is not worse.
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| Mausoleum of Petar II Petrovic Negosh ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Cetinje view from mount Lovcen ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Scenery from the observation deck ©Yuriy Buriak |
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After the park we moved to the ancient town of Rijeka Crnojevića.
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| Bridge in the Rijeka Crnojevica village ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Then we returned to Budva, had a rest and went for a walk. We walked along the waterfront and then through the old town.
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| Budva old town ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Budva at night, view from the old town ©Yuriy Buriak |
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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.
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| Paid tunnel from the coast to the Skadar Lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Paid tunnel from the coast to the Skadar Lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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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.
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| Skadar Lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Our starting point ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Skadar Lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Skadar Lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Another half an hour of driving on a rural road and we are near the remains of the Zabljak Crnojevića Fortress.
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| Zabljak Crnojeviсa Fortress ©realmonte.net |
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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.
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| Sveti Stefan ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Swimming near the Sveti Stefan Island ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Unusual view of Sveti Stefan ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Then we went to one of the best beaches in Montenegro, Plavi Horizonti.
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| Plavi Horizonti (Blue Horizon) beach ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Clean water at the Plavi Horizonti beach ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Forest dormouse (Dryomys nitedula) ©Yuriy Buriak |
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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.
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| Statue of a gymnast, a symbol of Budva ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Going to the Mogren Beach ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Mogren Beach 1 ©Yuriy Buriak |
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We went back along the beautiful waterfront of Budva.
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| Budva harbor ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Romantic dinner at the beach ©Yuriy Buriak |
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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.
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| One of bridges across the Moraca Canyon ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Titanic ©Yuriy Buriak |
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The next stop was at the observation deck in the deepest part of the canyon.
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| Parking lot for tourist buses ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Moraca Canyon ©Yuriy Buriak |
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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 :)
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| Cableway in Kolasin ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| ©Yuriy Buriak |
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The next stop was the Biograd Lake. Quiet weather allowed to make beautiful pictures.
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| Biograd Lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Biograd Lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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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.
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| Ravnjak waterfalls ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Ravnjak waterfalls ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Ravnjak waterfalls ©Yuriy Buriak |
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The next stop was the tall Durdevica Bridge. This was the final stopping point of tourist buses, but we continued to Zabljak.
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| Durdevica Tara Bridge ©Yuriy Buriak |
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In Zabljak we settled into a mini hotel and went for a walk around the Black Lake.
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| Black Lake in Zabljak ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Black Lake in Zabljak ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Tired after a walk :) ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Day 7
The next morning we went by cableway to the top of mount Savin Kuk.
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| Mount Savin Kuk ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Black Lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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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.
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| Durmitor National Park ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Durmitor National Park ©Yuriy Buriak |
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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.
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| Piva Lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Piva Lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| Piva Lake ©Yuriy Buriak |
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Next, we went to Niksic and turned on the mountain road to the Ostrog Monastery.
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| Ostrog Monastery ©Yuriy Buriak |
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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.
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| Bar old town ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| One of the oldest olive trees in the world (more than 2,000 years old) ©Yuriy Buriak |
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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.
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| St. Nicholas island ©Yuriy Buriak |
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| On the other side of the St. Nicholas island ©Yuriy Buriak |
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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) |
