Njeguši Prosciutto: How It's Made, Where to Buy, Prices

Njeguški pršut, or Njeguši prosciutto, is a leg of pork that spends about a year being salted with sea salt, pressed, cold-smoked over beech and air-dried in the village of Njeguši, 22 kilometres up the mountain from Kotor. You buy it by the roadside, from the stalls and taverns of the village. The rough guide is €20–35 a kilo, more in the shops aimed at tourists; there are no recent verified prices, so compare a few places on the spot.

The second thing to know before you buy: you cannot take it home to Britain or anywhere in the EU, whatever the packaging. This is a ham to eat in Montenegro, not a souvenir to pack.

In short

• What it is: a bone-in leg, dry-salted, cold-smoked over beech for 5–8 weeks and matured for 8–10 months. The whole cycle takes about a year.
• Where: Njeguši, about 900 metres above sea level: 22 kilometres and 45–50 minutes up the hairpin road from Kotor, 20 kilometres and half an hour from Cetinje.
• Price: roughly €20–35 a kilo. A whole leg is cheaper per kilo, vacuum-packed slices dearer.
• The real thing: Njeguški is a protected name, reserved for ham from the Njeguši area above 800 metres.
• Taking it home: not allowed into the UK or the EU, vacuum-packed or not.
• Without a car: the Heart of Montenegro excursion includes a tasting, from €73 from Budva.

How is Njeguši prosciutto made?

The length of every stage is set out in the specification for the protected name. Fresh legs are accepted only between 15 November and 15 February, because salting is winter work, done while the mountains are cold.

Stage	How	How long
Salting	by hand, with sea salt only and nothing added	12–20 days
Pressing	the leg goes under a weight to squeeze out moisture	14–21 days
Smoking	dry beech, cold smoke at 13–21°C, no flame	35–56 days (5–8 weeks)
Maturing	cool, dark rooms	8–10 months
Total	from salting to the counter	about a year

The specification does not ask for more than a year, but producers will tell you the best pršut is two years old. That is their view, not a rule.

Hams of different ages on the same counter taste noticeably different. Hence the local rule: ask for your slices to be cut from the very leg you tasted, not from one like it.

What is the difference between Njeguši and Montenegrin pršut?

Njeguški pršut is a Montenegrin geographical indication, and it was the first local product to be protected as a quality mark under national law. Only ham from the Njeguši area above 800 metres may carry the name: about 28 square kilometres and 13 villages in the municipality of Cetinje. The name has no protection at EU level.

Since 2024 there has been a separate name, Montenegrin pršut (crnogorski pršut). It is made above 500 metres in the municipalities of Cetinje, Nikšić, Danilovgrad, Podgorica and Bar, with a cycle of at least a year. It is a different product, so read the label.

What the name protects is the place and the method, not the pig. According to 2016 figures, the larger producers brought in meat from the Netherlands, Hungary, Romania, Belgium and partly from Serbia. At the time there were 13 registered producers, making about 120,000 hams a year between them.

The word Njeguški also turns up on labels from farms outside Njeguši itself. If provenance matters to you, buy in the village.

Where to taste and buy pršut in Njeguši

Stalls line the main road through the village, selling pršut, Njeguši cheese, fruit rakijas, honey and medovina, a honey drink made locally.

Kod Pera na Bukovicu is a tavern licensed in 1881 and run by the Milošević family. It has its own drying room (sušara), which guests are shown round, and makes its own medovina. The staff speak English, German, Italian and French. Sources give different opening hours, so check before you go.

What	Rough price	Where the figure comes from
Pršut in Njeguši shops	€20–35 a kilo, more in tourist shops	rough guide; no recent verified prices
Whole leg from a farm near Cetinje	about €13 a kilo; a leg weighs about 9 kg	one farm’s advert, date unknown
Vacuum-packed slices, same farm	€23–24 a kilo	same advert
Tasting plate at a stall	€5–10	Njeguši travel guide, 2026
Lunch in Njeguši	€10–18 per person	same guide

Bring cash: not every stall takes cards. In summer the excursion coaches pull in around the middle of the day, so it is calmer before 11:00 or after 16:00.

Can I bring Njeguši prosciutto back to the UK?

No, and not into the EU either. Montenegro is not in the EU, and meat and dairy products from outside the EU cannot be brought into Great Britain or any EU country. Vacuum packing changes nothing; the EU’s only exceptions are baby food and special medical foods up to 2 kg. Undeclared products are confiscated and destroyed at the border, and you may be fined. Britain has banned meat and dairy from outside the EU for years, and since 2025 it has stopped travellers bringing them in from EU countries too.

The rule applies on land as well: the border with Croatia is an EU border, including on the day trip to Dubrovnik. If you bought pršut in Njeguši in the morning, don’t take it across a border in the afternoon.

Vacuum packing is still useful: sliced pršut copes with the heat and a few days of travelling around Montenegro. What you can take home instead, such as wine within your allowance or honey up to 2 kg, is covered in What to bring home from Montenegro.

How do you get to Njeguši?

Njeguši is on the Kotor–Lovćen–Cetinje road. From Kotor it is 22 kilometres and 45–50 minutes up a hairpin road with 25 bends; from Cetinje, 20 kilometres and half an hour. From Budva it is easier to go via Cetinje, which is 28 kilometres and 40 minutes away.

The loop Kotor–Njeguši–Cetinje–Budva–Kotor takes a day with stops. The road is described in the Kotor–Lovćen road, and the easiest place to pick up a car for it is Kotor. If you are tasting rakija or medovina in Njeguši, someone else drives: the limit is 0.3 per mille (0.03%), and zero for young and professional drivers.

Without a car. Njeguši is on the coach excursion Heart of Montenegro: Cetinje, a stop in Njeguši with a pršut and cheese tasting, and the cable car above Kotor, with one ride included in the price. Adults pay from €73 from Budva, from €83 from Kotor and Tivat and from €88 from Bar; children are usually charged about half the adult price. The tour runs only with Russian-speaking guides, so if that is a problem, drive. It is run by an independent company, and you book and pay with them directly using the form below.

More on the village and the Njegoš family home is in Njeguši; the cheese from the neighbouring stalls is in Montenegrin cheese; the rest of the local food is in What to eat in Montenegro.

Prices and opening hours checked in September 2026. Sources: the specification for the Njeguški pršut name as summarised by Serbian-language Wikipedia, Radio Free Europe, Analitika news portal, Government of Montenegro, Kod Pera tavern, Montenegro.com travel guide, the EU’s Your Europe portal, GOV.UK.