The Bay, the riviera or Ulcinj for the sea, Durmitor for July — choose the coast by its beaches and the north by the month
Montenegro is chosen by stretch of coast first and by month second. The Bay of Kotor — Herceg Novi, Perast, Kotor — has the old towns and the calm water of the bay; the Budva riviera has the most beaches, the most nightlife and the biggest crowds; Ulcinj in the south has the Long Beach, the only long sandy one on the coast. The north, with Durmitor and the Tara canyon, is at its best in July and August, exactly when the coast is hardest going.
The coast is one long road, and in summer the traffic is what separates a good base from a bad one. The Kamenari–Lepetane ferry links the two sides of the Bay: the crossing takes about five minutes, in summer it leaves every 15–20 minutes day and night and saves some thirty kilometres around the bay, but at peak times there is a queue. From Herceg Novi, Dubrovnik is about forty minutes away, though in summer the border can add an hour or more.
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The north is another country and needs a different plan. Durmitor is for walking from June to September and for skiing in winter, with Žabljak as the only real base. Cetinje and Lovćen are the reverse — a day out of Kotor or Budva with the night on the coast, and in winter the Lovćen road can be closed.
How it actually was when we were there, and what was worth it.
Three and a half hours from that coastal traffic jam sits a town at 1,450 metres, with eighteen glacial lakes locals call 'mountain…
The gap between August and October in the bay is not only the price of a room. It is also how many people stand on the same stone quay…
It is often called Europe's southernmost fjord, but the bay was formed by the sea drowning a river canyon, not by a glacier.
Inscribed in 1979 as a natural and cultural-historical region — not just the old town but the whole inner bay, Perast and Risan included.
Durmitor, Biogradska Gora, Lovćen, Lake Skadar and Prokletije. Durmitor, with the Tara canyon, has also been on the UNESCO list since 1980.
The largest lake in the Balkans, 370 to 530 square kilometres depending on the season; about two thirds lie in Montenegro and the rest in Albania. The Dalmatian pelican nests on it.
Our Lady of the Rocks, off Perast, is an artificial island built up from stones that sailors dropped into the sea over the centuries. Every 22 July it happens again — the fašinada, a procession of boats carrying stones.
Montenegro has used the euro since 2002, and the Deutschmark before that, with no agreement with the European Union and no right to print it.
This isn't a ranking — it's a route. Any one of these could carry a whole trip.
The best base for the Bay without a car: Perast and Risan are within reach by bus or boat, and Tivat airport is just over the hill. If the crowds in the harbour on cruise-ship days put you off, sleep in Dobrota or Prčanj on the shore of the bay.
For beaches and nights out, with Budva as the base; the islet of Sveti Stefan is a hotel and is seen from the mainland. In July and August prices are up to double those of June and September, so this is where moving your dates pays off most.
For anyone who finds a summer by the sea too hot: the Black Lake takes two hours to walk round, and the peaks above it take a full day — and a jacket in the rucksack, because at two thousand metres the weather turns fast even in August.
For rafting and the view from the Đurđevića Tara bridge, which stands at the junction of the roads to Žabljak, Pljevlja and Mojkovac, so you cross it on the way. The canyon is about 1,300 metres deep and combines best with Durmitor into one trip.
A day from Kotor: hairpins above the bay, Njegoš's mausoleum on the summit of Lovćen and Cetinje, the old capital, with its museums and former embassy buildings. The monastery is a working one, so shoulders and knees are covered.
In 1991 Montenegro declared itself the world's first ecological state, in a declaration adopted at Zabljak. The provision is still in the constitution, in the first article.
The Bay of Kotor is the deepest inlet in the Mediterranean and is often described as Europe's southernmost fjord. It is not a true fjord. No glacier carved it; it is a drowned river valley.
Short answers to what people ask most before setting out.
Ulcinj: the Long Beach is sandy and shallow a long way out. The drawback is the wind, strongest in July and August, so June or September works better there too.
Hardly. From the coast it is three to four hours to Žabljak on mountain roads, one way; from Podgorica about two and a half. The Black Lake and one peak need at least two nights up there.
Tivat for the Bay of Kotor and Budva; Podgorica for Durmitor, Lake Skadar and the south of the coast around Ulcinj.
Keep going — these destinations and stories pair well with this one.
The whole of Montenegro fits into one query — six questions and you know which of them suits you.
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All photographs come from Wikimedia Commons and are used under the licence stated beside each one.
