Rental car in Montenegro: experience and tips
People ask me this all the time: Rental car in Montenegro. The short answer is below, the honest one just after — both from what I have seen for years around Lake Skadar.
I write from Virpazar, right at the lake. No copy-paste tips from other guidebooks and no commissions bending my opinion. Just what I would tell a friend.
Short answer
A rental car is almost mandatory. Trains are charming but slow. Buses cover the coast well and the lake poorly.
Count on slow country roads and unusually heavy traffic around Podgorica. Podgorica to the lake is 35 km — but a solid 45 minutes.
Route and highlights
Best time to visit in my experience: late May to mid-June and September. July and August are hot and crowded on the coast — bearable at the lake, but birding is quieter then.
Winter has its own charm, but many things are closed. If you want quiet and can live with rain, you'll be rewarded.
Practicalities
Montenegro is small — you can cover it comfortably in a week. The hardest choice isn't where to go, but where to start: coast or mountains?
For a first visit I suggest two nights at Lake Skadar, two on the coast (Kotor or Bar) and two in the mountains (Lovćen or Durmitor). The rest will fall into place.
My recommendation
A rental car is almost mandatory. Trains are charming but slow. Buses cover the coast well and the lake poorly.
Count on slow country roads and unusually heavy traffic around Podgorica. Podgorica to the lake is 35 km — but a solid 45 minutes.
Häufige Fragen
Wie viele Tage?
Was kostet die Reise?
Beste Reisezeit?
Note: the German version of this article is more detailed. If you read German, you may prefer the full German edition.