Montenegro
EUROPE · 6 PLACES
A fjord-like bay of Venetian stone towns, then black-pine mountains, Europe's deepest canyon and 13km of open sand. You can climb a fortress at dawn and be in a Budva club by midnight.
Kotor
Bay base with walls, boats and buses to almost everywhere else
Budva
Beaches, an old town and the only real club scene in the country
Perast
Stay after the coaches leave; that is the whole point of Perast
Zabljak
Cool air, glacial lakes and the Tara canyon after a month of heat
Ulcinj
Long sand, kite wind and a completely different, Albanian-speaking south
Lake Skadar
Lily channels, pelicans and Vranac cellars an hour from the coast
One month here
Bay base with walls, boats and buses to almost everywhere else
Stay after the coaches leave; that is the whole point of Perast
Beaches, an old town and the only real club scene in the country
Long sand, kite wind and a completely different, Albanian-speaking south
Lily channels, pelicans and Vranac cellars an hour from the coast
Cool air, glacial lakes and the Tara canyon after a month of heat
Three months here
Best-connected base; day trips fill weeks without repeating yourself
Slow bay living once you have had enough of Kotor's cruise days
Beach routine plus the July-August festival and club calendar
Learn to kitesurf properly and use it as a base for Albania
Birding, kayaking and the Crmnica wine villages at harvest
Serious hiking season on Durmitor, plus the ring road and Piva
Festivals worth flying for
Kotor Winter Carnival · February, Kotor
Masked balls, a satirical parade and the trial and burning of the carnival figure
Mimosa Festival · February, Herceg Novi
Three weeks of parades, seafood and mimosa blossom marking the end of winter
Fasinada · 22 July, Perast
A night-time convoy of boats drops stones around Our Lady of the Rocks
Theatre City (Grad Teatar) · July-August, Budva
Plays, poetry and concerts staged in the Old Town's squares and churches
Boka Night (Bokeljska noc) · Mid-August, Kotor
Decorated boats parade the bay, then fireworks and music on the waterfront
EXIT2Montenegro (Sea Dance) · Late August, Budva
EXIT's Adriatic beach edition; big-name electronic acts on Becici sand
In an emergency
Emergency number 112
112 reaches police, fire and ambulance, works without a SIM and is usually answered in English. Direct: police 122, fire 123, ambulance 124.
Language
Montenegrin, in Latin and Cyrillic script. English widely spoken on the coast.
Money
The euro, though Montenegro is not in the EU. Cards fine on the coast; carry cash inland.
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