Montenegro Customer Reviews

The accommodation that we stayed in was all of a really good standard, with great breakfasts included. The standout place where we stayed was in the hills above Lake Skadar. This place was stunning, and the food (we had evening meals and breakfasts included) was incredible, and all sourced from the farm itself and the surrounding area. The pool area was amazing, but the views were even better!

There are some long drives – especially with ongoing road closures in some areas, but the roads are (largely) fairly quiet, except around the Bay of Kotor, where there are far more people. The Old Serpentine Road down from the mountains to the coast is quite an experience…!

Highlights for us were the hotel near Lake Skadar, rafting on the River Tara, a private speedboat trip around the Bay of Kotor, exploring several wonderful old towns (Cetinje, Kotor, and Herceg Novi), and kayaking in the lovely Biogradska Gora National Park.

Do try to explore this wonderful country!

Travel to Podgorica was virtually effortless and Whizz Air has had quite a harsh rap in recent years. We found them to be quite efficient, with clean planes and timings pretty well kept.

Wow! Our rafting guide was brilliant and gave the children all sorts of fun, doing doughnuts through the rapids while other rafting companies seemed to go through more sedately. He was very experienced and just made it perfect. We turned up at a dropped pin location supplied by Ivana and were scooped up. Sometimes you think you need to know more than you do, but in Ivana’s hands we quickly realised we just needed to trust her and details would be issued as needed.  She didn’t let us down once. 

We all did the zipline. M was very nervous and the men running the line at the start couldn’t have been kinder. She wouldn’t have missed it for the world. The whole setup was professional, super safe and slick. We loved it.

Tsenija, our guide in Kolasin, took us on an amazing walk around the lakes, which started outside our hotel. Again, a perfect location and one of my most favourite days of the holiday.

(On the way to Tomići) we stopped at Ostrog Monastery along the way. We absolutely agree it is worth the detour. However, the drive up the mountainside takes courage and an experienced driver. There are some heart-stopping hairpin bends and reversing back and forth is not for the faint-hearted! 

On our Lake Skadar trip, we had the pleasure of a delightful young lady, Tara, who is the only female in charge of a boat on the lake. She was gorgeous; M enjoyed her company. She was knowledgeable, with excellent English, calm, and very experienced. 

She took us through the breathtaking waterways to a small house on the edge of the lake, where we were treated to fish and potatoes. Head, teeth, skin, the lot. It was such a good experience to accept how people in other countries do things! So, the food was visually challenging…although the fish did taste delicious! 

However, the family were so kind and so welcoming. The children swam off their deck and befriended their little girl. We watched these children (their daughter was 4 1/2) communicating in their own languages, M teaching her to count to 3 and all jumping in together. Then the little one started teasing M and laughing, which made us all laugh and suddenly there were 2 families united by sun, blue sky, clear water, and youthful exuberance! It was a magical afternoon!

Lipa Cave was extremely well signed, with a huge, new car park, clean loos and a nicely laid out cafe that made it seem like it had just landed in the mountains! Take a jumper because it is cold in the caves and wear something more substantial than flip-flops, as the slopes can be steep. A little train takes you to the start of the caves and they are well worth a visit. It was a really nice, easy stop on our journey to Herceg Novi.

Herceg Novi is an utterly gorgeous, quite chilled little piece of history. There are some lovely medieval buildings, some cool cafes, slightly Italianesque or, if you know Corfu Town, quite similar to that. Some lovely “things and stuff” shops selling good quality products. We walked up to the Kanli Kula Fortress (I think this is the Bloody Tower by another name) which is now a performance space.

 The other tower, the Spanish Tower, is worth visiting, but you need to drive to it. It’s an odd mix of abandoned, yet treasured historical importance. The villa owned by Tito is open at very selective times. We missed it because we tried to visit randomly during the day. It has evening opening times and you need to look them up in advance. 

Kotor is small, beautiful, very busy and we can see it will become as touristy as Venice within a very short time. It’s already crowded and we were quite happy to return to the calm of Herceg Novi. 

If you want clarification or any other information, we loved it so much and are so impressed with you and Ivana, we would be more than happy to talk to you. 

We ended up driving to Lake Skadar for a boat trip on the second full day, our son is obsessed with birds, so it seemed like an opportunity we couldn’t miss once we realised it was there and it was a fabulous day. On that great new road from Podgorica, it was only an hour and a half from Kolasin, it might not be for everyone but we loved it.

We loved being by the coast, so if we did it again we might have spent an extra night at the coast rather than in the mountains but we loved it all. Thanks again for all your help, would not have known where to start so it was great to have your insider knowledge on where to go and stay.