Montenegro - Budva to Croatia via Kotor

By Johan and Deborah - Montenegro!!!! Wow what a tiny little piece of heaven. Ok they have a lot of mountains and the summer temperatures have kicked in with a vengeance. If I think back on this journey so far I’ll remember how I melted. So once you’re over the mountains between Montenegro and Budva you get a great taste of the Rivera life. Then we continued on to Kotor avoiding the busy highway which means more climbing but with one amazing downhill into Kotor. The Rivera from Kotor around the Fjord like waterfront is something else! ... flat biking along amazing little streets, I rode along creating a whole fantasy in my head.. living in a castle on the Rivera with a mooring across the road for my massive private yacht (yes there are a few of those places on this coast)

Budva and the surrounding bays are the typical Adriatic Rivera scene of hotels and beach loungers. Busy beaches compared to New Zealand standards but I guess in high season the volume of beach lovers will go up a few notches still. There is a nice boulevard that goes around the main bay  with a small tunnel that takes you to the next bay. 

Sveti Stefan - the typical Montenegrin setting packed onto an island. It’s now a 5star resort that encompasses part of the mainland so the surroundings are just idyllic but yeah of course they charge you $20 euros per person to walk around the island. It’s a short bus ride/bike ride away from Budva but not sure it its worth the trip; you can just get a good taste for the old city of Budva and Kotor if you are going that way and although there are some tourist charges for parts of those cities most of those old towns can be explored free of charge. 

Budva Old Town fortifications 

Inside the walls there are a tonne of souvenir shops, restaurants and cafes. The town is nicely renovated so it looks very cool. 

These old towns are not built for cars that’s for sure; more like the odd hand cart and the odd donkey perhaps. Although no donkey poop allowed on these tourist streets today. 

From Budva we avoided the very busy main road once more which means two climbs (250m and 350m) - you go up towards the water park in Budva and continue on that road. 

A church on top of the second high freaking hill away from Budva. Taking this high road is still definetly worth it though; especially coming in from the top into the bay of Kotor is very spectacular with a perfect downhill gradient that looks and feels like a race track and a magnificent view of Kotor. 

The city of Kotor. 

The old city of Kotor is very cool; it’s pretty big, much bigger than Budva. The city walls protect the old city and to ensure the city was protected from attacks from the mountain range, the walls go right up the side of the mountain to the castle that sits high above the city. These walls are pretty amazing how they go straight up the cliffs. 

Inside the city walls there are lots of little court yards and alley ways that make it easy to imagine what this town must have looked and felt like a few hundred years back. 

One of Deborahs shots bringing out the colours and romance of this place. 

There seem to be a very deep springs in so many places on this coast; gurgling with icy cold mountain water - this was also part of the castle moat; a flowing river that just seems to appear out of nowhere. 

Those wicked little streets

The cats of Kotor. These dudes are tiny legends apparently - although this little prick took off as soon as he heard the camera click and check out that attitude 😜 Montenegrins believe cats saved Kotor. Back in the early 20th century the Slav sailors brought their boats into the Bay of Kotor with their cats. This means the cats are so varied from all corners of the world. The mountains back directly onto the town so the place full of cats is free of snakes, rats and mice.

Travel photography - gotta love it - taking shots while cooling off from the heat with an afternoon swim off Kotor beach. We continued to use guest houses or hotels in Montenegro because at this time of the year (early June) it’s easy to find places where you can get a double room with private bathroom the same or little more than a campsite (15 to 20 euros).  


Dinner on the waterfront is always nice 😍 and yeah it’s a sneaky couple shot because johans in it too!

Biking around the waterfront from Kotor around the bay is awesome. We had a beautiful day. The main road between the towns is once again vey busy and not friendly to cyclists because there is no shoulder. Most llittle towns have their own little water front side road however and it is a must to explore each one. They are simply beautiful. 


This is how you arrive in the Mediterranean 🤣 During our mandatory afternoon swim we observed the delivery of a few large private yachts. I guess if you can afford the yacht you can probably also afford the delivery boys. 

Such an awesome view from the top of the hill we were biking up to exit Montenegro. 
Deborah celebrating reaching the view point for Kotor bay on the peninsula south west of Igalo. These pretend to be dead shots are a bit sick but funny too 😁 

we cycled on upwards from here... hill peak in sight, border control seen, then a guy in a uniform drove up and said “go back, office closed” we were like “WHAT???” next car, crossing arms in an X and pointing go back. Guess it pays to check if the border crossing on the peninsula byIgalo is open before you bike up the hill.  We had to back down to Igalo and then use the main road to Croatia instead (over the m-01). That’s a very busy border crossing too so be prepared to wait a while.