Montenegro
Crna Gora: this is what its inhabitants have called this land for centuries, "black mountain", after the dense conifer forests tha...
Updated 8 July 2026
Montenegro
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The story
The story of Montenegro
History: Illyrians, Romans, Venetians and an independence never fully lost
Even before the name Montenegro appeared in medieval documents, this land was inhabited by the Illyrians, later absorbed by Rome as the province of Dalmatia. With the fall of the Western Roman Empire came the Slavic peoples, and in the early Middle Ages the principality of Duklja took shape, the direct ancestor of the Montenegrin state. From the fourteenth century the coast fell within Venice's orbit, which built fortresses, churches and palaces still recognisable today in the Bay of Kotor, while the mountainous hinterland remained governed by the prince-bishops of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty, who managed to maintain de facto sovereignty even in the centuries when the Ottoman Empire controlled almost all of the Balkans. Independence was officially recognised at the Congress of Berlin in 1878; after the two world wars the country joined socialist Yugoslavia, before peacefully separating from Serbia with the referendum of 21 May 2006, which sanctioned the birth of the modern Montenegrin state.
The Bay of Kotor, the bay that looks like a fjord
The Bay of Kotor (Boka Kotorska) is a succession of four communicating bays enclosed by mountains that plunge almost straight into the water, the only landscape of its kind in the southern Mediterranean: not a true fjord in the geological sense, but a ria, a river valley submerged by the sea, which nonetheless produces the same scenic effect to the eye. Along its shores lie towns that were once Venetian and Austro-Hungarian maritime ports - Herceg Novi, Risan, Perast, Kotor, Tivat - each with a different character, from the baroque fervour of Perast to the contemporary tourist vocation of Tivat, today home to a superyacht marina in the area of the former military arsenal of Porto Montenegro. Off the coast of Perast rise two twin islets, Our Lady of the Rocks, partly built artificially over the centuries by sailors who deposited stones there as votive offerings, and the island of Saint George with its cemetery: an image that has become a symbol of the entire bay.
Kotor, the walled city that is a World Heritage Site
Squeezed between the sea and the steep walls of Mount Lovćen, Kotor preserves one of the best-preserved medieval old towns on the eastern Adriatic, encircled by four and a half kilometres of walls that climb up to the fortress of Saint John, at nearly 260 metres above sea level: the climb of around 1,350 steps rewards visitors with one of the most photographed views in the Balkans. In the maze of alleys and small squares paved in white stone, noble palaces follow one another, along with Catholic and Orthodox churches standing side by side - a sign of the religious coexistence that has run through the city's history - and the cathedral of Saint Tryphon, consecrated in 808 and rebuilt in Romanesque form after the 1667 earthquake, which holds the relics of the patron saint. Kotor was a Byzantine port, then Serbian, and later a possession of the Republic of Venice from 1420 to 1797: hence the architectural imprint that still dominates the old town today. Since 1979 the entire natural and historical-cultural area of the Bay of Kotor, with Kotor as its monumental heart, has been inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage list.
Budva, the oldest riviera on the Adriatic
Budva claims over 2,500 years of history, among the oldest towns on the eastern Adriatic coast, founded according to legend by Cadmus of Thebes fleeing Greece. The old town occupies a small fortified peninsula, with narrow alleys, a citadel facing the open sea and the church of Santa Maria in Punta, dating back to 840. Almost entirely destroyed by an earthquake in 1979, it was rebuilt respecting the original layout, and today it coexists with a modern tourist coastline of hotels, marinas and nightspots that have made the Budva riviera the most fashionable in the country. A little further south lies Sveti Stefan, the fifteenth-century fishing-village islet turned into an exclusive resort and connected to the mainland by a sandy isthmus, among the most recognisable images of Montenegro in the world.
Cetinje, the ancient royal capital among the mountains
Perched on a karst plain at the foot of Mount Lovćen, far from the sea and its dangers, Cetinje was founded in 1482 by Prince Ivan Crnojević precisely to remove the seat of Montenegrin power from Ottoman raids. For centuries it remained the capital, home to the court of the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty and, more recently, to numerous foreign legations, whose European-style buildings still dot the town centre in sharp contrast with the surrounding mountain architecture. The monastery of Cetinje, destroyed and rebuilt several times, holds relics considered among the most venerated in Orthodoxy, while the National Museum of Montenegro gathers art, history and the memory of the dynasty. Podgorica inherited the role of administrative capital in the twentieth century, but Cetinje retains by law the symbolic title of historic capital, the prijestonica.
Podgorica, the modern capital on two rivers
Podgorica stands at the confluence of the Morača and Ribnica rivers, in a strategic position that made it a settlement as far back as Roman and Illyrian times; its name literally means "below the hill", referring to the height of the Turkish fortress that overlooks it. Almost razed to the ground by bombing during the Second World War and rebuilt in socialist style under the name Titograd until 1992, today it is a contemporary-looking city, with few historic monuments but a lively atmosphere made up of riverside promenades, modern bridges designed by international architects and university districts. It is not the main destination of a trip to Montenegro, but it remains the obligatory hub for those arriving by air and the ideal starting point towards Lake Skadar, just a few minutes away by car.
Durmitor National Park and the Tara Canyon
To the north, the Durmitor plateau holds one of the most spectacular mountain landscapes in the Balkans: forty-eight peaks over two thousand metres, including Bobotov Kuk which brushes 2,523 metres, around twenty glacial lakes known as "eyes of the mountain" - the most famous being the Black Lake, Crno Jezero, a stone's throw from the small town of Žabljak - and the canyon of the Tara river, the deepest in Europe with over 1,300 metres of elevation difference, second in the world only to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. The park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980, is best experienced through rafting on the Tara's rapids, trekking among beech forests and high-altitude pastures, and in winter with skiing on the slopes of Žabljak, the highest inhabited settlement on the Balkan peninsula.
Mount Lovćen and the mausoleum of Njegoš
Lovćen is the mountain that symbolises Montenegrin identity, to the point of giving the country its historic name - "black land" - after the dark forests covering its slopes. On its highest peak, the Jezerski vrh at 1,657 metres, stands the mausoleum of Petar II Petrović-Njegoš, bishop, ruler and above all poet, author of the epic poem "The Mountain Wreath", which remains to this day a founding text of Montenegrin literature. The monument, the work of Croatian sculptor Ivan Meštrović and inaugurated in 1974, is reached by climbing 461 steps carved into the rock up to a terrace from which, on clear days, the view stretches from the Bay of Kotor all the way to the mountains of Albania. The national park surrounding the peak also offers one of the country's most striking panoramic roads, the old route that used to link Cetinje to Kotor with dozens of hairpin bends overhanging the bay.
Lake Skadar, the largest in the Balkans
Shared with Albania, Lake Skadar is the largest body of water on the Balkan peninsula and one of Europe's most important bird sanctuaries, home to over 280 bird species, including the Dalmatian pelican, symbol of the national park established in 1983. Its Montenegrin shores, dotted with fishing villages such as Vranjina and Rijeka Crnojevića, with water lilies that in summer cover entire bays and with the ruins of small monasteries on the islets, are best explored by boat, on excursions departing from Podgorica or from the nearby coast. The combination of fresh water, reed beds and limestone hills makes it a more intimate and less crowded landscape than the coast, but no less representative of Montenegro.
The Adriatic Sea and the southern riviera
Beyond the Bay of Kotor and Budva, the Montenegrin coast stretches southwards through a series of smaller bays and towns: Petrovac, with its crescent of pebbles enclosed between two islets, Bar, the country's main commercial port and home to a thousand-year-old olive tree among the oldest in Europe, and finally Ulcinj, a town with an Albanian majority overlooking the long sandy beach of Velika Plaža, twelve kilometres of fine sand loved by surfers, which ends at the river island of Ada Bojana, on the border with Albania. This is the most Mediterranean and least touristy part of the coastline, where Ottoman influences remain more visible in the minarets and cuisine of towns like Ulcinj than along the Venetian riviera of Kotor and Budva.
Traditions, flavours and popular culture
Montenegrin cuisine tells the story of the country's dual soul, mountain and maritime. From the hinterland come the smoked prosciutto of Njeguši, the birthplace of the Petrović dynasty on the slopes of Lovćen, the aged cheese from the same village, lamb and veal cooked under the cast-iron bell (ispod sača) over embers, and cornmeal polenta served with grilled meats. On the coast, grilled fish and seafood dominate instead, along with black risotto made with cuttlefish ink and fish soups inherited from Venetian tradition. Wine is not lacking either: Vranac, an indigenous red grape grown mainly in the plain around Podgorica, is the country's emblematic red wine, often accompanied by Nikšić beer. Social life still revolves around ancient rituals of hospitality, epic music sung to the gusle, the one-stringed instrument that accompanies heroic tales, and patron saint festivals that enliven towns and monasteries throughout the year.
When to go and how to experience Montenegro
The coast is at its best between May and June and again in September, when the sea is already warm but temperatures remain pleasant and art towns like Kotor are not overwhelmed by the July and August crowds, which are nonetheless the busiest and most expensive months along the whole riviera. Those aiming for the Durmitor and Lovćen parks will find the trails walkable from June to September, while in winter, from December to March, Žabljak becomes a base for alpine and cross-country skiing. Lake Skadar puts on its best show in spring, with the water lilies in bloom and migratory birds passing through. A well-balanced trip to Montenegro alternates a few days of sea and culture on the coast with an excursion into the interior mountains, distances that, in the country's small territory, can almost always be covered in a couple of hours by car.
- Stroll along the walls of Kotor and climb to the fortress of Saint John at sunset
- Take a boat trip among the islets of Perast, as far as Our Lady of the Rocks
- Drive the panoramic road of Lovćen between Kotor and Cetinje
- Go rafting or trekking in the Tara Canyon, in Durmitor Park
- Swim at Sveti Stefan or on the pebble beach of Petrovac
- Explore Lake Skadar by boat among water lilies and pelicans
- Taste prosciutto and cheese from Njeguši in a mountain konoba
- Get lost among the baroque palaces and historic legations of Cetinje
FAQ
Qual è l'aeroporto più comodo per raggiungere il Montenegro?
Quanti giorni servono per visitare il Montenegro?
Dove si parcheggia per visitare Kotor?
Il Montenegro è adatto a un viaggio con bambini?
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Si può visitare il Montenegro in un solo giorno partendo da Dubrovnik?
Getting there
- Aeroporto di Podgorica (TGD), circa 12 km dalla capitale, il principale scalo internazionale
- Aeroporto di Tivat (TIV), sulle Bocche di Cattaro, a circa 8 km da Kotor e 20 km da Budva, ideale per la costa
- Aeroporto di Dubrovnik (Croazia), a circa 35 km da Herceg Novi, spesso usato come alternativa per raggiungere le Bocche di Cattaro
- Linea ferroviaria Bar-Podgorica-Bijelo Polje, che prosegue verso Belgrado, un percorso panoramico tra gallerie e viadotti sulle montagne interne
- La strada costiera adriatica (Jadranska magistrala) collega Herceg Novi, Kotor, Budva, Bar e Ulcinj seguendo il litorale; da nord si entra dalla Croazia via Herceg Novi o dalla Bosnia ed Erzegovina, da est dalla Serbia attraverso Podgorica.
- In alta stagione la strada costiera tra Kotor e Budva può congestionarsi molto: meglio muoversi nelle prime ore del mattino o calcolare tempi più lunghi del previsto, soprattutto attorno al tunnel di Vrmac e all'ingresso di Kotor.
Perfect for
Baie riparate, spiagge di ciottoli e la lunga sabbia di Ulcinj rendono il Montenegro una meta balneare compatta ma sorprendentemente varia.
Città murate veneziane, cattedrali romaniche e l'antica capitale reale di Cetinje raccontano secoli di dominazioni e resistenza.
Il canyon della Tara, i laghi glaciali del Durmitor e i sentieri del Lovćen offrono trekking ed escursioni tra i paesaggi più selvaggi dei Balcani.
Prosciutto e formaggio di Njeguši, pesce alla griglia sulla costa e il vino Vranac accompagnano una cucina di confine tra Mediterraneo e Balcani.
Il lago di Skadar, tra pellicani e ninfee, è la meta ideale per chi cerca un Montenegro più lento e meno turistico.
To see
What to see in Montenegro
Routes · Trovido Route
