Best Things to Do in Montenegro

The list below runs roughly from the essentials to the extras. On a short trip, take the first five and add one or two from further down.

1. Kotor Old Town. A tight maze of marble lanes and small squares inside Venetian walls. You enter through the Sea Gate and land straight on the main square under the Clock Tower. Our Kotor Old Town guide covers timing and the climb.
2. The fortress climb above Kotor. Around 1,350 steps up the walls to the Fortress of St John, with the whole inner bay below you. Go early, it's a hot climb by midday.
3. A boat to Perast. Perast is a single street of Baroque palaces and churches facing the water, with two small islands just offshore. Arriving by boat across the bay is the right way to see it, and it's what we did. More in our Perast guide.
4. Our Lady of the Rocks. The artificial island off Perast with its blue-domed church, reached by small boats from the Perast waterfront.
5. Sveti Stefan. The walled islet joined to the shore by a sandbar. The islet is a private resort, but the beaches beside it and the views from above are open to everyone. See our Sveti Stefan guide.
6. Budva Old Town. Smaller and more polished than Kotor, rebuilt after the 1979 earthquake, with a citadel on the seaward tip. Walk it in the evening, then follow the cliff path round to Mogren beach.
7. Lake Skadar. The largest lake in the Balkans, shared with Albania and protected as a national park. Boats leave from Virpazar to the reed beds and island monasteries, and the hillsides around it are wine country.
8. Lovćen and Njeguši. Drive the hairpins up from Kotor to the village of Njeguši for smoked ham and cheese, then on to the mausoleum of Petar II Petrović Njegoš on Jezerski vrh, one of Lovćen's peaks.
9. The coastal path from Pržno. A shaded path through the pines of Miločer park that brings you out above Sveti Stefan. Best in the late afternoon.
10. Petrovac. A small, family-friendly beach town south of Sveti Stefan. Useful if Budva feels like too much.

Skip the idea of seeing all of this from one base in a day. Kotor and Perast pair naturally, Sveti Stefan and Budva pair naturally, and Lake Skadar wants a day of its own.