Southeastern Europe, Montenegro | For everyone searching for a picturesque country with breathtaking views, sandy beaches, wild nightlife, and crystal clear water, there is no better place to get all that than Montenegro. Even though Montenegro occupies only 13,812 km, with most of it being high mountains, this country has some of the best beaches, many fortresses, and other historically important monuments. Those who know about Montenegro know probably about Ada Bojana or Budva, but if you think that’s everything that this astonishing country has to offer, you couldn’t be more wrong, as its coastline alone would leave everyone breathless.
Zanjic beach
Located on the Lustica Peninsula, at the entrance of the Kotor Bay, lays a breathtaking Zanjic beach. It is a small beach with many restaurants and bars, where you can take a break from the sun and heat, enjoy the view, rest and simply don’t think about anything. Zanjic is the most popular excursion destination for tourists in Herceg Novi because of its crystal clear water and many fish species. This excursion is very amusing because of the boat ride from Herceg Novi, from Blue Cave to Zanjic beach. Blue Cave is located on the same Peninsula and was named Blue because of its unusual blue color as a result of the sun’s reflection.
Sunset at Zanjic Beach
Blue Cave
Lovcen
In the southwest of Montenegro, above Budva and west of Cetinje, is a beautiful mountain and national park, Lovcen. With rocky mountain slopes, deep depressions, and many, many caves throughout the whole mountain, it really makes this place astonishing, especially the view. Brilliantly as this mountain is, it has two imposing peaks, Stirovnik, which is 1.749 meters high, and Jezerski vrh with 1.657. meters. The second one is more famous because of the Njegos Mausoleum situated on top of the mountain. Don’t know who Njegos was? It will be great to inform yourselves before taking a trip here because Njegos was one of the most important figures in Montegrin’s rich history. Knowing that will make your trip much better overall, as you will much better understand certain things about this lovely country. Njegos is also significant to all the Balkan people, and he constructed a mausoleum himself to be his resting place in 1845. You should also be ready for some walking as there are 461 stairs that lead to the mausoleum, but the looks of the mausoleum, along with one-of-a-kind view, are more than worth the “trouble.”
Njegos MausoleumView from LovcenScenic Viewpoint
Mamula
Lastavica islet is located in the Adriatic Sea between Lustica and Prevlaka peninsulas. It got its name from the former Austro-Hungarian general Lazar Mamula, whose idea was to construct a fort that covers around 90% of the islet. In World War II, Benito Mussolini made Mamula concentration camp and imprisoned about 2000 anti-fascists from the region, with the youngest prisoner being only eight days old. More than 80 people were killed without any trial whatsoever, and more than 130 deaths overall are related to Mamula, and most of the prisoners died from starvation. Today the islet is uninhabited, but the fortress is still preserved, meaning that you can see all its elements as toilets, kitchen, cells, etc. Mamula fortress is covered with wild Ivy but still can’t hide the horror that was done inside this Montenegrin Alcatraz. It is a great reminder of everything that happened in one of the worst periods of Montenegrin history.
Mamula Fortress
Djurdjevica Tara Bridge
Between the villages Budecevcica and Tresnjica, in Tara canyon, 172 meters above the river with the same name is magnificent Tara Bridge. It was built between 1937 and 1940, and at that time, was the biggest vehicular concrete arch bridge in Europe. It is 365 meters long, and it is one of the most visited places in Montenegro where you can try bungee jumping. For those who are not as big adrenaline junkies, rafting on Tara River would perhaps be the ideal way to experience this great mix of an architectural masterpiece and well-preserved nature.