Montenegro

jos28

OH is taking me on holiday for my 'roundy' birthday and I noticed that Ryanair are doing flights to Montenegro. It looks fab, has anyone been? Looking for the usual recommendations - where to stay, things to do etc.

cdeb

As always, depends what you want. Budva and Bar for beaches and nightlife. Kotor for a lovely atmospheric pedestrianised UNESCO-listed old town on a scenic fjord. Ulcinj for the Kosovan/Albanian side of the country's culture. Inland for mountain hikes. Not a massive amount in Podgorica, so I'd aim to get out to one of the above - depending on your interests of course

eusap

we drove to Kotor from Dubrovnik and were sorry we did not go there for the week, beautiful back drops, walled city etc..... They accept Euro (not in Euro Zone) and friendly people. We felt safe, seemed to be many russians living there

jos28

I'm well past my night clubbing days
Kotor looks really nice, could we base ourselves there and then drive/cycle/bus around to see the rest of the country ?

cdeb

Kotor is super.

Roads aren't great - it's very mountainous and travel can be slow. Kotor is also tucked away in one corner so it's not ideally placed as a base. Podgorica to Kotor is 50 miles and 90 minutes for example.

Better to spend say 3 days there and move on elsewhere.

smelly sock

Id highly advise the Albanian coastline. Its fantastic. Cheap and people are really friendly. Stunning country and a well kept secret.

Kotor is absolutely beautiful, I love it there.
You could stay for the week, rent a car & travel around.
Or just stays there for the week....
I would advise flying into Dubrovnik though, it's a straight drive down 30 or 40 mins to kotor, I would not advise flying to Podgorica, unless you are very happy with terrible mountainy roads & crazy drivers!
You can visit Dubrovnik for a day or so, also go south, trips to budva & the national parks.
It all depends on what you are looking for.

retalivity

Its a lot more than 40mins from dubrovnik airport to kotor! More like 1h30m, depending on the border crossing.

You can fly to tivat, which is 15mns from kotor, from the uk...not sure if theres any charters from dublin. Budva has a nice old town but is teeming with russians, which can be a good or bad thing.

retalivity

retalivity wrote: »

Its a lot more than 40mins from dubrovnik airport to kotor! More like 1h30m, depending on the border crossing.
.

Ahh it's not really, I travelled that road plenty of times, the border may be busy, but may not.
I reckon it's still better for an Irish person driving, then going by Podgorica!

cdeb

Google Maps right now is showing 90 minutes for the trip. That's usually fairly reliable. It gives a distance of 45 miles, which isn't possible in 40 minutes even if it was motorway all the way and there was no border crossing.

The other option to get in - depending on time available - is to fly to Belgrade and get the very scenic train to Bar (through Podgorica). Total trip time is 11 hours, but it's regularly named as one of Europe's most scenic railway trips. More details here.