A Day in Montenegro!

‘At the birth of the planet the most beautiful encounter between land and sea must have been on the Montenegrin coast’ Lord Byron

I couldn’t agree more with Byron.

Montenegro is a beautiful Balkan country with interesting history combined with stunning mountainous scenery and charming seaside towns – it’s a small country, nearly half the size of Wales, but it sure does pack a punch!

Whilst in Dubrovnik, we booked a day trip via Viator to Montenegro. Dubrovnik is in an excellent position to explore neighbouring countries of Bosnia and Montenegro and there are numerous day trips on offer, so definitely check them out if you’re in the area. (Click here for my travel guide to Dubrovnik!)

This particular trip included a visit to the Bay of Kotor, the town of Kotor and the seaside town of Budva. Kotor

Kotor is situated in a corner of Kotor Bay, Europe’s most southerly fjord. Built by the Venetians, its a small, medieval town and, similar to Dubrovnik, it’s old town is enclosed within well-preserved city walls that climb up the hills in the backdrop. Sadly, we didn’t have time to climb the walls right up to the top but this is well worth doing if you’re here for longer as the views looked amazing.

We spent about 2.5 hours or so wandering around Kotor through the maze of tiny cobbled streets, admiring the historic architecture. As it’s quite a small town, 2/3 hours is enough to walk around and get a feel for the place but if you want to visit the museums etc, you will definitely need more time! Also, cat fans, be sure to visit the Cat Museum and the Cats of Kotor shop. Cats are the unofficial symbol of Kotor and they are all over the place 🙂Budva

Budva is Montenegro’s most popular beach resort. It also has an old town and you can walk the city walls for views of the place. We didn’t have much time here, just around 1.5 hours, so it was a bit of a rush to walk around the town but, from what I saw, it looked like a charming place with a nice beach and picturesque port lined with lots of yachts. I can see why this is a holiday destination for wealthy Russians and Ukrainians!In terms of the Viator tour, there are a few things that I should point out. This particular trip lasted for 12/13 hours – the majority of this time, however, was spent on the coach! This was mainly because you have to drive through the border and passport control which can take a while (remember to bring your passport with you!). We probably spent about 4 hours actually exploring Montenegro on foot but the rest of the time was mainly on the coach so be prepared for a lot of driving. The views on the drive were beautiful so I shouldn’t complain too much…

Although I quickly realised that perhaps a day trip didn’t quite do Montenegro justice, it was a great way to see a snippet of another country which I now hope to go back to and explore properly so, on that basis, I would recommend checking this tour out!

Have you been to Montenegro? What places would you recommend to visit?