Maxi Montenegro: Cetinje, Lovćen and Njegoš's Mausoleum

On the summit of Lovćen, 1,657 metres up, lies the man this country calls the father of the nation. Petar II Petrović Njegoš — bishop, ruler and the poet who wrote The Mountain Wreath, the central work of Montenegrin literature. He chose the spot himself and asked to be buried where the whole country is visible.

In 2026 the organiser is not running Maxi Montenegro. The nearest alternative is the Heart of Montenegro: the same Cetinje and Njeguši, plus the cable car above Kotor instead of the mausoleum. It costs from €73 per adult from Budva, from €83 from Kotor and Tivat, and from €88 from Bar.

The Maxi Montenegro route is built around that summit. On the way: the old capital and the village where the ruling dynasty began. It is a full day in the mountains; entry to the national park and the mausoleum is paid separately.

The Brajići viewpoint

The first stop is a platform on Mount Brajići, 850 metres up. The entire Budva riviera opens out: the town, the island of St Nicholas, Sveti Stefan, and the shoreline running to the horizon. There is no getting that angle from the road.

The route then follows high but properly built mountain roads, with the bay and the coast in sight almost continuously.

Cetinje

The old capital, founded in 1482 when Ivan Crnojević moved his court into the mountains away from the Ottomans. For more than four centuries, until 1946, the country was governed from here; today it is a quiet town of former embassy mansions. More about it in Cetinje in half a day.

The Cetinje monastery holds the right hand of John the Baptist — the hand with which, by tradition, Christ was baptised — and a fragment of the True Cross. It remains the seat of the Montenegrin Metropolitanate: people light candles, leave written prayers, and buy icons and brojanice, the woven prayer bracelets customarily blessed on the relics.

The stone sea

From Cetinje it is twenty kilometres to Lovćen across a plateau known as the “stone sea of Montenegro”. Grey karst to the horizon, no trees, no houses. The road winds between boulders and the landscape looks closer to the moon than to the Mediterranean.

Njegoš’s mausoleum

The climb up Lovćen — not the country’s highest mountain, but its most important one. The mausoleum stands on the Jezerski Vrh peak at 1,657 metres.

461 steps lead up to it through a tunnel bored into the rock. The ascent is optional and paid separately — €8 per person; anyone not going waits below at the park entrance. The mausoleum is open from 15 April to 15 November, 9:00–18:00 (arrive by 16:30), and closed in winter.

Inside are two figures of Montenegrin women in black stone holding up the vault, a statue of Njegoš in grey Jablanica granite weighing 28 tonnes, and a marble sarcophagus. The work is by Ivan Meštrović, the sculptor behind monuments in Zagreb and Chicago. The mausoleum’s history, tickets and how to drive up on your own are in Njegoš and his mausoleum.

Behind the mausoleum is a circular terrace known as the “eagle’s nest”. In clear weather almost all of Montenegro is visible from it, with the Adriatic and the Italian coast on the horizon.

Entry to Lovćen National Park is €3 per person, free for children under 15; it is paid separately.

Njeguši

The home of the Petrović dynasty and Njegoš’s own birthplace. They ruled Montenegro for more than two centuries, and the village has stayed exactly what it was: a few dozen stone houses on a slope.

It is known for pršut — ham air-cured and smoked over beech for five to eight weeks. The microclimate does the work: dry mountain air is drawn in from two directions and produces a flavour other villages cannot match. There is a stop for tasting and buying, along with homemade cheese, honey and rakija. What kind of cheese Njeguši makes, and how it differs from the rest, is in Montenegrin cheese.

The rule is simple: buy the ham you were given to taste. The leg beside it will be different. More about the village in our article on Njeguši.

Coming back in the evening, you catch the sunset over the coast.

What it costs

The organised tour has no price for 2026, because it is not running. What you pay on the mountain is the same however you get there:

• €3 — Lovćen National Park entry
• €8 — the climb into the mausoleum, optional
• from €15 — lunch, optional

Every other price in the park — parking, trails, the adventure park at Ivanova Korita — is in Lovćen National Park.

The company that runs these tours 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 the route yourself in a hire car: Cetinje to the mausoleum is 20 kilometres, about 35 minutes.

What to bring

Something warm — Lovćen runs some fifteen degrees colder than the beach and there is always wind up there. Comfortable shoes: 461 steps up and the same number down. Clothing covering shoulders and knees for the monastery. Water, a hat, a camera, and cash for entries and ham.

When it runs

Not in 2026, and whether the organiser brings it back in 2027 is not yet known. It is a summer route in any case: in winter snow closes the Lovćen road, and the mausoleum is shut from 15 November to 15 April.

How it differs from the Heart of Montenegro

The geography overlaps — Cetinje and Njeguši appear in both. The difference is the third stop.

Maxi Montenegro climbs to the summit of Lovćen and the mausoleum. It is about history and altitude.

The Heart of Montenegro (from €73) swaps Lovćen for the cable car above Kotor and the town itself. It is about views over the bay, and in 2026 it is the one of the two you can actually book.

Nearby

The far north with its canyons: the Tara and Morača canyons. The pilgrim route: Ostrog monastery. The full list is on the things to do page; group tours with prices are under tours in Montenegro.

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Prices checked in September 2026.