I’m heading out there in early July, specifically just outside Kotor.

I’ve read some older threads on here that are now closed with people saying they would feed back after their visits. Unfortunately that feedback never came back

So is it any good for road or mtb? Googling brings up very limited info, which maybe says it all?

Thanks

I was there in April, some very nice roads to cycle! We came from Shkodër – the road along the lake on the western side to Virpazar is very beautiful with loads of nice views over the lake and mountains on the other side. From there we were out of cash so we went directly to Podgorica – this was shit, very narrow road with lots of traffic (but also a handful of local roadbikers going this way, so maybe not as dangerous as it felt). BUT had we not been out of cash, the road north of the lake looks very scenic – check highlight no. 5 here https://www.plus-fort.de/bikepacking-montenegro-my-8-cycling-highlights/

Further from Kotor, the road from Pluzine to the border to Bosnia is super beautiful, and people say the Durmitor pass close to Pluzine should be magical (we didnt make it there, its also in the blog I posted above. Oh, and there is also brief description about the “KOTOR SERPENTINES” I see).

Hope u have a good one!

I’ve not ridden there but stayed in Kotor bay a couple of times. In early July it’ll likely be hot and busy as it’s the start of their holiday season. If you want a flat road loop then riding to the ferry at Kamenari would be pleasant. The only other option is to head up -700m steep road climbs. I saw no sign of any mountain biking in the bay.

The interior is much quieter though the general standard of driving is poor with plenty of drink driving and very poor overtaking. Durmitor national park certainly looked to have potential for mountain biking but I’ve no idea if it’s legal to ride the walking trails.

I stayed in Kotor a few years back. Lovely little town!

Can’t remember the company, but I hired a bike (decent Specialized hard tail) from a place near the town centre. Used the road with all the switchbacks to climb the mountain behind the town. Right near the top, there’s an obvious off road trail that leads right back into town.

Spectacular views everywhere and the trail was half decent too!

Thanks – so it looks like road biking may be the better option, but could be on dangerous roads?

We are staying on the west side of the bay.

I am struggling to find websites for road bike hire though. It would be good to take my pedals and shoes and rent a bike, as I will have a car so could travel to quieter areas to ride.

I’ve found a place https://3etravel.me/ in Podgorica that hires what looks like good bikes, but that is a 1hr 45 min drive from Kotor !

Riding around the bay would be reasonably safe as there’s low speed limits and a significant police presence with regular speed traps so most drivers appeared to behave. In the interior that wasn’t the case.

One of the most memorable parts of the Transcontinental Race I did 7 years ago was the descent to Kotor bay southbound along the E80, around the bay and then the climb up the Kotor Serpentine on Mt Lovcen to Restoran Nevjesta which was a race checkpoint.
The view overlooking the bay on the E80 was stunning, the descent was grin inducing, the bay was busy but then it’s a holiday destination, and the climb up the Serpentine was great. Some welcome local encouragement as I made the climb too. I can’t remember how many but there’s something like 20 hairpins I think. I’d imagine the descent would be pretty fun. I climbed it in the dark so found it pretty easy. No really hard gradient but then it’d be different during the heat of the day, although I think there was plenty of tree cover.

I’d imagine there’s some good MTB’ing round there somewhere too. Memory’s a little hazy as by that point I’d ridden a thousand odd miles with only a few hours bivvi kipping between rides.

Oh, the view down on Kotor was southbound on the E80 sort of around here…

https://www.google.com/maps/place/42%C2%B032’26.3%22N+18%C2%B041’27.7%22E/@42.5406469,18.6888403,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!1m6!3m5!1s0x0:0xddab76d01aa4ede0!2sTvrdjava+Unter!8m2!3d42.5488748!4d18.7077189!3m5!1s0x0:0x1ae552351f351f12!7e2!8m2!3d42.5406435!4d18.6910295?hl=en-GB

@blabla – thanks for the link, very helpful for just linking where I thought stuff was to a map

The search however is still going on to find a half decent bike to rent !

https://road.cc/content/blog/montenegro-cycling-287589?amp

We’re just back from cycling in albania and montenegro. The montegos are noticeably worse drivers but still acceptable (we were with kids so pretty sensitive to traffic).if you possibly can try and get up into the hills. There are a number of waymarked old school mtb routes which are probably awesome gravel bike routes.

Have returned from Montenegro

What a stunning country, and nice people. I didn’t do any biking, mainly because I struggled to find any where that rented half decent bikes and the temps were 36+ every day.

We spent most of our time around the Bay of Kotor, but did drive in land on a couple of occasions.

The roads of very good quality. Driving standards are interesting, and on many of the roads I wouldn’t want to be out at busy times. We saw multiple crashes in one day. Many of the modern roads appear to be blasted up and out of hillsides so can be very steep for very long periods of time.

The scenery is just amazing, we will be going back again and will probably spend some more time in the Bay of Kotor, but also travel more in land where it is quieter, visiting the national parks etc.

Locals said September was the time to go.

Locals said September was the time to go.

That’s when we’re there 🙂

I did Dubrovnik – Mostar – Kotor – Dubrovnik as a hotel based bike tour in May. Montenegro was my favourite out of the three countries I visited.

The Kotor Bay was a little bit busy to cycle round (scenery obviously amazing)

If you can get to the top of the Bay, the mountain road north of Risan was literally jaw dropping (that’s the way I came in)

Didn’t see may bike shops…

Does anyone have any maps of trails in Montenegro, specifically around Budva?

There look like some good options for trails but all I can find is Google Maps / Garmin Connect that can be a bit scant. Or is this as good as it gets, having being spoilt by OS maps in the UK?