Durmitor
Eighteen glacial lakes, Europe's deepest canyon, and cold even in August
- When to go
- October 2° · 9 rainy days
- Per day
- ~29 · 66 · 100 €budget · mid · comfort, per person · checked 22 Sep 2026
- How many days
- 2–3days
- For you
- 6 questions →
- Nearest airport
- 84 km Tivat · 87 km Podgorica
- Right now
Three to four hours' drive from the sea, and everything changes. Durmitor is a national park with peaks above 2,500 metres, eighteen glacial lakes, and the Tara canyon which, at around 1,300 metres, is the deepest in Europe. In August you sleep here under a blanket.
The Black Lake is the easiest to reach and therefore the busiest — a flat ninety-minute path runs around its shore, and anyone can walk it. The other seventeen lakes require proper hiking, which is why they're empty.
The Tara canyon is best seen from the Đurđevića Tara bridge, built in the 1930s, which looks 170 metres straight down. Rafting through the canyon is the country's best-known activity and comes in several formats — from a half day, which is calm and family-friendly, to two days through the whole canyon.
Žabljak, the town at the foot of the mountain, is the highest settlement in the Balkans at 1,450 metres. Which means that even in midsummer the nights sit around ten degrees — a genuine change after the coast.
Guides for Durmitor
Shorter, practical pages for one concrete question each — how many days, how much money, where to sleep, where to escape the city.
Durmitor in 3 days
→Three days split the park by effort: the first is the lake and the view from the pass, the second the summit for those…
What to see in Durmitor
The Black Lake
Two lakes joined into one, with a shore path you walk in an hour and a half. Above it rises Međed, one of the park's most recognisable peaks.
included in general park ticket (€5)
The Đurđevića Tara bridge
Built in the 1930s, 365 metres long, 170 metres above the river. It shows the full depth of the canyon, and there's a zipline across for anyone who wants it.
free (crossing the bridge)
Rafting the Tara canyon
The half-day version is calm and works with children; the two-day runs the whole canyon and camps by the river.
€60–85 (one-day, 25 km) · closed off-season (Oct–Apr, water-level dependent) · booking: recommended
Bobotov Kuk
Durmitor's highest peak at 2,523 metres. Six to eight hours of walking, technically undemanding but long. On a clear day you can see as far as Albania.
included in general park ticket (€5) · booking: no (guide recommended, €40/4h)
Sedlo pass
The highest asphalt pass in Montenegro at 1,907 metres. The road runs through the heart of the park and practically every bend is a viewpoint.
free (public road) · closed closed Nov–Apr (snow)
Durmitor National Park
One ticket covers the whole park and every trail in it, bought at the entrance or in advance online. Without it there's no way in, not even to the Black Lake.
€5/day · booking: no (bought at the entrance or online)
Stories from Durmitor
How it actually was when we were there, and what was worth it.
Montenegro has a north — without the coastal crowds
→Three and a half hours from that coastal traffic jam sits a town at 1,450 metres, with eighteen glacial lakes locals call 'mountain eyes' and a canyon deeper than any other in Europe.
Two things you probably did not know
The Tara canyon is up to 1,300 metres deep, the deepest in Europe. It comes right after the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and in places the river water is clean enough to drink untreated.
Durmitor has eighteen glacial lakes that locals call mountain eyes. They are left from the ice age, when glaciers gouged hollows that later filled with water.
Ready for Durmitor?
Within reach from here
Places sorted by straight-line distance from Durmitor — day trips or weekends.
Montenegro
→The Bay, the riviera or Ulcinj for the sea, Durmitor for July — choose the coast by its beaches and the north by the month
Serbia
→The north an hour away by train, the mountains three or four by car — Serbia divides by the time you have
Greece
→The north by road, the Cyclades by ferry, Rhodes by air — pick the region first and the island second
All 277 places we write about sit on one page — narrow them down by continent, country, price or what you are travelling for.
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