Lake Skadar: A Day Trip Into a Bird Sanctuary

Twenty kilometres from the sea and one mountain range further on, a completely different Montenegro begins. Lake Skadar is one of the largest in the Balkans: from 370 to 530 square kilometres, depending on the season. Two thirds belong to Montenegro and the rest to Albania, with the border running straight across the water — on a clear day you can see the Albanian shore from the boat.

This is not a resort and not a beach. It is a nature reserve where the surface is covered in water lilies, channels disappear into reeds, and over all of it sits a silence the coast never has. The group excursion means a coach, the village of Virpazar, a boat and a swim: from €53 per adult setting off from Budva, Kotor, Tivat or Bar. It runs in season and is not held from October to May.

“Bird paradise” is not a marketing line

The national park has existed since 1983. It holds around 280 bird species: herons, ducks, cormorants, pochards, storks, pelicans. The headline bird and the symbol of the park is the Dalmatian pelican, and Lake Skadar has one of the few colonies in Europe. Its wingspan reaches three metres, and when a bird that size lifts off the water beside the boat, it stays with you longer than any viewpoint.

There are almost fifty fish species. The most valued are Skadar carp and bleak; the whole local fishing economy rested on them for centuries.

Virpazar

The coach brings you to Virpazar, a fishing village on the western shore and once one of the main market towns in the region. Today it is a few dozen houses, a stone bridge and a small market selling local things: wine, dried fish, honey, craftwork. There is not a lot of time to explore, but enough to feel the difference from the coast — nobody here is in a hurry. The villages around Virpazar are Crmnica wine country; more on them and on local Vranac in Montenegrin wine and rakija. Which of your market buys you can take home is in what to bring home from Montenegro.

This is also where you change into swimwear and board the boat.

What happens on the water

The boat heads out into the widest part of the lake, where the far shore is already Albania. From there it runs along walls of reed, through channels, past islands with Orthodox monasteries that can be seen from the water and no other way.

Swimming is part of the programme — the lake is warmer than the sea in summer, around 26–28 °C, and soft, with no salt. Afterwards the skipper serves priganice, local doughnuts eaten with honey and homemade cheese. A small thing, but people remember it more often than half of what they saw.

The boat trip lasts between two and a half and three and a half hours depending on the day’s programme.

What it costs

Prices are per person, setting off from Budva, Kotor, Tivat or Bar:

• from €53 — adult, 12 and over
• from €30 — child aged 4–11
• free — infants under 3 on a lap; from €30 with their own seat

The Herceg Novi version, which took in the Crnojević river, is not running in 2026.

The company that runs this tour works only with Russian-speaking guides, on group and private tours alike. If Russian is no use to you, the honest alternative is to drive to Virpazar yourself in a hire car and take a boat there.

Included: the coach, a licensed guide, the boat trip, return to your pick-up point, and the carrier’s basic insurance for the road journey.

Paid separately: national park entry, €5 per person (free for children under 15), and drinks. Booking requires no deposit, you settle with the guide on the coach, and cancellation is free. The exact amount and the timetable are confirmed by the company running the excursion.

How the day works

It starts around ten in the morning — later than most excursions, so no pre-dawn alarm. The coach runs along the coast collecting people at stops in the resort towns, which makes the drive itself a sightseeing leg: sea on one side, mountains on the other.

Then the climb from the coast to the lake over a pass, Virpazar, the boat, the swim, and the same road back. You return in the afternoon.

The excursion runs in season and is not held from October to May; the booking form shows the next available dates.

What to bring

Swimwear and a towel, comfortable shoes, water, a hat, sunscreen and a camera — there is plenty to photograph. Cash for the park entry ticket.

If someone in your party cannot swim but wants to, bring armbands or a vest: the boat anchors in open water where there is no bottom to stand on.

How this differs from the other lake options

There are three ways onto Lake Skadar and they do not substitute for each other.

The group excursion is the overview day: coach, village, boat, swim, priced per person. Right if you have no car and want to see the lake once.

The speedboat is your own boat for the group, with a route you choose: the southern monasteries, the Morača delta, the Crnojević river. More per boat, but split six ways it comes to less than €45 a head — not counting the trip to the marina — and far freer with time.

Fishing means a six a.m. start, tackle, silence and no sightseeing programme at all.

Nearby

The saltwater equivalent is the Bay of Kotor by ship: also a coach plus a vessel, also priced per person. Other destinations are on the things to do page; group tours with prices are under tours in Montenegro.

The road to the lake climbs through the mountains in switchbacks. If you drive it yourself, read driving rules and fines first.

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Prices checked in September 2026.