Car, bus, taxi or transfer: what is cheaper in Montenegro

We are an information guide, not a rental company, so we can say it plainly: not everyone needs a car. There are trips where it sits in a car park and costs you money for standing still.

In short: for a beach week the bus and an airport transfer are cheaper; on the coast with day trips a couple spends less without a car, while for four the difference is small; and the mountains are close to unreachable without a car. Below are three typical trips and an honest sum for each.

What the costs are made of

Rental. Economy in low season from €25 a day; in July and August hire costs about twice what it does in May. An SUV from €45, a seven-seat minivan from €60. Options for your dates are on the car rental page.

Fuel. In autumn 2026 petrol is around €1.75 a litre and diesel €1.90–1.95; a 50-litre tank comes to €85–100. A week on the coast with a couple of mountain trips takes one to one and a half tanks.

Parking. In Kotor, from €0.90 an hour at the outer car parks to €4.80 beside the Old Town walls; in Budva €1–2, up to €3 near the Old Town. Both towns charge around the clock, weekends included.

Bus. Frequent along the coast: Budva–Kotor has more than 30 buses a day, about 40 minutes, usually €5; Budva–Sveti Stefan runs every 15–20 minutes for €2.50; Podgorica–Budva has more than 30 a day, about an hour and a half, €6–9. The network links Herceg Novi, Kotor, Budva and Bar, but barely goes into the mountains. From Podgorica airport a bus runs to the city bus station for €3, and two a day go straight to Budva for €12. From Tivat airport there is no bus: the bus station is 1.4 km away, about 20 minutes on foot, and from there Budva is usually €5. Times and fares for your date are on busticket4.me.

Taxi. At the airports and in season a taxi is the most expensive way to travel; if you take one, agree the fare before you get in. Ordering through Viber and sending your location on a map costs less, but at the airports and in summer fares are still high. Uber and Bolt do not operate in Montenegro. That is why taxis do not appear in the sums below: we don’t recommend them.

Airport transfer. A fixed price for the whole car, with a driver meeting you with a sign. From Tivat airport to Budva it is from €58 per car one way, from Podgorica airport from €73. The sum is known in advance and does not depend on traffic. Prices for every route are on the airport transfers page.

Trip 1. A week in Budva, beach only

You came to rest: sea, cafés, the evening promenade. One outing somewhere, at most.

The sum. From Tivat airport and back: a transfer, from €116 per car, or the bus from Tivat bus station, about €10 per person for both journeys. After that, on foot and by bus: one trip to Kotor is about €10 per person there and back.

Verdict: you do not need a car. It will sit outside the hotel, and July parking will cost more than a week of bus tickets. This is the case where the honest answer is not to rent.

Trip 2. The coast with day trips

The classic holiday: a base in Budva, and from there Kotor, Sveti Stefan, Perast, maybe Tivat.

With a car. Seven days of low-season rental is around €175, fuel about €60 (without mountain trips you use less than a tank), parking €25–35. That is roughly €260–270 for the whole trip and for everyone travelling with you.

Without a car. From Tivat airport and back: a transfer from €116 per car (from €58 each way), or the bus from Tivat bus station, about €10 per person for both journeys. Kotor there and back is about €10 per person: more than 30 buses a day, tickets usually €5. Sveti Stefan is €2.50 each way on a bus that runs every 15–20 minutes, so €5 return. Perast means changing in Kotor: €5 to Kotor, then the local bus, hourly and every two hours on Sundays, €1.50 in cash to the driver; allow about an hour and a half each way and about €13 per person there and back. Tivat is €5 each way, €10 return. The four outings come to about €40 per person.

The week added up (the car at low-season prices):

How you travel	Two people	Four people
Car: rental, fuel, parking	€260–270	€260–270
Buses, including to and from the airport	about €100	about €200
Buses plus an airport transfer both ways	about €200	about €280

In July and August hire costs about twice what it does in May, and a car for the week comes to roughly €400–650. The bus, meanwhile, runs along the coast only and does not climb into the mountains.

Verdict: for two, cheaper without a car; for four, the difference is small. Money is not the only difference: with a car you go when you want and stop where you want, without one you go by the timetable. The bigger the group, the more the sums lean towards the car, because the rental is shared while everyone buys their own bus ticket.

Trip 3. The mountains and the north

Lovćen, Njeguši, Lake Skadar, the Tara canyon, Durmitor, Ostrog monastery.

The sum. Public transport either does not go there at all or runs rarely: from Budva to Žabljak, for example, there is one direct bus a day in autumn 2026. A taxi into the mountains is the most expensive option, and we don’t recommend it. An organised tour — in season, group trips start at €39 per person — ties you to a group and a schedule, and the tours covered on this site, group or private, come only with a Russian-speaking guide.

Verdict: a car, and nothing else. This is not about saving money but about access: without one half the country drops out of the trip. What that looks like day by day is in Montenegro by car in 5 days.

A simple rule

Look at your list of places. If not one of them is in the mountains, price up buses and a transfer — it will probably be cheaper and calmer. If even one is, you need a car. With one or two mountain stops, two or three days of rental for those trips will do; with more, take it for the whole stay, because short rentals cost more per day.

One more thing: a week’s rental is almost always cheaper per day than three days. If you are torn between “a couple of days” and “the whole trip”, the difference in money is smaller than it looks.

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Prices checked in September 2026. More on the topic: what can go wrong, parking, driving rules. Cars are collected in Tivat, Podgorica, Budva and Kotor.