Montenegro fits in a week. Most of it fits in the bay.
Which Blue Cave boat stops long enough to swim. What a seat on the Perast run costs. Whether the thirteen-hour day north is worth losing a beach day for. Reviews of every tour you can book in Montenegro.
A boat out of Kotor, the walls on foot, the lake, the long day north.
The four bookings a first week in Montenegro is built around. What each one costs, and what the people who took it say.
01The bay by boatBlue Cave Swim Stop, Lady of the Rocks & Submarine BaseThree hours out of Kotor: the swim stop in the cave, the submarine tunnels cut into the headland, then the island church at Perast on the way home.
02The first eveningKotor Old Town Walking TourAn hour inside the walls with somebody who can tell you which Venetian door belongs to which family, before the cruise crowd arrives.
03The long day northNorth Montenegro, Durmitor, Tara & Ostrog TourAway before six for the Tara canyon, Black Lake under Durmitor and the monastery in the cliff. Thirteen hours, and the only day that long worth taking.
04The lake morningSkadar Lake National Park Guided Boat Tour with Wooden BoatA flat wooden launch through the lily beds on Skadar, out past the fish traps and the herons. The quietest water in the country.
Speedboat, wooden launch or your own arms: pick how you cross the Boka.
Almost everything worth seeing in the bay sits at the waterline, and the road round it is slow. Four ways onto the water, what it costs to board each one, and which end of the bay it suits.
★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · Blue Cave Swim Stop, Lady of the Rocks & Submarine Base
Cave runsOut past Mamula to the Luštica caves, with a swim stop.
Bay speedboatsThe full fjord at speed, Perast and the tunnels included.
The island churchFour minutes across from the Perast waterfront.
Under your own armsBudva bay and the coastal caves, at the pace you set.
All 95 days on the water →
Kotor, Perast, Budva, Podgorica, the north, and the run down from Dubrovnik.
A walled town at the head of the fjord, a village of palaces halfway along it, a beach strip with caves at both ends, a flat capital half an hour from the lake, a canyon nobody expects, and the border crossing that brings most people here in the first place.
The cave only works when the sea outside the bay is flat.
Past Herceg Novi the coast turns open and exposed, and the cave at Luštica takes that weather first. On a calm morning the light comes up through the water and the whole chamber goes electric; on a rough one the small boats do not leave the dock. Book the early slot and you will usually get it.
Montenegro’s most-booked days out.
Every tour in Montenegro →The trips more travellers take than anything else in the country, and what earns each one its slot.
1
Montenegro Day Trip
Travel from Dubrovnik to Perast and Kotor in Montenegro with an English-speaking guide, air-conditioned transport, and hotel pickup. You get free time to explore, an optional boat ride to Our Lady of the Rocks, and three hours in Kotor. Some small-group options also include Budva. Guides such as Niko, Nikolas, Adnan, and Milko are known for lively local commentary.
From · $70
Read our review →
2
Montenegro Boat Tour from Perast to Kotor
from $66
3
Blue Cave Swim Stop, Lady of the Rocks & Submarine Base
from $39
4
Boat to Blue Cave & Lady of the Rocks &Submarine Base
from $32
5
Montenegro Day Trip with Boat Cruise
from $60
6
Perast, Kotor & Budva Small-Group Day Trip
from $100
7
Great Montenegro Tour-Lovcen NP,Mausoleum Lovcen,River of Crnojevic,Sveti Stefan
from $89
8
Montenegro Day Trip with Cruise in Kotor Bay
from $66
Kotor: the walls before the ships dock, the bay after.
Everything in Kotor →
The old town is small enough to cross in ten minutes and dense enough to lose a morning in. Do the lanes early, take the fortress steps or the cable car for the height, and leave the afternoon for the water.
An hour inside the walls
Four squares, a cathedral that survived two earthquakes, and the Venetian lion over the sea gate. A guide is the difference between pretty lanes and a town that makes sense.
Cable car, or the 1,350 steps
The fortress path above the town is a hot, unshaded climb. The cable car out of Dub goes higher, to the Lovćen side, and runs on a timetable that stops in strong wind.
Njeguški pršut, and what to drink with it
Smoked ham off the Njeguši saddle, sheep cheese, and Vranac from the Skadar side. Most of these end at a family table rather than a restaurant.
Perast has two islands, sixteen palaces and nobody in a hurry.
One island is natural and closed to visitors. The other was built by sailors dropping a rock after every safe voyage until there was enough ground for a church. Boats cross in four minutes from the waterfront, and the town behind has no through road.
Every Perast trip →
Crna Gora: the black mountain the country is named after.
An hour from the beach the road starts climbing and does not stop. Glacial lakes under Durmitor, the second-deepest canyon on earth, a mausoleum at the top of a serpentine with twenty-five hairpins, and a monastery driven into a cliff.
Montenegro on a beach budget: what each day really costs.
Every tour on the site, grouped by price. The country is cheap by Adriatic standards and the best three hours on the water are still under fifty dollars.
Old-town walks, the cable car, cave runs out of Kotor and a morning on the lake.
The full-day standards: the north, Lovćen and Cetinje, the coastal run, kayaks and lunch.
- 1Montenegro Day Tripfrom $70
- 2Montenegro Boat Tour from Perast to Kotorfrom $66
- 3Montenegro Day Trip with Boat Cruisefrom $60
Private drivers, chartered boats and the days somebody builds around you.
A swell shuts the cave. Montenegro keeps going inland.
The open coast past Herceg Novi takes the weather first and the small boats stay tied up. None of that reaches the inner bay, the Njeguši saddle or the Zeta valley: the walls of Kotor are just as good wet, the monasteries do not notice, and the wine road is entirely indoors.
Three things that only happen in Montenegro.
Sea caves and cliff-top churches exist all over the Mediterranean. An island made by hand, a chamber the sea lights from underneath, and a monastery driven into a vertical rock face do not.
The Blue Cave
The cave sits on the seaward side of the Luštica peninsula, where the limestone is undercut and the floor shelves white. Light comes in below the waterline and bounces back up, so the whole chamber reads neon rather than blue-green. It works in the morning and drains of colour by mid-afternoon, and a metre of swell shuts it entirely.
- 1Blue Cave Swim Stop, Lady of the Rocks & Submarine Base★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,914 reviews
- 2Boat to Blue Cave & Lady of the Rocks &Submarine Base★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,104 reviews
- 3Blue cave, Mamula island, Submarine tunnels and Our lady of the Rocks (3h)★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 575 reviews
Our Lady of the Rocks
There was no island here. Sailors from Perast found an icon on a rock in the fifteenth century and began dropping stones on the spot after every safe return, sinking old hulls alongside them, until there was enough ground to build a church on. They still do it: on 22 July boats row out at dusk and throw rocks over the side.
- 1Montenegro Boat Tour from Perast to Kotor★★★★★★★★★★ 4.7 · 2,804 reviews
- 2Blue Cave Swim Stop, Lady of the Rocks & Submarine Base★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,914 reviews
- 3Boat to Blue Cave & Lady of the Rocks &Submarine Base★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 1,104 reviews
Ostrog Monastery
The upper monastery is set into a vertical face nine hundred metres above the Zeta valley, two whitewashed chapels wedged into the rock with the cliff itself as the back wall. Pilgrims walk the last stretch barefoot. The road up is single-track with passing places, which is why every tour leaves early.
- 1North Montenegro, Durmitor, Tara & Ostrog Tour★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 413 reviews
- 2Skadar Lake National Park: Guided Boat Tour to Kom Monastery★★★★★★★★★★ 4.5 · 49 reviews
- 3Great tour of coastal monasteries in Budva – Walking on the path of history!★★★★★★★★★★ 5.0 · 34 reviews
Skadar is the biggest lake in the Balkans and half of it is lilies.
The border with Albania runs through the middle of it. On the Montenegrin side the water is shallow, warm and covered in white water lilies by June, with pelicans working the far reeds and monasteries on islands nobody visits. The boats are wooden and slow on purpose.
- 1Skadar Lake National Park Guided Boat Tour with Wooden Boatfrom $26
- 2Best from our coast (Kotor bay, Budva, Sv Stefan, Skadar lake)from $181
- 3Skadar Lake National Park: Guided Boat Tour to Kom Monasteryfrom $38
Four Montenegrin bookings that will not wait.
Most of this country can be arranged over breakfast for the same morning. These four run on small boats, single roads and weather that makes the decision for you.
- 01Blue Cave Swim Stop, Lady of the Rocks & Submarine BaseThe boats are small and the open coast decides whether they sail. Calm mornings fill first, and a swell cancels the afternoon.
- 02North Montenegro, Durmitor, Tara & Ostrog TourOne departure a day, leaving the coast before six and back after dark. Miss it and the north is a two-day problem.
- 03Epic 25 Turns Downhill Bike Descent w/ Panoramic Cable Car AscentTimed tickets, a capped cabin and a line that stops running in strong wind. The clear mornings go days ahead.
- 04North Montenegro, Durmitor, Tara & Ostrog TourThe road to the upper monastery is single-track with passing places and a queue of minibuses by ten. Early departures exist for a reason.
Kotor, Perast, the cave, Budva, then the road north.
Budva
Skadar Lake
Durmitor & TaraBy place — the bay, the riviera, the north
By kind of day — boat, mountain, table or cliff
The newest Montenegro tour reviews.
The rest of the new ones →
Cable car + Electric MTB from Njegos Mausoleum to Kotor bay
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Skadar Lake & Virpazar return trip from Podgorica city
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Virpazar Skadar Lake National Park Guided Boat Tour
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Kotor & Budva Old Towns & Panoramic Views from Podgorica
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Private Tour in Ostrog Monastery, Doclea and Nature Park Zeta
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Podgorica Car Trip – Architecture, History, Wine tasting, Churches, Doclea city
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Explore the Thrills of Nevidio Canyon: 4 hour Canyoning Adventure
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From Tivat/Kotor: Whole Boka Bay Guided Cruise, Comfortable Ship
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Kotor Bay and Blue Cave Ticket Tour with Complimentary Drinks
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