Lake Skadar, Montenegro: The Perfect Day Trip (2024)

Last Updated on March 13, 2024 by Nicole

Montenegro is a tiny European country found in central Europe. It is a country that is jammed pack with coastline, rivers, lakes and mountains. Most Europeans go in the summer to sit on the beach and enjoy its natural beauty and delicious fresh food. This is certainly as good a reason as any to visit Montenegro. However, when myself, husband and two daughters (21 and 13 years old) were there, we couldn’t sit still. We spent 4 days exploring as much of Montenegro as we could. This included a spectacular day trip from Kotor to Lake Skadar National Park. The sights we saw and the experiences we had were well worth giving up a day lounging by the Adriatic Sea.

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Other Articles About Our Experiences In Montenegro

We spent four days heading north, south, east and west of Kotor, where our hotel was located, fully enthralled by the stunning beauty, architecture and history of this country.

If you are interested to see what amazing experiences await you in this magnificent country, please check out:

• Kotor Montengero: The Best And Worst Location;
• Montenegro: Discovering The Bay of Kotor and Adriatic Sea; and
• Exploring Montenegro: A Breathtaking Road Trip.

Kotor

Our home base for our 4 day stay was Kotor found on the Bay of Kotor in the Adriatic Sea. It is an ancient town that was first mentioned in 168 BC.

Kotor was originally settled by the Ancient Romans and was fortified in 535 AD. However, from 1420 to 1797, Kotor was under Venetian control and transformed into how it looks today.

The architecture is distinctly Venetian and it’s one of the most well-preserved medieval old towns on the Adriatic. In addition, it is a World Unesco site.

We stayed at the Hotel Vardar in Kotor Old Town. We loved spending our nights exploring the winding cobblestone paths, eating at many wonderful restaurants, and of course, people watching while sipping cocktails on outdoor patios.

Moreover, it was a great location for our other day trips – going to Lake Skadar, exploring the Bay of Kotor by boat and our full day road trip to northern Montenegro.

Journey to Lake Skadar 

It is only 40 miles (65 km) from Kotor to Virpazar, a small fisherman’s town on the shores of Lake Skadar. This would suggest an easy and quick drive from one to the other. However, this is not the case. It is relatively easy but not necessarily quick.

The route between Kotor and Budva (a very popular coastal town along the way) is a two lane road, almost always with heavy traffic. Although it is only 13 miles (22 km) between the two, in the summer, it can take up to 1 1/2 hours to travel just between the towns depending on the time of day.

Fortunately, there is far less traffic once you pass through Budva. Overall, it took a little over 2 hours the morning that we travelled between Kotor and Virpazar.

Self Driving or Do A Private Tour to Lake Skadar?

We decided to hire a car and driver/guide to take us rather than rent a car ourself. Why?

• We only had one day and wanted to make sure that we saw everything that we should.
• We also wanted to enjoy the drive. The scenery is remarkable and sometimes its hard to appreciate it when you are driving or navigating.
• The tour was also going to include other towns such as Cetinje and Njegusi that I also wanted to see but knew that the driving in the mountains would be far more challenging.

For tour options from Kotor (or other starting points such as Budva or Podogorica), please click here.

Having said that, there is nothing that I saw that should deter you from self driving between Kotor and Lake Skadar. For sure, there was lots of traffic between Kotor and Budva and it was a bit slow. However, the roads were well maintained, relatively straight and the driving felt safe.

If you wish to drive to Lake Skadar National Park and then, book private or group boat tours of Lake Skadar with lunch or hikes to monasteries, or to watch the sunset, please click here.

The Scenery Enroute To Lake Skadar National Park

Like every other hour that we spent in Montenegro, we spent the whole drive with our eyes glued to the scenery. It was simply breathtaking. Most of the drive hugged the side of a mountain with panoramic views of the Adriatic Sea, beach towns or endless valleys. I had to stop myself from asking Andreas to pull over for yet another photo at least a dozen times.

I absolutely loved our time at Lake Skadar, but quite frankly, it could have been massively disappointing and I would still recommend the drive!

Lake Skadar National Park

At Virpazar, we picked up our private boat and captain. We spent one hour touring Lake Skadar and it was spectacularly beautiful. I could have spent hours there.

Lake Skadar is a lake shared by Montenegro and Albania. It is the largest lake in Southern Europe with the largest bird reserve in Europe. Lake Skadar and the area around it in Montenegro are within a national park – Lake Skadar National Park.

Lake Skadar and Lake Skadar National Park are stunning. On our one hour cruise, we glided through thousands of lily pads by islands and strips of land that were largely untouched, barely seeing another soul. Occasionally, we spotted ruins and once, we saw a monastery amongst the trees. Apparently, there are 20 such buildings – monasteries, churches, villages, fortresses and sacred monuments all around Lake Skadar, some of which are over a thousand years old.

Lunch was included as part of our cruise package. Once we returned to Virapazar, we walked 3 minutes to a local restaurant.

We were served platters and platters of delicious food – different kinds of fish caught in the lake, salads, fries, boiled potatoes, and baskets of crusty bread. The servings were huge and the food was amazing. I’m kicking myself for forgetting to take a photo of the platters of food before we dove in and ate. They were simply extraordinary. Our leftovers likely could have fed us for a couple days more had we had a kitchen in our hotel room!

Recommendations For Lake Skadar National Park

If you have the time, I would highly recommend allotting more than a half day at Lake Skadar. While we cruised, I was dying to get off the boat and go for a hike on one of the pretty islands that we saw around the lake.

You can rent kayaks and other boats, bike and swim in countless spots. It was definitely a place that, without time constraints, I would have spent at least a full day, if not a couple, exploring.

Having said that, I am thrilled that we made the journey and loved our time there.

Lake Skadar To Cetinje

After lunch, we drove to Cetinje, a city about an hour away from Lake Skadar.

Cetinje is the Old Royal Capital of Montenegro. In addition, it is the historic and secondary capital of Montenegro, and where the official residence of the President of Montenegro is located.

Cetinje is located inland around 671 m (2200 ft) above sea level on a plain surrounded by limestone mountains, including Mount Lovćen. It was much cooler than Lake Skadar and Kotor, which made for a lovely hour of walking and exploring.

Cetinje was a beautiful quiet city with lots of pretty parks, children playgrounds and an appealing walking zone with restaurants and local shops.

Scattered throughout were beautiful buildings built in the 19th Century that were reminiscence of old world charm like Paris, but on a much smaller scale. The architecture and layout of the city was much more sophisticated than any other spot that we visited over our 4 days in Montenegro.

Cetinje boasts numerous political and historical sights like the King Nikola Museum, the Cetinje Monastery, and Court Church which is nestled on the ruins of the Old Monastery.

There are also several former European embassies that currently host libraries and other artistic institutions.

Cetinje is sometimes called an “open-air museum’, as you can just walk the streets and see historical buildings or cultural institutions at almost every corner.

The Crazy Drive Back To Kotor From Cetinje

Cetinje to Njegusi

The drive back to Kotor from Cetinje was pretty much unlike any drive that I have done before, and that is saying a lot!

We drove from Cetinje into the mountains for around 30 minutes to a gorgeous little town called Njegusi.  Njegusi is known for the birthplace of the Petrovic dynasty which ruled Montenegro for over 200 years. It is also well known for its folk architecture, cheese and prosciutto.

This part of the drive was breathtakingly beautiful and calm. The roads were either switchbacks or curvy with pretty views of deep green valleys, little settlements, and majestic mountains. The roads were not particularly wide but felt safe as most of them were either against the mountain or next to a gentle slope.

Njegusi to Bay of Kotor

It was after we left Njegusi and headed back to Kotor that the drive became absolutely nuts. It was only 15 miles (24 km) to Kotor, but we had to descend from the top of the mountain back to the coast. That translated into a drive along a serpentine road with 25 switchbacks, a death drop over the side, and barely a guardrail in site.

The road was hardly larger than a one lane road but with two way traffic. Several times, we had to pull over and/or reverse to allow larger vehicles (even buses) coming in the opposite direction to pass.

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But, what views!!!! Oh my gosh, they were awe inspiring. We also had the good fortune of driving down while the sun was setting. It was remarkable.

If you have any fear of heights, mountain roads, twisty turns or danger, this is not the drive for you. We absolutely loved it and would tell anyone that this is a “must do” activity in Montenegro. However, it is pretty scary in parts.

I would absolutely NOT recommend self driving this road!

Last Word

I loved this day trip. All day long, the views were simply astonishing. Our time at Lake Skadar National Park was incredible. I only wish that we could have spent more time exploring other parts of Lake Skadar or hiking on one of the pristine trails around it.

Cetinje was a very interesting place to visit. The “old world” architecture and layout of the town were completely different from any other place that we visited in Montenegro.

Finally, the drive from Njegusi back to the Bay of Kotor was completely insane. However, the views of the Bay of Kotor and the sunset made it the perfect ending to our day.

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