Montenegro Etiquette: Tipping, What to Wear and Polako

Tipping in Montenegro is optional: after a good meal people leave about 10%, and in cafés and taxis they round up the bill. The other rules are just as short. Swimwear stays on the beach — walking through town in it costs €200 in Budva and up to €1,000 in Tivat. Smoking inside cafés and restaurants has been banned since 2019. Shoulders and knees are covered in monasteries. And it is best not to try to settle whether the people you meet are Serbs or Montenegrins.

The rest — the pace of life, coffee, rakija, candles in church — is worth knowing before you go, so that nothing takes you by surprise. Here it is in order.

In short

• Tips: about 10% in restaurants, in cash; round up in cafés and taxis.
• Swimwear is for the beach and seafront promenade only: fines of €200 in Budva, €20–1,000 in Tivat, €150–500 in Ulcinj.
• Smoking: banned inside cafés and restaurants since 14 August 2019; people smoke on the terraces.
• Monasteries: shoulders and knees covered, no shorts for anyone; no photographs in Ostrog’s cave churches or inside Cetinje monastery.
• Sensitive subjects: nationality, language, the church, 1918.
• Polako means “take it easy”: service is unhurried, and that is normal.

How much should you tip in Montenegro?

Where	How much
Restaurant, good service	about 10%
Café, bar	round up the bill: a €1.90 coffee becomes €2
Guide, after a good tour	€5–10
Hotel housekeeping	€1–2 a day
Porter	€1 a bag

That is well below American levels. Tips are given in cash, straight to the waiter: anything added to a card payment may never reach them. The housekeeping and porter figures come from a single guidebook, so treat them as a guide rather than a rule.

Kuver, the cover charge, is a separate line on the bill for bread and cutlery, usually €1–2.50. It is not a tip: the money goes to the restaurant, not the waiter.

A handful of coppers — 1, 2 or 5-cent coins — left on the table can come across as mockery. The Serbian press has reported on waiters in Tivat who were offended by a 5-cent tip. If you do not want to tip, it is better to leave nothing at all.

How tips and cover charges fit into a holiday budget is in the cost of a week in Montenegro.

What does polako mean?

Montenegro’s national tourism website names samo polako — “just take it easy, no rush” — as the first key to understanding the country. Alongside it come sve može (“anything is possible, it will all work out”), kumstvo, the lifelong bond with a godparent or best man, the katuni — summer shepherds’ camps in the mountains — and moba, when neighbours pitch in together to help with a house or a harvest.

In practice, polako means nobody will hurry you out of a café, and nobody behind the counter is in a hurry either. Service is slow, and getting irritated about it achieves nothing: this is simply how the day runs.

Montenegrins are happy to joke about their own laziness. The “Ten Commandments of the Montenegrin” — along the lines of “man is born tired and lives to rest” — are sold on fridge magnets and T-shirts. But it is self-mockery, and repeating the joke back to a local as the truth about Montenegrins is a bad idea.

Coffee is less a drink than an occasion. Home-style coffee, domaća kafa, is brewed Turkish-style in a small long-handled pot, a džezva, and served with a glass of water, sometimes with a piece of Turkish delight. People sit over a cup for an hour or more, and “going for a coffee” means “having a proper talk”. A cup costs €2–3. A few words of the local language help too: Montenegrin phrases for travellers.

How do Montenegrins greet each other, and what about rakija?

On meeting, people shake hands. Close friends and family kiss three times on the cheeks; you will not be expected to, but do not be surprised.

If you are offered rakija in someone’s home or in a konoba, a local tavern, it is a gesture of hospitality. Taking a sip is polite; refusing outright with no reason is awkward. Good reasons are health, religion and, of course, driving: the limit in Montenegro is 0.3 per mille, and zero for young and professional drivers. More on rakija and the local wines in Montenegrin wine and rakija.

What to wear in town, on the beach and in a monastery

Not swimwear in town. One coastal town after another has brought in fines for walking about in swimwear anywhere other than the beach or the seafront promenade:

Town	Fine	Since
Budva	€200	May 2023, the first in the country
Tivat	€20–1,000	2024
Ulcinj	€150–500	May 2026
Herceg Novi	amount not found	ban since May 2026

You will read online that Kotor fines €200 as Budva does, but local sources do not confirm it. Kotor’s old town is not a beach, so dress as you would in Budva. Which beaches are where, and what to take: Montenegro beaches by type.

In a monastery, shoulders and knees covered. The rules are the same at Ostrog and the other working monasteries: no shorts for men or women; women are best in a long skirt or trousers, and a headscarf is welcome but not required. Wraps and skirts are sometimes handed out free at the entrance, but do not rely on it, and there is nowhere to change. Photography is not allowed in Ostrog’s cave churches or inside Cetinje monastery; outside, it is fine. More in Ostrog Monastery, and the pilgrimage route with a guide to four sanctuaries is in four monasteries.

Candles. In Orthodox churches here there are usually two places to light them: candles for the living go in the upper stand, candles for the dead in the lower one, which is filled with sand. Some priests say it makes no difference, but following the custom does no harm.

Can you smoke in cafés and restaurants?

Not indoors. Since 14 August 2019 smoking has been banned in enclosed public places in Montenegro, cafés and restaurants included; the exceptions are casinos and separate smoking rooms of at least 10 m². A smoker can be fined €30–1,000, and the venue €500–20,000.

The ban does not apply to open terraces, and a lot of people smoke there: according to World Bank figures for 2016, about 46% of adults smoked. If the smoke bothers you, sit inside. Some places glaze in their terraces completely and carry on smoking; in Podgorica, cafés doing that have ended up on published lists of fined venues.

What subjects are best avoided?

The most sensitive subject is who lives here. In the 2023 census 41% of residents described themselves as Montenegrin and 33% as Serb; 43% gave Serbian as their mother tongue and 35% Montenegrin. For many people this is personal. Do not call Montenegrins Serbs or the other way round, and do not argue about what the language should be called.

The second is the church. There are two Orthodox churches in the country: the canonical Serbian Orthodox Church and the unrecognised Montenegrin one. In 2019–2020 a law on freedom of religion brought huge church processions onto the streets; the disputed articles were dropped after the 2020 election.

The third is history. The 1918 union with Serbia and Njegoš’s The Mountain Wreath are seen in very different ways, and in 2018 parliament declared the 1918 decision unlawful. Where these arguments come from is explained in a short history of Montenegro.

The rule is simple: asking questions is fine; arguing and passing judgement is not.

What else is useful to know?

• Public holidays last two days each, and banks, government offices and, according to local listings, most supermarkets close: Montenegro’s holidays and festivals.
• Registration is required within 24 hours of arrival; in a hotel or with a registered host, the host does it for you. Tourist tax is €1 a night.
• Entry: British visitors can stay up to 90 days in any 180 without a visa; the passport rules are in entry requirements for Montenegro.
• Time: Montenegro is an hour ahead of the UK all year round.
• Tours: the group and private tours listed on this site run only with Russian-speaking guides, so for most English-speaking visitors they are not the place to ask about local customs. Routes and prices are under tours in Montenegro.

Prices and rules checked in September 2026. Sources: National Tourism Organisation of Montenegro, Statistical Office of Montenegro (MONSTAT), Montenegrin press coverage of the tobacco law and municipal fines, travel guides to Montenegro.