Durmitor and the Black Lake: A Day Trip From the Coast

Durmitor is eighteen glacial lakes, forty-eight peaks above two thousand metres, and an hour and a half of silence after more than three hours of driving. Durmitor National Park was founded in 1952 and added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1980. The Tara basin has been a biosphere reserve since 1977.

People come up from the coast for a single day and usually manage the essentials: the Black Lake, Đurđevića bridge and the view from a pass. Here is how to arrange it.

The Black Lake

The park’s main feature and its most accessible. Two glacial basins — the Large and Small lake — joined by a channel that dries out in August, separating them.

The water is dark from the reflection of the spruce forest, which is where the name comes from. You can swim, but it rarely exceeds 18 °C: this is a mountain lake at 1,416 metres.

The loop trail is 3.5 kilometres, an hour to an hour and a half at a steady pace, with little climb. The path is packed and the first third works with a pushchair. It is the best walk in the park for anyone not heading into the mountains.

Park entry is €5 per person; parking at the lake is separate.

What else is in the park

Harder trails:

• Snake Lake (Zminje jezero) — 5 km from Žabljak, and quiet.
• The Ice Cave (Ledena pećina) — a climb to above 2,100 metres, 4–5 hours round trip, proper shoes needed.
• Bobotov Kuk, 2,523 metres — the summit of Durmitor, a full day and mountain experience.

The Sedlo pass viewpoint at 1,907 metres sits on the ring road around the massif. Parts are gravel but passable in a normal car in dry weather.

The drive from the coast

Budva to Žabljak is 160 kilometres, 3–3.5 hours by the shortest route, and about the same from Kotor. Going via Podgorica and the Morača canyon takes longer: about four hours to Đurđevića bridge, then another half hour from the bridge to Žabljak.

It is not a fast road: switchbacks, tunnels, limits of 60–80. It is also beautiful in itself — half of it runs through a canyon.

Montenegro has two toll roads, and one of them is on the way north: the Smokovac–Mateševo motorway beyond Podgorica, €3.50 for the full stretch. It bypasses the Morača canyon; the old road through the canyon is free.

On this route it is worth stopping at Đurđevića bridge over the Tara canyon: more than 150 metres above the river, a zipline and the best photograph of the trip. It is 23 kilometres from Žabljak. In autumn 2026 the bridge is closed for reconstruction until 26 October, though it is expected to reopen earlier; check before you go. More in Đurđevića bridge.

One day or two

In a day it looks like this: leave at six, reach the bridge by ten, the Black Lake by midday, start back at half past two, home by six in the evening. Twelve hours, eight of them driving.

With a night in Žabljak it becomes a proper trip: the lake, one of the trails and the Sedlo pass. Žabljak is the base for the whole north — see Žabljak.

If you would rather not drive

Four hours each way is real work, and many people hand it to a driver. The coach excursion the Tara and Morača canyons includes the Black Lake, the bridge and Morača monastery, with hotel pick-up. It costs from €58 per person departing Budva or Podgorica, and from €68 from Kotor, Tivat or Bar.

The private version of the same route, with your own guide and no group, is canyons and Žabljak privately. Private tours cost from €90 for the whole group. Both come only with a Russian-speaking guide; if Russian is no use to you, driving yourself is the alternative.

To travel along the canyon rather than look into it, there is rafting the Tara, from €82 per person with breakfast and lunch included; it runs in season and is not held from October to May. All formats are under things to do.

If you are driving yourself

Avoid the lowest-slung car: some park roads are gravel and insurance rarely covers the underbody and suspension — see insurance and deposit.

Warm clothes are essential: 30 °C on the coast can be 12 °C in Žabljak, and that is a normal August gap. Hire options are on the car rental page.

Prices checked in September 2026. In winter Žabljak works as a ski resort and some trails are closed.