Best Day Trips in Montenegro: Durmitor, Ostrog, Lake Skadar and Perast

Montenegro’s best days out are inland, and they are the ones most visitors skip. The coast is where people stay; the mountains, the monastery cut into a cliff and the lake full of birds are all within a couple of hours of it. Four trips are worth the drive, and one of them can be done in an afternoon.

Durmitor and the Tara canyon — the full day

The big one. Durmitor National Park sits above Žabljak in the north, at around 1,450 metres, and the temperature difference from the coast in August is the first thing you notice.

The standard stop is Black Lake (Crno jezero), three kilometres from Žabljak — actually two joined lakes, with a flat, easy walking circuit around the shore of a couple of hours. You do not need to be a hiker to do it.

On the way you cross the Tara canyon, the deepest in Europe, usually at the Đurđevića Tara bridge. Rafting operators run half-day trips on the river from spring through summer.

• Park entry: around €5
• Drive from Podgorica: 2 to 2.5 hours; from the coast, add an hour
• Realistic: this is a full day, and a long one from Budva or Kotor. If you can, stay a night in Žabljak or Kolašin instead of turning straight round.

Ostrog Monastery — the half day

Ostrog is built directly into a vertical cliff face, white against grey rock, about 900 metres up. It is the most visited pilgrimage site in Montenegro and it is genuinely startling when it comes into view.

There are two levels: the Lower Monastery, and the Upper Monastery three kilometres further up the hill. Pilgrims walk the last stretch barefoot, and some sleep in the monastery yard.

• Entry: free
• Dress: shoulders and knees covered, for men and women. This is enforced.
• Timing: go on a weekday morning. At weekends the upper church can be so busy that access inside is limited.
• Driving: the road up is narrow with tight switchbacks. There is parking below the upper level and a short walk from there.

Lake Skadar — the slow one

The largest lake in Southern Europe, shared with Albania, and a national park. It is a bird reserve — pelicans among them — and a landscape of green islands, monasteries and water lilies.

The usual way in is a boat trip from Virpazar, an hour from the coast, taking in coves, the island fortress of Grmožur and swimming stops.

• Park entry: around €5
• Combine it with the Crmnica wine villages on the same road — this is Vranac country.
• Best in late spring and September; midsummer afternoons can be hazy and hot on open water.

Perast and Our Lady of the Rocks — the easy afternoon

If you only have a few hours, do this one. Perast is a single street of baroque stone houses on the bay, 15 minutes from Kotor, with no beach and almost no cars — which is exactly why it is pleasant.

Offshore sit two islands: Sveti Đorđe, natural and closed to visitors, and Gospa od Škrpjela (Our Lady of the Rocks), which is man-made — built up over centuries by sailors dropping stones and sinking old ships at the spot. The church on it holds a collection of silver votive plaques left by seamen.

Small boats run continuously from the Perast waterfront for a few euros. The crossing takes minutes.

Which to pick

• One day, want the mountains: Durmitor and Tara
• Half a day, want something you will remember: Ostrog
• Half a day, relaxed, near Kotor: Perast and Our Lady of the Rocks
• Nature and wine, slow pace: Lake Skadar from Virpazar

Practical

• Distances lie. Mountain roads are slow — add 30–50% to whatever a mapping app tells you. See getting around Montenegro.
• Fuel up before going inland. Petrol stations thin out quickly past Nikšić and Kolašin.
• Organised tours from Kotor and Budva to Durmitor, Tara and Ostrog run around €100 per person, with park entry and food on top. Worth it if you would rather not drive the mountain roads yourself.
• Emergency: 112 works everywhere, including on foreign SIM cards with no credit.

See also: where to stay, the best beaches, what to eat and what is on this summer.

Entry fees and boat prices change. Confirm before you set out.