Bar
Bar is unusual among the towns on the Montenegrin coast: it has two faces, separated by barely four kilometres of distance and eig...
Updated 8 July 2026
Bar
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The story
The story of Bar
A history spanning more than a thousand years
The first firm traces of a settlement on the rocky spur we now call Stari Bar date back to the early Middle Ages, when Byzantine sources mention the centre under the name Antibaris, "facing Bari", a reference to the Apulian city that can be glimpsed, on the clearest days, from the other shore of the Adriatic. In the following centuries Bar came under the sway of the Serbian rulers of the Nemanjić dynasty, became the seat of a Catholic archbishopric and prospered as a trading post between the Balkan hinterland and the maritime routes. In 1443 it passed under the control of Venice, which strengthened its walls and its trade, before falling in 1571 into Ottoman hands: this marks the start of a period lasting more than three centuries, which left the old town with mosques, a public clock and an urban fabric profoundly changed from its Venetian past.
Stari Bar, the town that time emptied out
About four kilometres from the sea, set against a hill at the foot of Rumija, Stari Bar is today more an open-air archaeological site than a village: cobbled lanes climbing between roofless houses, the remains of a cathedral, cisterns carved into the rock and a clock tower that once marked the hours for its last Ottoman inhabitants. The town was conquered by Montenegrin troops in 1878, at the end of a long siege during which much of the settlement was damaged; from then on the population gradually moved towards the coast, letting houses and churches slowly crumble. Walking through it, especially in the early morning hours when the site is almost deserted, gives the sense of a place suspended between different eras, where Byzantine capitals, Venetian arches and minarets coexist within the same wall.
The Mirovica olive tree, two thousand years in a single trunk
A short walk from the walls of Stari Bar, in the village of Mirovica, grows what is considered one of the oldest trees in Europe: an olive tree whose trunk, hollow and gnarled as a small building, is estimated by experts to be over two thousand years old. Despite its age, the tree still produces olives every season, and has become an informal symbol of the continuity of olive growing on this stretch of the Montenegrin coast, which boasts the highest concentration of olive trees in the country. It is not a tree fenced off and put on show for tourists, but a living heritage that the people of Mirovica treat with the same natural ease as one treats a neighbour: all the more reason to visit it with the same quiet respect.
The port of Bar and the ferries to Italy
The port of Bar is Montenegro's main maritime gateway, the heart of the town's economy since the early twentieth century and further strengthened after the Second World War, when it became the sea outlet for the whole of inland Yugoslavia. In 1976 the Bar–Belgrade railway was completed, a feat of engineering that crosses gorges and mountains through dozens of tunnels and viaducts, connecting the port directly with the heart of the Balkans. Even today, ferries operated by Montenegro Lines depart from the passenger terminal for Bari and Ancona, a direct sea link with Italy that makes Bar, for many Italian travellers, the first gateway to Montenegro: you arrive at night, with the car in the hold, and wake up already within sight of the Balkan coast.
King Nicholas's palace and its park
Built in 1885 as a summer residence for King Nicholas I Petrović, the royal palace of Bar stands close to the sea, set within a park that the king himself wanted enriched with exotic plants then unknown in Montenegro: palms, magnolias, Japanese loquats and other Mediterranean and subtropical species brought from distant ports thanks precisely to the town's maritime trade. The building, sober yet elegant in its proportions, today houses the Bar civic museum, which gathers archaeological finds from Stari Bar and the surrounding area, including mosaics and ceramics from Roman and medieval times, as well as evidence of Montenegrin court life at the end of the nineteenth century. It is one of the few places in the new town able to give a concrete sense of that founding era.
Mount Rumija, the stone sentinel
Behind Bar rises Rumija, a limestone ridge that comes close to 1,594 metres and clearly separates the Adriatic coast from the basin of Lake Skadar. For the people of Stari Bar it was for centuries an almost sacred landmark, mentioned in local legends as the abode of spirits and lone shepherds; today it is above all a destination for hikers, with trails climbing among bare rocks and Mediterranean scrub up to a ridge from which the eye takes in both the open sea and the inland waters of the lake at once, a double-horizon view that few mountains in Europe offer with such clarity. The climb requires fit legs and is best tackled in the cooler hours, given the almost total absence of shade on the most exposed slopes.
The beaches from Šušanj to Čanj
The coast around Bar alternates long stretches of sand with small bays enclosed among the rocks. North of the centre lies Šušanj, a wide beach of sand mixed with pebbles that is the most frequented by residents thanks to its closeness to the town's seafront. To the south, past the headland, opens Utjeha, a more sheltered and quieter bay, appreciated by those seeking fewer crowds. Continuing on, one reaches Čanj, perhaps the most photographed beach in the area: white pebbles, turquoise water and an isolated rock a short distance from the shore, framed by limestone cliffs that drop almost sheer into the sea.
- Šušanj — a wide beach of sand and pebbles, a stone's throw from the centre
- Utjeha — a sheltered bay, quieter, ideal for those seeking calm
- Čanj — white pebbles, turquoise water and a scenic cliff
Olive groves, oil and the cuisine of Bar
The territory of Bar has the highest concentration of olive trees in all of Montenegro, some of them centuries old, grown on terraces that descend from the slopes of Rumija almost down to the sea. The local extra virgin olive oil, often produced by small family-run mills, is dense and slightly peppery, and takes centre stage in a cuisine that combines Mediterranean and Balkan influences: fresh grilled fish from the Adriatic, smoked ham from the hinterland, sheep's cheeses and vegetables simply dressed with oil and lemon. In Bar's neighbourhood markets it is not uncommon to find brined olives prepared according to recipes handed down within families, alongside local honey and mountain-herb spirits.
Everyday life between the port and the olive groves
Bar is a working port town even before it is a holiday resort, and this shows in its daily rhythm: early in the morning the port comes alive with dockworkers and lorries heading towards the Serbian hinterland, while in the neighbourhoods closer to the centre life revolves around the market and the small bars overlooking the seafront. In autumn, with the olive harvest, many local families still devote themselves today to artisanal pressing, an activity that punctuates the local calendar much like religious festivities. It is in these quieter months, far from the summer seaside tourism, that the town most clearly reveals its identity as Montenegro's commercial and agricultural gateway.
When to go and how to experience the town
The Mediterranean climate makes Bar pleasant from late spring to early autumn, with summer bringing intense heat but also the port's greatest crowds because of the ferries to Italy. May, June and September offer sea already warm, more manageable trails on Rumija and a Stari Bar less trodden by organised groups. Those with only a single day available can visit the old town in the morning, stop by the Mirovica olive tree, have lunch based on fish and local oil, and close the day with a swim at Čanj or Šušanj: a compact itinerary that still manages to convey the full historical and natural stratification of this corner of the Montenegrin coast.
- Strolling through the ruins of Stari Bar in the early morning light
- Seeing the thousand-year-old olive tree of Mirovica up close
- Visiting King Nicholas's palace and the civic museum
- Swimming at the Čanj cliffs
- Climbing Mount Rumija for the view over the sea and Lake Skadar
- Boarding the night ferry to Bari or Ancona
FAQ
Come si arriva a Bar dall'Italia?
Quanto dista Stari Bar dal centro moderno?
Quando è il periodo migliore per visitare Bar?
Bar è adatta a una visita in giornata?
Dove si parcheggia per visitare Stari Bar?
Il Rumija è adatto a un'escursione con bambini?
Getting there
- Aeroporto di Podgorica (TGD) — circa 40 km, il più vicino
- Aeroporto di Tivat (TIV) — circa 65-70 km, comodo per chi arriva dalla Baia di Cattaro
- Stazione ferroviaria di Bar, capolinea della linea Bar–Podgorica–Belgrado
- Bar si trova lungo la strada costiera Adriatica (Jadranska magistrala), ben collegata a nord con Budva e Cattaro e a sud con Ulcinj e il confine albanese.
- Chi arriva in traghetto da Bari o Ancona sbarca direttamente nel porto cittadino, a pochi minuti a piedi dal centro: comodo per chi viaggia senza auto.
Perfect for
Un millennio di dominazioni leggibile nelle pietre di Stari Bar, tra chiese, cisterne e moschee.
Dal Rumija alle spiagge di ciottoli, un paesaggio che passa dalla montagna al mare in pochi chilometri.
Uliveti secolari e un olio extravergine che è il vero prodotto identitario della città.
Il porto più importante del Montenegro e la rotta dei traghetti verso l'Italia.
Tre spiagge diverse per carattere — Šušanj, Utjeha e Čanj — a pochi minuti l'una dall'altra.
To see
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Routes · Trovido Route
