The Ultimate Montenegro Road Trip

Montenegro is a dream holiday destination, offering picturesque beaches with glittering water to rugged mountains. Soaked in natural beauty and cultural heritage, Montenegro is a destination for beach lovers and history buffs alike. The warm-hearted and friendly locals are the cherry on top, making the entire experience worthwhile. This ultimate Montenegro Road Trip article is all you need to read to plan your epic trip to one of the most underrated yet uniquely beautiful countries in the Balkans and the European continent.

Montenegro being a small country, is very accessible and easy to drive around. You can drive from one end to the other in just a couple of hours. So, it’s very convenient to base yourself in one central point and do day trips to different locations.

We are going to divide this blog into a number of regions you could cover on your ultimate Montenegro road trip. Let’s start with Budva.

Budva

Budva is one of the most popular spots in Montenegro and there is a lot to see in and around the town. The town is surrounded by beautiful beaches, filled with clubs, bars, and restaurants, and is soaked in history and culture.

Our detailed blog – The Best of Budva, Montenegro: Travel Blog – covers everything from things to do and places to visit, the best restaurants to eat, and also recommendations on where to stay.

Some of the highlights of Budva are:

The Budva Old Town, also known as Stari Grad, is this charming little town surrounded by fortified walls, filled with traditional-style buildings, and complete with cobblestone streets. We recommend getting lost in those streets to find that cute little win bar to enjoy a glass of Montenegrin wine.
Budva Riviera, a 35km stretch along the Adriatic coast, is home to some of the most popular beaches in Montenegro like Ploce Beach, Jaz Beach, and Mogren Beach. We recommend spending a day on one of the beaches with absolutely no agenda.
Sveti Stefan is a landmark spot in Montenegro, approximately 20 minutes drive from Budva. While entry to the islet is restricted to hotel & restaurant guests only, you can still enjoy the view. Drive to St. Save Church for the most famous view of Sveti Stefan and Budva Riviera.
While in Budva, don’t miss the Sveti Nikola island aka Hawaii. It’s an easy boat ride from Budva promenade and promises crystal-clear water and a day of relaxation.

The Bay of Kotor

The Bay of Kotor is probably the first sight of Montenegro that you will see while landing in Tivat. This beautiful fjord-like landscape with a Mediterranean climate will literally take your breath away.

Hop on to our detailed blog – How to explore the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro. It covers everything from things to do and places to visit, the best restaurants to eat, and also recommendations on where to stay.

Some of the highlights of the Bay of Kotor are:

Kotor Stari Grad, a UNESCO world heritage site, is one of the best well-preserved medieval towns in Montenegro. You would for sure find that perfect cafe to relax and people watch while enjoying a glass of drink or a plate of pasta.
We highly recommend doing the San Giovanni Fortress hike, as the view of the Bay of Kotor and the Old Town, is so worth all the climb. It’s a 1350-step climb up, so plan to do this early in the morning.
Perast is another beautiful old town on the Bay of Kotor. This car-free village, promises a beautiful view of the Bay of Kotor and boasts 20 palazzi (palaces), 18 churches, and a beautiful waterfront promenade.
From the Perast waterfront promenade, you will see two islets – St George and Our Lady of the Rocks. Our Lady of the Rocks is a man-made island and is easily accessible by boat.
In Tivat, you can see the Bay of Kotor opening up to the Adriatic sea and the seascape looks so beautiful during sunset.

National Parks

Montenegro may be considered a beach and party country but there is much more to explore here, in addition to the Stari Grads and Adriatic coastline. There are 5 national parks in Montenegro, each of them being drastically different. Lovcen and Lake Skadar National Parks are the famous ones, probably because of their proximity to Budva and Kotor.

Lovcen National Park

As you drive through the Lovcen National Park to the visitor center and the viewpoint, you will see the landscape turning into this beautiful green filled with rugged mountains. The mausoleum of Montenegrin ruler and poet Petar II Petrovic Njegos is the main attraction here which eventually leads to the stunning views of the national park. You will need to climb 461 stairs to reach the top, and on a clear day, you can see the Bay for Kotor in the distance. The entrance fee to the park is €2 per car and the mausoleum is €5 per person. The only way to reach the viewpoint is through the mausoleum.

You can either drive into the National Park from Budva or Kotor and on both routes be assured to see a different yet stunning landscape. On the drive from Kotor, you will come across multiple viewpoints of the Bay of Kotor which will blow your mind, so be prepared to stop multiple times.

If there is only one National Park you can include in your itinerary, it should be Lovcen National Park. After all, Montenegro got its name from the Lovcen mountain.

Lake Skadar National Park

Split between Montenegro and Albania, Lake Skadar is Europe’s largest bird reserve. It is still one of the lesser popular destinations among tourists, but rich in natural beauty.

We couldn’t visit as we were traveling with a toddler, and we prioritized beaches over long drives. However, you can rent a boat to see the wildlife and islands. If you plan to drive all the way to Lake Skadar, don’t miss the Rijeka Cmojevika bridge and the instagram famous Pavkiva Strana viewpoint.

Ulcinj (and Bar)

If you are in search of soft sandy beaches, Ulcinj is the place to go. It’s the southernmost coastal town in Montenegro. Being so close to Albania, it has a strong Albanian and a little Turkish influence. We felt as if we were in a different country altogether in Ulcinj. It felt like a party town, with numerous pubs and sea-facing restaurants. There are a number of famous beaches here, some of them listed below.

Small Beach

The small beach is located right in the city center, so a very convenient location. The beach is surrounded by mountains and the Ulcinj old town and is filled with numerous sun beds. However, we read a few reviews saying that the beach was dirty. Possibly because of the turnover the beach gets considering its accessibility.

Long Beach

Having driven all the way to Ulcinj for soft sandy beaches, we would highly recommend driving a few more minutes down south to Long beach. This 13km long stretch of beach is absolutely stunning and a perfect place for small kiddos to play and enjoy. The sea waves are not very rough, and the beach itself is shallow at the beginning, so very safe for kids. They have beach swings, sun beds, and restaurants so it’s a perfect place to spend your day. In many ways, it reminded us so much of the beaches in Goa, India.

Ulcinj Old Town

Ulcinj has a Stari Grad, however not as well preserved as the rest of the country. The views surrounding the old town are just stunning. We spent an hour exploring the street outside the old town, treating ourselves to local deserts and peaking into many little souvenir shops. At golden hour, we saw a few men fishing, and it was just so beautiful and peaceful.

Bar

Bar, along with Ulcinj is one of the lesser-known and touristy spots in Montenegro. However, we saw the most stunning seascape while driving back to Budva. It was during sunset and blue hour, and the entire drive back through Bar was breathtaking. Soft blue mountain ranges were softly merging with the sea. The full moon and the water sparkling in shades of blue and silver. It just looked like we were inside a painting. We simply fell in love with the scene and the country all over again.

It was one of our most beautiful experiences in Montenegro, and no words can describe how beautiful the sunsets are in Bar. I only wish, we were able to stop the car at a perfect spot to capture the magic in front of our eyes.

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Where to Stay in Montenegro

Montenegro being a small country, you can cover a lot of spots as a day trip. As such, we highly recommend choosing one or two hotels as your base and renting a car for your day trips. We divided our trip into these two hotels and absolutely loved the convenience and comfort that they offered us.

We found this very cute and cozy hotel – Apartment Trifunovic Old Town – right in the Budva Old Town. We stayed here for the first four days of our trip. Ours was a sea-facing apartment and the view from our tiny window was amazing. The property had a very nice garden to relax in and have our takeaway dinners in. The tower bell would chime every 30 minutes and it felt as if we were in a different era altogether.
For the second part of our trip, we stayed in a traditional Montenegrin Stone House, and hands down, this stay was a highlight of our vacation. Perched on top of the hill, our little villa had the most stunning view of the Bay of Kotor and Tivat. The villa came with a private pool, which allowed us to cool down from the afternoon heat. The property owners were friendly and they made our stay very comfortable. The fridge was well stocked, they left wine bottles for us to enjoy, and even brought toys and chocolates for our little kiddo.

We hope this article has been helpful to plan your Ultimate Montenegro Road Trip. Happy travels and we hope you enjoy your vacation, as much as we did!

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The Ultimate Montenegro Road Trip