Trying to pick the best places to visit on a 1 week Montenegro itinerary is tough. There are so many things to do in this beautiful country! Home to historic old towns, winding mountain roads and reflective alpine lakes, Montenegro is one of the most picturesque countries I’ve ever visited.

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Montenegro is a fantastic option for people wanting a cheaper alternative to neighbouring Croatia while still remaining accessible to travellers. The Balkans is one of the most beautiful regions I have backpacked and the Montenegrin nature was assuredly the crown jewel of my month-long trip.

One Week Montenegro Itinerary – the best places to visit:
  • Lake Skadar National Park
  • Durmitor National Park
  • Budva and Sveti Stefan
  • Mount Lovcen
  • Kotor and Perast
Is Montenegro safe for solo travellers?

As a solo traveller, I believe The Balkans are very safe to travel around. For the majority of my Europe trip, I travelled solo and by bus. In Montenegro, I was happy to travel with a friend as it meant we could share a rental car, a rare opportunity for me. But fortunately, the many places on this list are also accessible by bus in high-season. For example, to see stunning Durmitor National Park as a solo traveller, you can take a tour or the bus to Zabjlak, the town which also operates as an access point to this area. Buses also even run to Lake Skadar or you could take a tour or private car, depending on your budget.

Check https://busticket4.me/EN for bus routes or ask your accommodation for help.

There are many comfortable hostel options in Montenegro. Check booking.com reviews for helpful, English-speaking hosts if you want reassurance and support on your trip.

18 Safety Tips for Solo Female Travellers – solo travel series

When is the best time to visit Montenegro?

For the best weather, you’ll want to visit Montenegro between June and September, though any time from April should be pleasant. In peak season (July and August) tourist sites can get very busy, and the small roads can get congested – I certainly wouldn’t want to have to cross past seven tour buses on a winding mountain path haha.

The coastal areas are incredibly popular these months, meaning many don’t rate it as a beach destination, while the national parks are likely to be quieter.

As you’ll see below, we hit a fair amount of rain on our off-season trip in mid-November 2019. However, it was lots of fun and the rain never bothered us anyway.

Backpacking the Balkans in Off Season – What to expect

Renting a car in Montenegro:

Although Pete actually flew into Albania, and we spent a day in Tirana, we then got the bus to Podgorica (Montenegro) to begin our journey. I highly recommend booking a bus to take you over the border if possible. Renting cars for multiple countries can massively hike up prices. When searching for quotes for Albania and Montenegro, the cheapest was a mighty 50 USD! When I changed the search criteria to just Montenegro, it dropped to 15 USD. So we chose to do border crossings by bus and instead spent the full week’s roadtrip in Montenegro, although we’d initially planned to split our time between Montenegro and exploring Albania.

We were also advised to use a rental car company whose ‘brand name we recognised’, as established companies are less likely to rip you off, potentially, than a local brand which might already have faults you’re later charged for. I can’t say for sure if this is true, but nonetheless, booking with established company SIXT was seamless; the car ran great and the staff were incredibly professional.

I highly recommend adding on insurance or the rental company may charge you high payments for even slight scratches.

Beautiful Places and Montenegro Photo Spots:

Montenegro is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever visited! With that in mind, this Montenegro travel guide includes some top tips for taking photos in the region. So alongside sharing my favourite road trip stops, expect to see advice on where to take amazing photos!

See more information about the pros and cons of renting a car in the Balkans here: https://cassiethehag.com/balkans-tips-car-public-transport/

Best Places to Visit on a Montenegro Itinerary

LAKE SKADAR NATIONAL PARK

CRNOJEVIC RIVER

I began my Montenegro road trip from Podgorica. From here, I and my friend Pete – who’d briefly flown from London to join me on my solo Balkans adventure – rented a car from Podgorica Airport.

Since we still had the afternoon free, we decided to drive to Lake Skadar National Park, which is only an hour from Podgorica.

First, we headed to the famous Crnojevic River lookout point. This is the best vantage point of Lake Skadar due to the incredible horseshoe bend and perhaps one of the most naturally ‘instagrammable’ spots in The Balkans. But don’t be put off by that – its popularity is earned.

Search ‘Pavlova Strana’ on google maps and park nearby to get this amazing view – talk about starting our Montenegro road trip on a high!

VIRPAZAR

We also visited the small town of Virpazar just before sunset. This village is home to the official Lake Skadar Visitor Centre and a small number of accommodations.

Driving a little further on from the town, you will come to this viewing point. Here is the map location of the lookout.

We also saw signs for ‘Fortress Besac’, although we didn’t have a chance to check it out as it was getting late. Fortress Besac is an old fortress with beautiful views over the lush Montenegrin countryside.

DURMITOR NATIONAL PARK

In my opinion, Durmitor National Park is the must-see destination in Montenegro. Every lookout is photogenic, and there are many activities here for every traveller.

MOUNTAIN SPOTTING

The following morning we drove from Podgorica to Zabjlak, which is the most popular town to stay in while visiting Durmitor National Park and an excellent access point for activities there. We took the route past Niksic, where we stopped for lunch. We also passed Ostrog Monastery on the way here. If you have time, this is another famous spot in Montenegro though the road is not in a good condition.

The asphalt roads were thankfully good quality on this route. Before long, the views transformed from hazy countryside to hugely impressive scenery; Durmitor is a massif of 48 towering peaks, with the highest mountain being Bobotuv Kok, at 2523 metres tall.

Due to the bad weather, we couldn’t venture too far into the mountains, but we still captured these beautiful photos on the outskirts of Zabjlak.

CRNO JEZERO (or Black Lake)

Durmitor is also home to 17 glacier lakes, with Black Lake being one of the most popular due to its easily accessible location next to Zabjlak town. I adored this beautiful reflective lake… in fact, I think it might be the absolute highlight of our Montenegro itinerary.

The photo on the right was taken as we turned our backs on the lake (which is just on the left of the photographer). On the left of the building is the path back to the car park.

DURDEVICA TARA BRIDGE & TARA CANYON

Tara Canyon is the largest canyon in Europe, at a maximum of 1300m deep. One of the most popular things to do in Durmitor National Park is taking a raft down Tara Canyon, where you’ll get a much better view than we did. This is said to be one of Montenegro’s most scenic activities in the summer when the blue river glistens brightly beneath the towering valleys.

We personally went to see the famous Durdevica Tara Bridge that passes over the canyon. Dotted about are many restaurants and cafes, which make great vantage points over the canyon if you’re looking to take photos. It stands at 172 meters tall over the river, and the building commenced on the bridge in 1937.

Alternatively, you can do the 1050m extreme zipline over the canyon, which goes up to 100km an hour – yikes.

Looking over Tara Bridge – the third photo is the view of Tara Canyon from the bridge.

PIVA LAKE

Although I didn’t have time to make it to Piva Lake, which was quite a way off track from our route, this 45km long lake looks insane. If you do make it, be sure to let me know if the surface is really as blue as it seems in photos. I imagine it’s a stunning addition to any Montenegro itinerary.

KRUPAC LAKE

Not so much a tourist attraction as a ‘we pulled up on the side of the road to take a photo spot, I THINK this view is of Krupac Lake… maybe. It was close to Niksic, outside of Durmitor National Park.

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NEVIDIO CANYON

Ah, another accidental photo stop…

On the way out of Durmitor National Park, I saw the photo symbol on a nearby road. We decided to check it out and ended up halfway down a dirt track, wondering what we’d let ourselves in for. Thankfully, the views here were gorgeous.

I later googled the name – Nevidio Canyon – and it turns out you can go canyoning here in good weather. Maybe worth looking into if you need extreme sports on your Montenegro itinerary; this could be a unique adventure! http://nevidio-canyoning.com/

‘NOWHERE’ SIGN

It was also on the way from the main road to the Nevidio Canyon that we passed this cool roadsign that looks like it’s saying ‘nowhere’.

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SVETI STEFAN

Whilst staying in Budva after our time in Durmitor National Park, we visited Sveti Stefan. This usually known as one of the most beautiful places to go in Montenegro, although we had to use our imaginations a little in the sweet November rain.

As predicted, this part of our trip was incredibly rainy, so we decided not to venture too far from the car. We visited the iconic Sveti Stefan, which is a cute beach destination in the Summer… not that you can tell from this dramatic scene, haha.

Rain in Sveti Stefan
One of the best places to visit in Montengro… in the summer!

LOVCEN NATIONAL PARK

The roads were an absolute nightmare driving from Cetinje to Lovcen National Park… seriously; I thought we might die. Multiple roadworks took place on the narrow mountain path, and we had to scooch past huge working lorries. I was literally opening my passenger door and looking over the side of the edge to check the wheel didn’t fall off the edge. URGH.

As expected, the main attraction at Lovcen National Park was shrouded in mist – did I mention it was off-season? So we didn’t see the famous Mausoleum of Petar NjegoΕ‘ (pictured below).

Hopefully, you will visit in better weather, in which case you can enjoy one of the fantastic hikes or viewpoints around Lovcen National Park.

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Sadly missed off our Montenegro itinerary due to bad weather but definitely one of the best places to visit in Montenegro – Photo by Til Man on Unsplash,

But we stopped for lunch there and met a cute dog. All was well.

The Lovcen to Kotor Road

We went to Lovcen so we could drive down the famous Lovcen to Kotor road, which has an insane 25 hairpin bends. Yikes. There are also some amazing photo spots over the Bay of Kotor at the top of this dizzying, squiggly road. Highly recommend it for the spectacular panoramas and dramatic mountainside drops. Just be careful.

There are many areas you can pull over to take a photo, as you can see on the map from below.

Here are some photos I took on my phone of the views and insane hairpin turns…

KOTOR AND PERAST

Perhaps the most famous town in Montenegro is KOTOR which is home to some of the top tourist attractions in Montenegro. It’s also a popular weekend getaway for Europeans in the Summer. There are tons of fantastic things to do in Kotor for backpackers. A popular activity in Kotor is to walk up Kotor Fortress.

We didn’t spend long exploring here as we’d had a busy week and fancied some downtime, but we did drive around the wonderfully scenic Bay of Kotor to nearby PERAST. Perast is tiny (just 1km long with a population of 250) yet still lined with seemingly endless historical churches and buildings.

On the left, the Lady of the Rocks is one of two miniature islands in Boka Bay. You can take a boat trip out to see them.

‘The Lady of the Rocks’ and Perast

Where do you think are the best places to visit in Montenegro to a one-week itinerary?

BEST DAY TRIPS FROM KOTOR

Although I didn’t take any day trips from Kotor, I did fly out of Dubrovnik so we got the bus from Kotor into Croatia and got to spend an afternoon there. And Bosnia & Herzegovina was actually the first stop on my Balkans itinerary – I was actually there one month earlier!

DUBROVNIK (Croatia)

Suddenly, after 4 weeks in the Balkans, I understood why Croatia is popular with essentially regular holidaymakers over budget backpackers; Dubrovnik, in particular, was painfully pricey by my usual standards.

In favour of pricey must-do activities such as walking the old City Wall or taking the cable car (which I’d recommend you do fit the ‘holiday’ category), we simply strolled the old town for free. Shame.

We didn’t have long here since we’d come from Kotor that morning and were delayed after the bus door fell off but we enjoyed our time in Dubrovnik all the same. After struggling to find vegetarian food in the Balkans (in off-season no less), I was thrilled to tuck into a meal at one of their fully vegan restaurants.

Most ‘instagrammable’ place on our roadtrip according to social media? Think again… zoom into see the rubbish. Yikes.

MOSTAR (Bosnia & Herzegovina)

I travelled solo in Bosnia & Herzegovina in October, mainly basing myself between Mostar’s old town and the fascinating capital city of Sarajevo. I was ill during this time so don’t have many tips as I’d like, although I did find time to write these three blog posts if you are also heading into Bosnia & Herzegovina:

How to spend one day in Sarajevo (Bosnia & Herzegovina)

The Best Vegan and Vegetarian Food in Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina)

A scenic bus journey from Mostar to Sarajevo (+ how it compares to the train)

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Written by

Cassie

Hi, I'm Cassie, and I've been solo travelling the globe since May 2018. In this time, I've backpacked around Southeast Asia, Japan and The Balkans, alongside living in New Zealand and Australia. Current location? Mexico