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We're thinking about going for a week in late spring.
Other than Kotor Bay, where else is worth visiting? Which mountains are the best for walking?
Any must see/do places?
Cheers
kotor is a great little town ,good for food and drink and a wander around been a few times, plenty of mountains around there, I stopped in budva 16 years ago and it was great, now it is really high rise and busy (last went 2019,). best avoided, although the little squared town is nice. the train ride from beograd/belgrade is excellent, beautiful scenery as is the coastline,
dubrovnik isnt that far across the border, although can be slow at the crossing
We stayed in the fjord in Kotor it’s very nice, early morning swims, in crystal clear water, so calm as to be invisible.
We went on a train journey though the mountains - stunning scenery, Europes deepest gorge or some such:)
Went there a couple of years back. Stunning country
Need to go back again and spend more time in the interior which is stunning empty countryside
We stayed on the west side of the bay . As above early morning and evening swims were amazing.
Kotor - tourist trap, well when we were there were at least 2 cruise ships every day. Lovely place though.
<br />You will need a hire car. <br /><br />Tivat marina is good for people watching and nice food etc
We did an excellent evening kayak thing in Budva. <br /><br />
You can charter boats in the bay that take you out to the coast , visiting old submarine basis, caves, that church on the island thing. That was a highlight for us
Drove up to Lovcen up the windy road great views etc
we would defo go back again without our son and explore the mountains / parks in land
i wondered about taking /hiring a bike. No chance ! Drivers are mad
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Thanks
Priganice! make sure you have these fried donuts for breakfast, served with honey and feta style cheese. They’re incredible.
its a beautiful country, albeit some of the coastal areas are being ruined by over development.
Skadr lake is beautiful, as is the hinterland / interior Montenegro.
my outlaws live in the south, in the Bar / Ulcinj area. If you want to kite surf there is an excellent beach in Ulcinj. Although the town is hella busy in summer
https://www.portomontenegro.com/marina/
Nice places to eat and see superyachts at the Marina
The mountains and scenery look incredible for walking
We sailed out to Dubrovnik (Croatia) which is well worth a visit if that interests you
Border crossings by vehicle are slower and cheaper, although you may enjoy a 20 minute delay at an otherwise empty border crossing as 3 border police enjoy seeing a British Passport for the first time ever, I guess all British travellers fly between destinations
Has anyone been walking in the mountains there?
Daughter has been and loves it. As per retirement thread, Montenegro not in Schengen so planning a month there to run/hike in the mountains. No solid plans yet, so watching thread with interest.
Durmitor mountains look nice from the photos online
We've got a few friends who've been in recent years but nobody seems to recall any details of hotels, places etc. They all just said it's really nice
Lovely place, especially Durmitor national park. Proper wilderness, some great hiking available. We flew into Dubrovnik, drove to Kotor (lovely but touristy - boat tour to the Blue Cave and some WW2 submarine pens was good), then to Durmitor NP (we stayed in Zabljak - basic but fine) and did some hiking and lake swims etc. Bobatov Kuk is the big peak but was still snowy when we were there. The road through the middle of the park is one of the most stunning I've ever driven (from Zabljak to Pluzine), well recommended. Tara canyon has rafting etc and is pretty impressively deep. We went from Pluzine up the Piva canyon (beautiful) into Bosnia, spent a few days in Sarajevo, headed south to Mostar, then finished up with a day in Dubrovnik before flying home. Great holiday, super friendly people, and Montenegro was by far the cheapest of the 3 countries visited. Can't really recommend any specific places to stay, we did mainly AirBnB apartments and all worked out fine. Do it!
Our sales rep had one back in the day - nowhere near as good as a Sierra.
Holy thread resurrection Batman
Trip was cancelled in 2024 but we're planning on going in May or June this year.
Had anyone been in the last 2 years? Any further suggestions?
Its a great place to go if you want to build up your network of rich Russians / Mafia. Were were there a couple of years ago and the place was crawling with blacked out BMWs, Mercs and Range Rovers. Beautiful country though.
Its a great place to go if you want to build up your network of rich Russians / Mafia.
Sounds like a day out in Zurich - I've seen them visiting the private banks with large suitcases, they're usually such lovely people too.
Here's a write up I did for a friend to help them plan their own trip. We went in 2024 it was one of the best holidays we've ever had
OK so here's where we went and what was good or not that good (there wasn't much of the latter!) spent about 10 days in total which seemed about right.
Prices were on the cheap side but not super cheap. But this was staying in, and eating in, some really nice places where I'm sure you'd pay double somewhere more well known. It was touristy but in a nice way. Lots of different nationalities and no bellends anywhere (well apart from us anyway).
Chilled vibe, but not so chilled you couldn't get anything done
We flew into, and out of Kotor. looked at flying into Croatia then driving to/from but it would have taken half a day off each end. Heard horror stories about Kotor airport. It was a bit busy/overcrowded but fine and efficient really, as long as you aren't prone to panic about missing flights. They had it sorted, it just looked a bit chaotic.
First day landed at Kotor then drove to Perast which is a small village about 30 mins along the coast. The driving was awful randomly for some reason but it's the only problem we had on the roads the whole trip.
Perast was great for a couple of chilled days after all the holiday prep/travelling. Quite a small boutique type place for honeymooner types with really nice hotels and restaurants overlooking the bay. There are a couple of 'beaches' you can go to which are really just concrete platforms out into the sea (like you'd get in croatia). No sand, which to be honest I actually prefer anyway.
There are some nice quiet trails above the town if you want a quick explore and is worth the hike up as it's an absolutely beautiful area all around Kotor bay.
Second place we went to was Zabljak. Did 3 days there. Driving into it I felt like we'd made a massive mistake as it is a quite werdly soviet, brutalist industrial-looking town. However, it was one of the best places I think we went on the trip. Yes, the town isn't a looker, but the surroundings and overall vibe of the place more than make up for it. One of my favourite places on the trip for sure. We were in the centre of town - loads of well priced little bars, cafes and take aways. All the facilities you need (supermarkets etc) right on the doorstep. But outside the town is where the best stuff is. There's a couple of beautiful blue lakes up in the national park which you can walk to from the town. Good swimming, warm water (in August). Trails for miles out into the national park. We climbed Bobatov Kuk which is the highest mountain in Montenegro. Tough mountain walk, but spectacular. Some short sketchy via ferrata style sections. Saw a few with climbing gear doing it but most people were just winging it (like we did).
Also really good for rafting - we did an organised trip down Tara canyon which was great value and very entertaining (it was a slightly shonky outfit and a barely competent guide - made it more fun TBH. No real danger.)
We could have filled another 1 or 2 days here. Loads of stuff we missed out on.
The drive from Zabljak to Virpazar via Ljevista was stunning rural scenery and gorges - I don't usually like driving long distances as a holiday event but this was pretty spectacular. finished on the A1 motorway which is a spectacle of civil engineering (lots of bridges and tunnels)
Third place was Virpazar on Skadar lake. Did 2 nights 2 days. It had some OK stuff - we went kayaking on the lake which was good (decent bird life etc, and secluded bays to stop at), but Virpazar was my least favourite place of the trip. It was quite small, not many facilities or good places to eat and drink, loads of tourists and people pushing boat tours. Not much to do that wasn't on the lake. It was also boiling hot after coming down from Zabljak. If we went again I'd maybe stop in for half a day of kayaking but then move on.
Moving on from Virpazar we drove down the Adriatic coast which I wish we'd spent more time exploring. We just went to a beach for the day. Some of the places were very busy and touristy but I'm sure if you sought out some of the quieter spots you would find some fantastic places.
Last place we went to was Kotor again. Spent I think 3 days 2 nights. It's a brilliant place, stunningly beautiful and loads to do. Lots of concrete beaches like in Perast, and also the old Medieval walled town (Stari Grad) go to the old town in the evening when it's quieter after the cruise ships have sodded off.
You can also walk up to the fort that overlooks the town. If you get up and down early enough you don't have to pay and it's a lot quieter (we got stung on the way back down unfortunately!) There are loads of trails up into the hills also (which we ran out of time to do much of, unfortunately).
We stayed in the north of the town, right on the coast and it was a brilliant location - would recommend it as a base.
Regrets? Not many. Would have been nice to spend some more time in Zabljak, and would hav ditched Virpazar except for maybe a kayaky trip. Would have beennice to spend a day extra walking in the mountains around Kotor bay area (which we could have squeezed in, but it was bloody hot and everyone else just wanted to jump in the sea instead)
it's a great place. Tell them to definitely go before it gets spoiled!
We go to Montenegro each year, staying with friends in Bigova which is nr Tivat.
The driving is actually fine, you can’t really go much above 50 anywhere, 30-40 is the norm. The only exception is the road down to lake Skadar from Rijeka, scary drop, no barriers
Tivat / Kotor airport is a nightmare flying out, get there early and check a bag so they won’t leave without you while you wait in the Security line.
The Kotor cable car is great, fantastic views and walks to be had.
I like exploring the Austro/Hungarian forts dotted about the hill sides, watch the holes in the floors.
Definitely think about flying into Belgrade and then getting the train down to the coast, Belgrade is great and the journey is amazing.
Had a good day eating my body weight in mussels while drinking local white wine at a mussel farm near Dobrota one time.
If you get invited into a Montenegrins home they will keep giving you alcohol if you empty your glass, so if you’ve had enough leave some!