Montenegro Road Trip: Mini Guide

Caleb and I LOVED road-tripping across Montenegro! It’s not as “touristy” as some destinations; the food is SO fresh and amazing, and the scenery is just stunning!

Oh, and it even has some unique wines you can’t find anywhere else. What more could you ask for?

OVERVIEW

While you could spend time in just one city, we think the best way to experience Montenegro is to rent a car (it’s cheap!) and drive around, staying in multiple cities. We decided to stick mostly to the coast, since the Adriatic sea is just so stunning.

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PRO TIP: if you decide to visit Montenegro, we recommend flying into Dubrovnik, renting your car there and driving, then returning you car back there too.. It’s WAY cheaper fly into Dubrovnik than to any airport in Montenegro!

IMPORTANT: In Montenegro, cash is KING. Credit card is rarely accepted, even if you book hotels through booking.com – the place will make you pay in cash when you get there. AND, you cannot do Montenegro without a rental car so don’t try!

Below, you’ll find our itinerary with where we stayed in each city (they have parking)! with the hotel accommodation that would have been our second pick for variety. We’ve picked options that balance comfort with affordability, so you can save your euros for all the delicious food, wine, and unforgettable experiences Montenegro has to offer!

ITINERARY

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DAY 1: Land in Dubrovnik, drive to Kotor

WHERE TO STAY:
We stayed here and we LOVED it because it’s outside of the busy, touristy part (20 mins walk) and has steps right down to the prettiest and least busy part of the promenade. BUT it’s up a HUGE hill so don’t book it if you can’t do hills. We also wanted to stay at Bay View Apartments OR: Paradise Bay Apartments (they were booked)

DAY 2: explore Kotor

DAY 3: Day trip to Perast

DAY 4: Day trip to the Lustuica Peninsula and Blue Cave visit

DAY 5: Day trip Njeguši. This is the town known for it’s famous Proscuitto, so if you’re foodies like us, you’ll want to visit.

NOTE: the roads up here are TREACHEROUS so you may want to skip if you’re not confident. ALSO: the tour buses come between 9-5pm and they block the entire road and we got stuck behind one for 2 hours. So go early and leave late. It’s beautiful and you could spend the whole day exploring tiny towns and seeing the scenery,

DAY 6: Drive to Budva and stay the night.

WHERE TO STAY:
Apartment Srdanovic OR Marinero Apartments OR Hotel Bracera

DAY 7: Explore Budva. At sunset, drive to see Svati Stefan. We just overlooked it instead of sticking around, as there is not a ton to do. Lots of tourists, but it’s the most UNREAL sunset!

DAY 8: Leave Budva early and head to Lake Skadar for a boat cruise and explore the small town of Virpazar.

WHERE TO STAY:
Villa Mond OR Eco Resort & Winery Cermeniza

We were REALLY torn with where to stay but we were really glad we stayed at Villa Mond because the food and hospitality was AMAZING. IT felt SO local! You could go to Eco Resort for dinner/wine tasting then go back to adorable Villa Mond for night/breakfast, but the dinner is AMAZING at Villa Mond too!

DAY 9: EITHER stay in Lake Skadar for the day and visit wineries or hike and stay the night. OR start early and visit Ostrog Monastery then drive to Herceg Novi for the evening and to be closer to Dubrovnik. OR, if you have an early flight tomorrow, head to Dubrovnik today!

DAY 10: Drive to Dubrovnik and leave!

What to Eat:

CLICK HERE for our ultimate Google Map of all the spots we ate at. If we didn’t LOVE it, we didn’t put it on the map…and you know we spend lots of time doing food research!

What to Do:

We’ve linked some of our favorite tours along with some of the must-see spots. Don’t miss any of the spots we outlined in the itinerary either!

• This tour of Lake Skadar was awesome. Beautiful views and wine included! Unforgettable.
• This Blue Cave Tour was so great! We saw so many things in 3 hours and it went by super fast. Some of the best views of the city, bay and mountains we had!
• Visit Ostrog Monastery
• Do this lovely private walking food tour with wine in Kotor!
• Go white water rafting (which is SO fun, we promise!) in Kotor.
• Explore the unique Lipa caves
• Climb to San Giovani Fortress in Kotor (make sure to stop by the cheese shop on our map!) It’s a tough climb but worth it. We opted for the free way and tried to climb in the back window to the fortress but it was too high! You could pay $15 to take the stairs instead. But the views from the back way were AMAZING and worth it even though we didn’t actually go in the fortress.
• Walk Kotor’s city walls
• In Perast, check out the old catholic monastery for a great view
• In Virpazar, walk to Besac fortress
• Go wine tasting around Lake Skadar. See our Google Map.

Our Best Travel Resources:

Here are some of our best overall travel resources to make your trip better/easier! These apply to anywhere you visit in the world:

• Our​ ultimate Europe travel guide​ with EVERYTHING you need to know.
• Check out our ​master list of all the best activities ​we’ve done across the world.
• Check out our ​master list of hotels we’ve stayed at ​across the world!
• We save the most money on flights using ​this service.​
• ​These are all the traveling essentials​ that we use and recommend!
• ​Our favorite platform to find tours​ – from bucket list items to cheaper admission to popular attractions.
• We score the cheapest deals on rental cars ​with this site.​
• How we get​ free service in all the countries we travel to​ without wifi.
• Or, ​our favorite SIM card company ​if you don’t want to change phone service carriers.
• ​We love this pass ​for getting into swanky airport lounges for free. (CCC readers get 20-30% off yearly membership!)

If you use any of our tips, please tag us on Instagram @culturecravingcouple!

We love seeing you travel!