road trip montenegro. One of the most beautiful, exciting, cold and rainy road trips in recent years. And the first big tour with the new bulli. the idea for a road trip through montenegro came quite spontaneous. I had accidentally discovered an article about the 10 most beautiful national parks in europe and already the cover picture showed a hiker in the midst of the mountain world of the durmitor mountains. And from that moment on, I was hooked, as these are the kind of views I look for on my trips. briefly googled where the national park was located and from then on the trip planning took its course.
In this article I will give you some tips for a road trip through montenegro with your own car. With my highlights, what you have to consider on the road, how to get there and the most beautiful campsites. Quasi a little travel guide with the most important infos.
road trip montenegro with your own car: how to get there.
road trip montenegro with your own car: on the way on the spot.
road trip montenegro with your own car: camping.
road trip montenegro with your own car: my highlights.
the road trip led us to montenegro at the beginning of october. it was already low season, which had a positive effect on the number of tourists, but unfortunately a negative effect on the weather. Fog, rain, temperatures far below 10 degrees at night and a thunderstorm made it a bit difficult for us at the beginning. Beautiful landscapes, breathtaking views and remote roads have made up for it all and still make me rave about the trip.
ROAD TRIP MONTENEGRO WITH YOUR OWN CAR: HOW TO GET THERE.
To montenegro it is about 1 km from munich.100km. the plan of the whole road trip was to drive as fast as possible to montenegro, spend a few days there and then slowly work our way back towards germany. 14 days we had time and we have savored every second of it.
1. Route.
The fastest route leads through austria, slovenia, croatia, a piece of bosnia-herzegovina, then again short through croatia and finally follows montenegro.
Germany: no matter from which part of germany you come, in the end you will end up on the A8 in the direction of bad reichenhall / salzburg.
Austria: after the border crossing there is a short stretch on the A1, then it goes on on the A10 direction villach. At villach you change to the A11 in direction slovenia, after approx. 20km then comes the border.
Slovenia: the A11 then becomes the E61. After about 70km, at the height of ljubljana, you change to the A2. After about 65km you leave the highway and drive on the highway 105 to the croatian border.
Croatia: in croatia you have to follow the road D6 until you cross the E65/E71 (E=europastraben – here also A1). Then it goes sometimes on the E65, sometimes on the E71 until almost the end just before the Bosnian border. On the highway you drive mainly along the coast, always in the direction of dubrovnik. the D8 brings you directly to montenegro.
ATTENTION: shortly before the destination there must be a ca. 20km long section from bosnia-herzegovina you have to pass the only lake access of the country.
2. Cost – tolls.
Who travels fast, travels expensive. on the way there are some tolls, which leave a small hole in the wallet right at the beginning.
Vignette and tolls in austria: the 10-day-vignette for austria costs 9.00€ (as of 2018). In addition, there are other tolls, as special tolls. A section of the tauernautobahn A10 is covered by such a special toll and costs just 11.50€ (this concerns the section katschberg- and tauerntunnel including their passage). And just before the slovenian border you drive through the karawanken tunnel on the A11, cost simply 7.00€. In the sum are for Austria equal times 27.50€.
Vignette in slovenia: in slovenia vignettes are obligatory. The 7-day vignette costs for normal cars 15.00€. Since we were on the road with our VW T5, we fall into the higher category 2B (this is based on the vehicle height of over 1.30m above the front axle). costs twice as much, so 30.00€.
Toll in croatia: in croatia you have to pay tolls on the highways depending on the route. At the entrance you take a kind of voucher, which you give back at the exit again. After that the due fee will be calculated. Since we were on the way over 400km on the freeways, it cost us just under 40.00€ (can be paid in euro or kuna).
a good overview of tolls is provided by the ADAC route planner. And of course you can also arrive without paying tolls, it just takes a little longer.
3. entry.
The entry to montenegro is relatively uncomplicated. Only the green insurance card (the international insurance card for motor traffic) you have to take and to show. If you can’t show the card, you have to buy a kind of liability insurance directly at the entry, valid 15 days. In addition, you need your passport for the entry, the identity card is not always accepted.
ROAD TRIP MONTENEGRO WITH YOUR OWN CAR: ON THE WAY ON SITE.
in montenegro there are a few things you should pay attention to. nothing complicated, just a little bit of mindfulness is needed.
1. The roads of montenegro.
About the condition of the roads I was positively surprised. At least the main roads on the coast and the larger roads in the interior are well developed, with few to no potholes. Nevertheless you have to and should drive carefully. The shoulder is not paved, sometimes it goes downhill a good bit from there. But a bigger problem are boulders, which lie suddenly on the road without warning. I have of course spared no effort and tested such a collision with a football-sized rock monster for you – not necessarily worth imitating. Stone chips on the road are not uncommon.
On the side roads you need to be even more careful, especially in the durmitor national park. There you can’t get out of the way quickly, because it’s either steep downhill or you get stuck in the forest mud. The roads are not always paved. During the trip to the mountains you have to cross some tunnels and they are a highlight in themselves. Not to be compared with our tunnels, they are actually rather holes carved into the rock.
2. Traffic rules.
brief facts: in montenegro it is compulsory to wear a safety vest. It is best to park your vest over the back of your seat during the trip. The maximum speed is 50km/h in towns and 80km/h out of town, and you should keep to this as much as possible. There are a lot of controls, the police is always present. You will often be made aware of this or of possible road problems by oncoming vehicles via light signals. You can’t drive faster than 80km/h out of town anyway because of the many curves, but you will still be overtaken all the time. The light must always be on, during the overtaking process must be blinked and in the tunnels may (can) not be overtaken.
3. Registration required.
A topic that had cost us a whole morning and some nerves. in montenegro it is compulsory to register. tourists with a stay of more than 3 days have to register with the police within 24 hours at the place of stay. Normally this is done by accommodation owners, hotel staff and campsite operators on their own initiative.
But what if the people on a campsite do not want to see your passport and you can only communicate with hands and feet?? After 3 hours of desperate search for a police station, the questioning of four people and after two different opinions we left it at that. I think that this obligation to register has something to do with the tourist tax and some of the campsites did not want to pay it and save themselves the paperwork. There were no problems at the exit, but you should still inquire on site.
ROAD TRIP MONTENEGRO WITH YOUR OWN CAR: CAMPING.
Montenegro is an outdoor paradise. And what could be better than spending the night outside?? The standard of the campsites is not comparable with the German standard. And that is exactly what I love there! No 4-star campsites, no perfect cleanliness, no paved roads. Back to basic so to speak. all in all we spent the nights on three different campsites, two of them i would like to recommend to you.
– campsite kod boce, just outside zabljak at durmitor national park (roofing with seating available, extra kitchen with fridge, showers clean and mostly warm).
– autokamp naluka in morinj in the west of the bay of kotor (roofing available, showers clean and warm).
The prices are unbeatable, due to the low season of course even cheaper (7-10€ / 2 pers.). + camper).
ROAD TRIP MONTENEGRO WITH OWN CAR: MY HIGHLIGHTS.
Montenegro is not big (not even as big as schleswig-holstein), but has everything from beaches, to mountains, to canyons, to old, awe-inspiring cities. It never gets boring.
1. the durmitor national park.
My personal highlight from the highlights. durmitor national park is a beautiful mountain massif in the north of the country. With altitudes up to 2500m, narrow and winding roads and secluded villages. I was so enthusiastic about the area that I gave the durmitor national park dedicated a whole article to it:
2. The bay of kotor.
The bay of kotor is the first sight shortly after entering from croatia. It stretches inland like a fjord and is lined with towering rocky flanks. On the first day we leave the bay after a short time and head inland. The road winds steeply up the mountain, we literally stick to the slope. but 2 days later, we just came back from one of the most beautiful roads from the durmitor national park, we enjoy the ca. 30km long drive in the bay. the road always runs just above sea level, passing medieval architecture.
At a narrow place, just before the bay unfolds its full beauty, there is the possibility of crossing with a car ferry (kamenari – lepetane). you can save about 25km, but you miss wonderful views. the ferry runs regularly in short intervals.
3. The town of kotor itself.
Kotor is a must see! The small town is located at the southeastern end of the bay of the same name, surrounded by a mountain range almost 1900m high. once you walk through the small, narrow streets, you can well imagine why kotor is a UNESCO world heritage site. The main sight is the old town surrounded by a city wall. My recommendation: just get lost a little bit, because there are just too many beautiful corners here. Narrow, narrow streets widen into squares with imposing churches. from these again star-shaped further lanes go off and lead us to the next hidden place. On and on. Until at some point it goes up and we can look over the roofs of kotor.
4. More sights.
there are still so many sights in montenegro, which we unfortunately did not see because of the weather. After a few days of continuous rain, storm (so strong that it even made us miss the 3. (we had torn a brake light from the bus) and low clouds during the whole road trip we decided to shift our search for the sun towards home (spoiler: except for 2 days of sunshine this didn’t work out either). But so that you can tell me about it on your trip, here is a small list of other places to visit montenegro sights:
– the tara gorge located slightly north in durmitor national park and is the largest gorge in europe. According to my grandmother, the roads along the canyon are relatively narrow, with oncoming traffic it is quite narrow (if you are traveling with car + caravan). The view must be spectacular for that. one of the main activities in the gorge is rafting on the tara river.
– the monastery ostrog in the center of the country near nikšic, carved directly into the rock.
– the town of ulcinj with the adjacent beach velika plaza.
– the komovi mountains in the east of the country (for more demanding tours).
– the island sveti stefan with the offshore village milocer, in the middle of the adriatic coast (probably a bit more expensive).
– the place herceg-novi in the west at the bay of kotor (probably more touristy).
– the lake skadar, half in montenegro, half in albania. For nature lovers.
Did you know ..
… that in montenegro you pay with the euro? Montenegro is not a member of the EU and therefore not part of the european monetary union. in 1999 the D-mark was introduced as a more stable means of payment, so in 2002 the changeover to the euro also took place.
Other interesting articles:
– mela from individualicious explored montenegro with a rental car at the beginning of october, was incredibly lucky with the weather and with her article my longing for a second visit is growing right now.
– steffi from A world kaleidoscope traveled through the balkans for several weeks a while ago and wrote about her highlights in her article. with us: durmitor national park, the beaches of ulcinj and the bay of kotor. Take a look at what montenegro looks like in nice weather: "the balkans are this beautiful! My top 10 balkan highlights."
– steve from back-packer.Org and clemens from anecdotique were on the road in summer 2014 for four weeks in different countries under the motto "balkan instead of balkonia. Steve writes on his blog about 5 amazing coastal places& sights in montenegro and clemens lets us enjoy the beauty of the country in his article "montenegro: a country like a photo wallpaper."share.
– sonja from delightful spots was on the road in montenegro with a rental car from dubrovnik and gives us 7 travel tips for montenegro.
my conclusion of the road trip: bad weather does exist – but it doesn’t matter. Sometimes just this kind of weather creates the right mood. nevertheless i would like to visit montenegro again in nice weather. Again with my own car, again camping, but then with many mountain tours in the durmitor mountains.
our road trip led us further to croatia, in search of sun and warmth. In 25 pictures I take you on a tour through the country.
Who of you has been to montenegro before?? Maybe even with your own car?
Elisa | take an advanture
Elisa loves road trips, the mountains and nature. She prefers to travel the roads of this world with a mattress in the trunk and her backpack on the backseat.