{"id":10356,"date":"2019-12-27T14:51:56","date_gmt":"2019-12-27T18:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/?p=10356"},"modified":"2020-12-10T11:31:33","modified_gmt":"2020-12-10T15:31:33","slug":"driving-itineraries-in-montenegro-the-3-most-beautiful-drives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/2019\/12\/driving-itineraries-in-montenegro-the-3-most-beautiful-drives\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving itineraries in Montenegro: the 3 most beautiful drives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Montenegro holds a unique position among the Mediterranean countries. It’s small yet extremely rich in sights and natural drama \u2013 and very affordable to travel around at that. Public transport is relatively good, yet the best way to explore this compact country is with a rental car so that you can self-drive. In this post, experts from the local car rental agency Sitngo share their favorite road trip itineraries in Montenegro<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. The Bay of Kotor (Boka Kotorska)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The drive along the shore of the Kotor Bay<\/a> is one of the most enticing and scenic routes in the whole Mediterranean. It has everything: magnificent views of the sea and mountains, medieval towns, delicious food, and even ancient mosaics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The road you’ll take is called Jadranska Magistrala (E80\/E65), or the\nMediterranean Highway. It’s a very good and fast road, but traffic can be very\nheavy in high season. You can still enjoy the trip even in summer, but April,\nMay and September are much better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can start the drive from any of the popular locations around the bay, such as Kotor, Herceg Novi, or even Tivat airport. If you want to make this a round trip, you can use the car ferry at Lepetane. For the fullest possible experience, start from the airport in Tivat and end in Herceg Novi \u2013 a charming town with few tourists. By the way, when renting a car from Sitngo<\/a> you’ll get a green card for free, so you’ll be able to proceed from Herceg Novi to Croatia<\/a>. This is a great opportunity to combine your tour of Montenegro with a visit to Dubrovnik<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Perast
Perast Cove<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The medieval city of Kotor is the star attraction of this road trip. Its\nwalls, churches and atmospheric alleys can occupy several hours of your time,\nand you might even break your journey here for the night. Other points of\ninterest include Perast with its noble palaces, Risan and its exquisite Roman\nmosaics, and the ultra-luxurious new marina of Porto Montenegro. However,\narguably it’s the incredible sea vistas that steal the show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Kotor \u2013 Lovcen Mausoleum \u2013 Cetinje<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This itinerary takes you from the sea high into the mountains and to the old\nroyal capital of Cetinje. The views are among the best in all of the Balkans,\nand the road isn’t nearly as treacherous as some say. You’ll start from Kotor,\ntaking first P22 and then P1. The road climbs quickly along 25 hairpin bends,\nwith more spectacular panoramas opening up on every turn. It’s quite narrow, so\nbe ready to reverse a bit if a tour bus comes your way. There are a few points\nwhere you can safely stop to take pictures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Overlooking
Overlooking Kotor, Montenegro<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Just after Zanjev Do, the road splits. Turn right for Lovcen and negotiate a much smaller (but equally beautiful) mountain road that leads into the heart of the Lovcen national park<\/a>. Make sure to take a sweater: it’s much colder up there. On top of mount Lovcen you’ll find the mausoleum of the last ruler of independent Montenegro. From the viewing platform next to the mausoleum, you’ll get magnificent vistas across the Dinaric Alps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From this point, you can either retrace your steps to Kotor or proceed to\nCetinje. There, you’ll find several ancient churches and a quiet, mysterious\natmosphere that is worlds away from the hubbub of the coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. The canyons of Moraca and Tara<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Tara
Tara Canyon Bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Some of the deepest gorges and most dramatic mountain landscapes in Europe\nawait you on this amazing drive. Few tourists head this way, so you can be\nblissfully alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can complete this fantastic road trip in one extremely long day (sunrise\nto sunset in summer). But to get the most out of it, break your journey at a\nfarmstay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best place to start is the capital, Podgorica<\/a>. First, E80 will lead you into the 1200 feet-deep Moraca canyon. Be very careful on this road: Montenegrins are reckless drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Tara
Tara Canyon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the end of the canyon, you can visit Moraca monastery with its very old\nfrescoes. After a well-deserved break, proceed first to Kolasin and then to\nAndrijevica. This part of the itinerary is just as jaw-droppingly beautiful as\nthe first one, with Jurassic Park-like peaks on the Albanian border as the\nbackdrop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you reach Mojkovac, take P4 to reach the Tara canyon with its iconic bridge. Staying on the same side of the bridge, proceed to Zabljak and then to Pluzine. This is quite simply the most impressive road in the country, passing along the canyon of Piva and through Durmitor national park<\/a>. Try to allocate some time for hiking in Durmitor after this \u2013 it’s a spectacular area, worthy of your time even if you’ve hiked in other parts of the Alps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Durmitor
Durmitor Mountains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Some tourists are worried about renting a car in Montenegro. There are all sorts of stories about crazy local drivers, and rough, unpassable roads. None of this is true, though<\/strong>. The roads are generally good, and the drivers aren’t any worse than in any other part of the Balkans. Have some courage and go for it: a road trip through Montenegro will become one of the most memorable trips of your life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Montenegro holds a unique position among the Mediterranean countries. It’s small yet extremely rich in sights and natural drama \u2013 and very affordable to travel around at that. Public transport is relatively good, yet the best way to explore this compact country is with a rental car so that you can drive. In this post, Here are some great road trip itineraries for Montenegro.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10360,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_type":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1227,1242,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe","category-road-trips","category-travel-stories","entry","has-media"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-27 01:55:02","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10356","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10356"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10356\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12705,"href":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10356\/revisions\/12705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.budgetyourtrip.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}