Montenegro: Kotor, Budva and Durmitor

Arrive in Kotor

Tivat Airport to your hotel in Kotor

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Kotor
• Environ 15 min de route

Soir

Fly into Tivat airport (TIV), about 8 km and 15 minutes from Kotor, in time for the evening walk: plan to land by about 4 pm (the exact latest arrival is confirmed with your final itinerary). A driver meets you in arrivals and takes you round the inner bay to a hotel in or just outside Kotor old town, where we stay four nights. Kotor sits at the far end of the Bay of Kotor under a wall of limestone, and the old town and the bay have been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1979. At about 6:30 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing, then walks you through the Sea Gate onto the Square of Arms, past the clock tower and on to the Cathedral of St Tryphon, consecrated in 1166. As the lanes cool, we sit down to a welcome dinner of Bay of Kotor dishes, from black risotto to grilled fish and Vranac red wine.

Compris

• Pick-up at Tivat airport (TIV)
• Welcome briefing with your guide
• Evening walk through Kotor old town
• Welcome dinner

The walls at dawn, then Perast by boat

Kotor walls to San Giovanni fortress, then by boat to Perast and Our Lady of the Rocks

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Kotor
• En bateau

Matin

Back down by about 8:30, breakfast is at the hotel. At about 10 am a private boat takes the group out along the bay to Perast, a small town of baroque captains' houses that once sent ships across the Adriatic.

Après-midi

We land first on Our Lady of the Rocks, an islet built up from rocks and sunken ships, to see its church and museum, then step ashore in Perast for a walk and a sit-down lunch on the waterfront. We are back in Kotor by about 2:30 pm, and the afternoon is free.

Compris

• Kotor walls and San Giovanni fortress at dawn, ticket included
• Private boat on the Bay of Kotor
• Our Lady of the Rocks church and museum
• Perast walk with your guide
• Sit-down lunch in Perast

Activités en option

• Sea kayaking in the bay (price shown at booking)
• Kotor Maritime Museum

Up the serpentine to Njegusi and Lovcen

Kotor up the old road to Njegusi, then the summit of Lovcen and back to Kotor

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Kotor
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Matin

After breakfast we drive out of Kotor on the old Austro-Hungarian road that climbs the mountain behind the town in 25 hairpin bends, with the bay dropping further below at each turn. We stop at a viewpoint near the top while the morning light is still on the water. Over the pass lies Njegusi, a village on a high karst plain where families have smoked pršut ham and made cheese in the mountain air for generations; it is also the birthplace of Petar II Petrovic Njegos, prince-bishop and poet. From there the road winds up into Lovcen National Park to Jezerski vrh, at 1,657 m, where Njegos is buried in a mausoleum reached through a tunnel of 461 steps. From the round viewing platform beyond it you can see the Bay of Kotor, the Adriatic and, on clear days, Lake Skadar and the mountains of Albania.

Après-midi

Lunch is a tasting of smoked ham, cheese, bread and wine at a family smokehouse in Njegusi, and we are back in Kotor by mid-afternoon.

Compris

• The Kotor serpentine road with photo stops
• Njegusi village
• Lovcen National Park and the Njegos Mausoleum, entries included
• Tasting lunch at a family smokehouse in Njegusi

Budva old town and the Sveti Stefan coast

Kotor to Budva, then Przno and the coast path to the Sveti Stefan viewpoint, and back to Kotor

• Petit-déjeuner
• Nuit : Kotor
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

Mid-morning the van takes us down the coast to Przno, and we walk the coast path of about 2 km, past the pines and bays that face the Sveti Stefan islet, to the viewpoint above it. The islet, a fishing village joined to the shore by a causeway, is now a private hotel and not open to visitors, but the view from the path is the one in all the pictures.

Après-midi

The rest of the day is free: swim at the beach by the causeway, have lunch where you like, then the van takes the group back to Kotor in the late afternoon.

Compris

• Budva old town with your guide
• Budva Citadel, entry included
• Coast walk from Przno to the Sveti Stefan viewpoint

Activités en option

• Beach lounger at Sveti Stefan (paid locally)

Into the mountains to Zabljak and the Black Lake

Kotor via Risan, Grahovo and Niksic to Zabljak, then the Black Lake

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Zabljak
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Après-midi

We stop there for coffee and an early sit-down lunch. From Niksic the road runs north across high pasture and through the Komarnica valley to Savnik and up onto the Durmitor plateau, another hour and three quarters, so the day is about 3.5 hours of driving in two halves. We reach Zabljak, at about 1,450 m one of the highest towns in the Balkans, by mid-afternoon and check in for two nights. Durmitor National Park has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1980. In the late afternoon, when the day-trip coaches have gone, your guide walks the group round the Black Lake, two glacial lakes joined by a narrow neck under dark pine forest, with Meded, the bear-shaped peak, rising behind.

Soir

The evening is free in town.

Compris

• Drive through the karst interior with your guide
• Sit-down lunch in Niksic
• Durmitor National Park ticket
• Black Lake loop walk with your guide

Durmitor: the Tara canyon rim and the Tara bridge

Zabljak to the Curevac viewpoint, then the Durdevica Tara bridge and back to Zabljak

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Zabljak
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

Breakfast, then a short drive east of Zabljak to the start of the walk to Curevac, a grassy ridge at about 1,625 m on the rim of the Tara canyon. The path climbs gently through meadow and pine to the edge, and the view drops away more than 1,000 m to the river, in a canyon that runs about 80 km and is often called the deepest in Europe. We go in the morning, when the light comes along the canyon rather than straight into it and the ridge is quiet.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal of mountain food back near Zabljak: lamb or veal cooked under the bell, kacamak and fresh cheese. In the afternoon we drive about 30 minutes to the Durdevica Tara bridge, five concrete arches finished in 1940 and about 150 m above the river, to walk across and look down at the green water.

Soir

The late afternoon is free, and in the evening we meet for a farewell dinner in Zabljak.

Compris

• Walk to the Curevac viewpoint over the Tara canyon with your guide
• Sit-down lunch near Zabljak
• The Durdevica Tara bridge
• Farewell dinner in Zabljak

Activités en option

• Zipline across the Tara canyon beside the bridge (price shown at booking)

Ostrog monastery and home from Podgorica

Zabljak via Savnik and Niksic to Ostrog, then Podgorica Airport

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Environ 3.5 h de route

Après-midi

It is the most visited pilgrimage site in Montenegro, for Orthodox, Catholic and Muslim visitors alike, and we arrive before the midday queue. Your guide explains how to visit; dress with covered shoulders and knees. We then drive down to a sit-down lunch on the plain near Danilovgrad and on to Podgorica airport (TGD), about an hour, arriving at about 2:30 pm. Book a flight leaving after about 4:30 pm. If you would like more time, we can add nights in Kotor or Budva before the trip, or arrange a transfer to Tirana for our Albania trip.

Compris

• Ostrog Upper Monastery with your guide
• Sit-down lunch near Danilovgrad
• Drop-off at Podgorica airport (TGD)