Montenegro: the most beautiful places

Our Montenegro trip is over. We’re already in Albania in a local resort called Durrës, which is built mostly from concrete. We left Montenegro after a few days with a sense of relief since it did not amaze us as Bosnia and Herzegovina did. Too crowded, too touristic, too expensive and with no culinary delights. The views were quite rewarding though! There’s quite a few beautiful places, and even though we didn’t manage to see the whole country, there were plenty of charming locations on the Adriatic coast and nearby.

Check out our favourite landscape gems from Montenegro!

 

1) BOKA KOTORSKA

 

 

Boka Kotorska is an absolute must on your trip to Montenegro. Mountains “kiss” the waters of the bay and there’s plenty of tiny towns on the shore. It looks amazing when you’re travelling through little towns: Risan, Perast, pass Kotor and continue towards Prcanj and Lepetane. However, it looks even more stunning when seen from above. In order to see it from such angle, ride up to Kotor-Cetinje route. Reportedly it’s one of the most beautiful routes in the whole Europe. When you look down at Boka Kotorska it’s hard to argue with that. Absolutely breathtaking views! Be prepared though, the route is not easy – curvy, steep and narrow – if you encounter a bus, you may have to backtrack. We checked it out on Google Maps before we left and it looked terrifying – like doodles of a little child! On a 15 km distance there’s 25 U-turns and the difference in level is 1000 m! Fortunately it’s only 45 km and even I survived it (despite my motion sickness). I’ll tell you one thing: IT’S WORTH IT! 🙂

 

 

 

 

2) KOTOR AND PERAST

 

 

Kotor and Perast were the highlights of the trip to Boka Kotorska. Different but both worth visiting. Kotor, quite crowded during the day, with lots of tourists and organised trips, amazes with stone houses and a tremendous number of churches and old palaces. The city got to UNESCO heritage list in 1979. You can walk around Kotor with a plan showing where which monuments are, but you can also “get lost” in the maze of stone and narrow alleys. You’ll always find yourself on one of the main squares such as Trg Oktobarskie Revolucije near the Main Gate with the impressive clock tower or Trg Ustanka Mornara with huge Cathedral of St. Tryphon. You can stop for pizza in Sara pizzeria on the square by the cathedral – it may not be the best pizza in the world, but it works as a midday snack. There are defensive walls towering above the old town. They lead to St. John’s stronghold which is beautifully illuminated in the evenings.

Like Perast, Kotor was hit by an earthquake in 1979, however many destroyed buildings were rebuilt since then. I already wrote about Perast here. It makes the best impression when you visit it in the evening. It’s quiet, calm and romantic. A perfect place for dinner.

 

 

 

 

 

3) ROAD TO CETINJE THROUGH NJEGUŠI AND NEARBY VILLAGES

 

 

Mountainous road from Kotor to the former capital Cetinje lets you enjoy not only the spectacular views of Boka Kotorska but also idyllic views on top. After a while, the hairpins stop and you find yourself in another world – like a hidden settlement somewhere at the foot of Lovćen mountains. With little houses, sheep, green meadows and mountains around. Plenty of stalls with dried ham by the road, sometimes even a Restoran of some sort. The air is filled with peace and silence typical for tiny villages located far from everything. It’s another treat after a long trip. We don’t stop in Cetinje – there’s a few orthodox churches and monasteries there, but the city wasn’t interesting enough for us. We continued through Podgorica to Lake Skadar…

 

 

4) LAKE SKADAR

 

 

The biggest lake of the Balkans looks magical at sunset! It’s located partly in Montenegro (more than 63%) and partly in Albania. As we arrive from Podgorica, we come upon tiny fishermen’s villages such as Vranjina or Virpazar form which you can sail on a cruise on the lake. We decide to go for an hour long trip – we pay 25 euro for a boat for 3 and 4 euro per person for entering Nacionalni Park Skadarsko Jezero. There, you can watch various species of birds that live by the lake. Unfortunately apart from birds, there’s a lot of garbage floating on the lake – bottles, empty containers, rubbish. Supposedly most of the dirt comes from Albanian Shkodër, however, after seeing the cleanliness standards in Montenegro, I’m not so sure about that. Despite that, the views are spectacular and the trip is worth recommending. And when you get to the centre of the lake, the captain will fish some water chestnuts for you.

 

 

 

 

 

5) SVETI STEFAN

 

 

Sveti Stefan is a place worth visiting if you’re near Budva. It’s definitely one of the most charming things we’ve seen during our whole Balkan trip. A tiny island full of stone buildings with red tiles, Adriatic sea around and blue sky above. Sveti Stefan is available to see and get photographed from a distance – sightseeing on your own is prohibited. When we arrived in Sveti Stefan, trips were organised twice a day. You can also get on the island if you have booked the table in a restaurant located there. After Sveti Stefan, you can drive further south towards Bar and stop by in a small village called Stari Bar, where you can walk around some cool ruins of the town.

 

 

 

 

We’ll surely remember those views after we get back from Montenegro. It’s worth coming here to see it. What do we not recommend? A trip to Podgorica – we decided to check it out, even though the guide stated that it was bombarded in 1944 and not much of the city was left. It turned out that the only place worth seeing was a.. playground 🙂 Better spend this time seeing something else from our list! 🙂

 

* The entry was written in cooperation with HTC. All pictures were taken with HTC One(M8).