Coastal Montenegro (Kotor Bay and Petrovac)

Destination: Petrovac & Kotor, Montenegro
Time of travel: August 2015
Duration: 4 days (3 nights) in Petrovac
Travel plan: 4 days in Pula, Croatia. 2 days in Mostar, BiH. 1 day in Split, Croatia. 4 days in coastal Montenegro (Petrovac and Kotor), 1 day in Pluzine, Montenegro, 3 days in Sarajevo, BiH, 2 days in Zagreb, Croatia

Kotor Bay

We recently added a new country to our (never ending) favorite destinations list. The whole Balkan area is on top of our list but there’s one country we plan to return to soon. It’s beautiful Montenegro. Even though coastal Montenegro is very popular and boasting with tourists more and more every year, it’s also beautiful inland. The natural beauty combined with high level of safety and you have a great holiday destination in front of you! Being in Balkans you still need to keep your eyes on the road when driving but in Montenegro it wasn’t even that bad, at least when comparing to some of the neighboring countries.

Crossing the mountains, from Bosnia Herzegovina to Montenegro

We drove in from Bosnia, driving to our fourth destination of the trip (Pula – Split – Mostar -> Montenegro..) via road R429 which was a relatively small road. Crossing the border was nice and easy. After the passport control you pay the road tax of 2,50EUR and off you go. The official currency of Montenegro is euro even though it’s not officially in the euro zone. The country has been working hard to become a part of the EU and is also making it easy for tourists to travel to and in the country. Montenegrins are very kind and friendly people to tourists and we really had no issues at all. Due to large amounts of tourists from neighboring countries such as Italy, Austria, and a further one, Russia, many languages are spoken in the country.

Continuing down to Meljine along the coast all the way to Kamenari where we, by a lucky chance, drove directly to the Lepetane – Kamenari ferry queue. We weren’t planning on taking the ferry but driving around the bay would have cost us an hour so we decided to take the ferry as it was almost departing. We didn’t plan on taking the ferry as we thought they’d be full and it’d be a long wait but it really wasn’t. In total it took us about 15 minutes as after getting the tickets we drove directly on to the ferry which departed almost immediately. Talk about timing! We definitely recommend driving around the Bay of Kotor, it’s one of the most beautiful roads. If you’re shot on time, take the ferry.

Full Moon in Petrovac

Even though the popular road are in quite a good condition, it will probably take time reaching your destination because of all the other tourists on the road. Reserve some additional time of 30-60 minutes if possible. Everybody wants to enjoy the views and as the roads are narrow and winding on the side of a mountain, you’re not driving very fast. You might also want to spare some time to stop and enjoy the view. It’s magnificent!

The coast of Montenegro is absolutely full of accommodation options. It’s striking to realize how popular this country actually is among tourists, especially as in many parts of western Europe people can’t even place it on the map! Montenegrins are very used to their tourists and really go out of their way to help you.

End of summer celebration, August 31st

Our first destination was Petrovac (aka Petrovac na Moru), a small town 25kms to the south from Kotor. We chose Petrovac because of a nice hotel we found but might have easily stayed somewhere else also. Petrovac was nice, small and very touristic. It has a good, relatively clean beach with super warm and clear water, and lots of restaurants by the beach. Swimming was a lot of fun but we’d recommend to leave your snorkles at home. Maybe further from the shore it’s cleaner but near the shore the sea floor was filthy with bottles, pipes, plastic bags, deck chairs, basically whatever you can throw in the water was there.

We spent four days in Petrovac, which was enough to reset in between of our more active destinations. We were originally planning to drive in the surrounding areas and drive up to Ulcijn not far from Albanian border or even the capital Podgorica but felt so relaxed and comfortable that driving a car felt like such a burden! The weather was absolutely fantastic all day and night long, not a drop of rain and even nights were warm enough to take a dip in the pool. The incredibly warm breeze will dry you off in no time.

Tourists arriving to Kotor

Kotor fortress

Kotor town

Up up we go!

On the fourth day, in the afternoon, we drove to Kotor and later continued all the way across the mountains to the small town of Pluzine, not far from the Bosnian border. Kotor is a beautiful, super touristic historical town by the bay of Kotor. Kotor was built during the Venetian Period (Republic of Venice) thus has a lot of similarity to Italian architecture. Our original plan was to quickly stroll across the town and shoot some photos but we actually ended up hiking all the way up to Kotor Fortress – about an hour – an hour and a half in total if you’re fast. We were completely unprepared for the hike, wearing sandals and flip flops (and me a Michael Kors bag..) which made it a little uncomfortable but it’s worth it and highly recommended. You can actually buy water and soda on your way up and down from one of the vendors along the walking path. The path is slippery, especially on the way down you might need to take it slow.

Those lazy summer days..

As it was a hot day, above 30C we decided to take a dip in the sea before taking off to Pluzine. You have lots of small beaches to choose from, just pick a spot and jump in! The swimming experience in the bay is actually an interesting one! The water in the bay is very warm, I’d say 25C but there’s cooler water pouring in from the mountains which brings in layers of cooler water so you have these pockets of cool water in the warm bay. You can even see the cooler spots with your bare eye. Very cool!

Could be a great idea to stay at one of the B&B’s by the bay, you’ve got plenty of choice and they looked very nice. Also, the scenary is breath taking, wouldn’t mind spending a week enjoying it!

The view

I better end my post here by the bay of Kotor, before continuing the journey to the north east of the country.

To sum it all up, Montenegro is an incredible destination for sun, beach, relaxation, nature and hiking. I believe it’s even great for buying real estate as tourism is growing and the economy is also growing fast after recession. Although, be fast, the prices are getting higher and are currently at the level of South of Spain and Portugal! Otherwise shopping in Montenegro will save your money because there’s not really that much to buy. Food is very good, seafood is recommended as well as everything with meat – Montenegrins really know how to barbeque seafood, meat as well as vegetables. Dishes are simple and very tasty. Try the Srbska salad which is a version of Greek salad, you won’t be disappointed!

We love food!

All in all, it’s not an expensive but also not particularily cheap destination. Especially coastal areas try (and should) benefit from all the tourists. However, it’s very much worth it and if you dig deep enough you do find great deals. Further inland prices drop and tourist masses get lesser.