Hi all,
I am travelling to Montenegro for a week next Thursday. Thought I'd ask for your opinions on my itinerary. I will base myself in Kotor for the entire journey;
Day 1 explore kotor
Day 2 visit perast
Day 3 visit herceg novi
Day 4 hike the back road to lovcen and visit lovcen NP
Day 5 visit sveti stefan
Day 6 visit budva
Day 7 explore kotor
Day 8 fly back to London
Any opinions thoughts or comments will be appreciated. Thanks guys Chris.
I sit in a stunning resort in the mountains of Montenegro as I write this.
Kotor: went last year,not terribly impressed
Perast, loved it. Spent 2 nights, could have done 3
Herceg Novi, beautiful town. Only spent part of an afternoon, deserved more
Cetinje, not impressed.
Podgorica, the old town was somewhat interesting for an hour, otherwise just a great airport.
This Trip
Sveti stefan, didn't go. won't be going.
Stari Bar, well worth it, one of the highlights.
Budva old town, better than Kotor.
Ulcinj, mixed feelings. Facinating but ....
Zabljak and places to the east, absolutely breath taking
Hi there,
I've spent quite a bit of time in Montenegro - October should be a really nice time of year to be there! I'm assuming you will have a car? I do have a few thoughts on your itinerary.
Perast is lovely. As a matter of fact, it is where we usually stay when we are in Montenegro. Be sure to visit the little islands in the Boka, if you can.
Herceg Novi is larger, of course, with a nice old town. One of the nicest things about Herceg Novi is getting there, because the drive will take you all around the Boka - lovely views.
When you go to Lovćen, you will be quite near Cetinje, a very important place in Montenegrin history, and it is definitely worth a visit. I think it is a very attractive city.
Sveti Stefan is now a hotel and offers very little access to those not staying there. Sveti Stefan, in my view, can be best appreciated from afar. If you are landing in Podgorica and driving to the coast, you will have some really nice views of it along the way. While you probably won't be able to actually visit Sveti Stefan, (who knows? maybe they've changed something...) there are many lovely promenades right along the coast that you should be able to access at different points, between Sveti Stefan, Miločer and Bečići. You may have to ask around.
Budva is lovely (although I can't help but remember it in its pre-earthquake, pre-mass tourism days!). Be sure to walk all around the city on the old walls, and you can also follow a walkway out along the shore to have a beautiful view of the Budva Stari Grad promontory jutting out into the Adriatic.
Another longer day trip that I can recommend (if you have really nice weather and you're up for some driving) is to head inland following the Morača canyon towards Biogradska National Park (hiking, lakes). There are spectacular views along this drive which follows the Morača river and brings you past the lovely Morača monastery (definitely worth a visit) and through the small but very sweet town of Kolašin.
Well, those are just a few of my thoughts. Have a wonderful time in Crna Gora!
KateN
Just spent a week in Montenegro including a few days fishing near Mojkovac; leave tomorrow for Budapest. We will definitely be back. Starting to get a tad chilly here about now.
Just a "heads up". From Kotor there is a road that leads away from the bay inland. The views are spectacular. But, It goes up the side of a steep mountain and has 25 numbered 180 degree switchback turns and at least 75 other sharp turns. Rock wall on one side and nothing on the other. Can't remember the name or number of the road, but it went to the towns of Njegusi and Cetinje. Don't mean to rain on you parade, but don't want you to get into a hairy situation without any knowledge. If you party are prone to motion sickness or have a problem with heights you might want to avoid this road. You can go to bing.com, use the map feature, and see aerial views of the road from &*$$. You can also check it out on googlemaps.com. It is possible, however, to go to and from other areas around Kotor without using that particular road. On 12 Mar. 2017 there was a thread titled "Greece Montenegro Croatia". One person included a link to the map that shows the road. Another person had a link to a video made along parts of the road.
I found Montenegro was getting rather wet by early October 2015, but perhaps you will be luckier.
Really loved the country but found Budva (day-trip) rather reminiscent of Kotor (one of my bases). Budva was getting ready to shut down the day I was there, which I think was just a few days earlier than you would visit. You can poke around online to check for cruise ships schedules for the port of Kotor. Try to spend the days large ships are due to visit (if any--you may be just past the cruise season) in other parts of the country.
I second the recommendation for Cetinje. Attractive and not a coastal town, so quite different from Kotor and Budva. Also liked Herceg Novi and Ulcinj. Much of the countryside is really pretty, too.
I believe the info previously posted about Sveti Stefan is correct.
If you are not renting a car, you'll need to check carefully on bus transportation beyond the major towns.
The road is called P1 and its definately the way you want to go. Spectacular and not so much dangerous as it is the long way through some beautiful country. The most nerve racking aspect for me was when we met a tour bus coming the other way at one of the curves. Meant someone had to squeeze past. But I've been on "more interesting" roads in Montenegro this week.
which airport are you arriving at? Tivat, Dubrovnik or Podgorica?
I think you'll have to appreciate Sveti Stefan from this slick video:
https://www.aman.com/resorts/aman-sveti-stefan
Hi James,
I will be arriving at tivat airport.
any chance you can fly into tivat and out of Podgorica? That way you could do nearly a straight line with little back tracking. Wizzair serves Podgorica. Our onward trip to Budapest tomorrow was 65euro.
