5 Days in Žabljak

Start with the one old building left in town. The Church of the Holy Transfiguration is all that survives of the old Žabljak, which got its name in 1870 and was burned to the foundations in the Second World War, so it is the only thing here that was standing before the rebuild. Sources date the church itself to somewhere between 1862 and 1870, and the older date ties it to a Montenegrin victory over the Ottomans.

Don't expect an old town around it. Walk down Njegoševa street, past the tour agencies and cafes, to see what Žabljak is now: a mountain base that sells rafting, rooms and grilled meat. It takes 30 minutes, and it explains the rest of the day.

Breakfast here is priganice, small fried dough balls served with honey, cheese or jam, and one of the most loved sweets in the country. In the mountains you will also see popara (bread soaked in hot milk or water) with kajmak, and cicvara, a creamy cornmeal dish that locals eat for breakfast and that you will meet again at dinner.

Any café or bakery on Njegoševa will do. Ask for priganice with honey and a strong coffee.

The Black Lake is the symbol of Durmitor and the reason Žabljak has tourists. It lies at 1,416 m, about 3 km from town, and it is really two lakes, the Big and the Little, joined by a narrow strait that dries up in summer. The little one is deeper, at around 49 m, and the water flow between the two reverses with the seasons. Behind it the Međed ridge stands in the water on a still morning, and that is the picture on every postcard.

A 3.5 km path circles the whole lake and takes under two hours. Two streams cross the path, so wear shoes you don't mind getting wet. The loop is flat, forested and busy by 11, so go early. There is a reading forest on the shore, with deck chairs and book boxes, and an educational path as part of the park ticket. In winter the loop is a snow walk, and the park rents snowshoes for 4 EUR a day.

The park rents wooden boats and kayaks from a ranger on the shore for 10 EUR an hour, or 5 EUR an hour if you bring your own boat. It is a slow way to see the Međed ridge from the water.

Go in the afternoon, once the morning crowd has left the path. In winter this stop is a summer-only one, and the day-two snowshoe route from the lake to the ski centre is the better use of the time.

Two smaller lakes near the Black Lake show a quieter Durmitor. Zminje Lake sits at about 1,520 m in dense spruce forest, and its water looks green. Barno Lake is a shallow, marshy pond, and folk belief says its water heals skin diseases. The park recommends a circular route linking Barno, Zminje and the Black Lake, and an easy 9 km loop through the village of Bosača takes in Jablan Lake as well.

This is a summer walk, and outside high summer the trails can hold snow, so ask before you commit. For a longer day from the same trailhead, the one-way route from the Black Lake past the Lokvice huts to the Ice Cave (Ledena pećina) keeps ice inside even in July.

Finish with the dish of the north, kačamak: a thick polenta of cornmeal and potato stirred with butter and cheese, served with kajmak and cold milk, buttermilk or yogurt. It is shepherd's food, heavy on purpose, and it tastes better after a day outdoors. Next to it order cicvara, a similar cornmeal dish stewed with cream.

Krčma Nostalgija on Vuka Karadžića street is a local grill and mountain-food place. Order one dish to share and a grilled mix, and leave room for the lamb you will meet tomorrow.

TC Durmitor owns the resort, which has two double chairlifts, three drag lifts (one floodlit), a baby lift and three blue runs, one red, one black and a baby slope. The owner counts 4.6 km of pistes and a 700 m drop, and skiresort.info gives 9 am to 4 pm as lift hours, so confirm them with the resort. Parking at the valley station is free, and it fills up on busy days.

Be honest with yourself about the size. This is a hill for beginners, families and rusty intermediates, and a good skier will run out of new runs after a day, so don't plan a ski week here. The view is the reward, with the Savin Kuk ridge right above you. Ski rental and service are at the ski centre, and there is a ski school. Last winter the upper lift and the black run stayed closed, so expect the lower hill only, and if the resort is shut when you arrive, switch to the snowshoe walk below.

Savin kuk 1 is a 1,550 m double chairlift that climbs towards the summit to 1,907 m, and it serves the blue and red runs and the children's slope, 3.8 km in all. It was reported back in service on 31 January 2026 after a technical inspection, and the owner's summer 2026 price list sells a 10 EUR sightseeing ride on this lift. On the OpenStreetMap piste map the easy runs are named Panalj and Dernek, the red run from the top station is Korito, and the black run, Vukova staza, belongs to the closed upper lift.

In summer the ride is a quiet way to get above the forest without a hike, with open views of the Durmitor ridges. In winter the same lift is your main ride, and the easy runs lie near the bottom station. Dress warmly, because it is an open chair.

The resort's own restaurant, Durmitorsko Sijelo, is at the foot of the slope with two terraces (about 120 seats) and a hall for about 100, and the café bar Kulina is next to it. The owner says the kitchen is built on traditional Durmitor specialties with a choice of wines. Its listed hours are 9 am to 5 pm, with longer summer hours.

Ask for the day's soup, a plate of kajmak with cheese and bread, and something hot and local from the daily menu. It is a ski-hut lunch with a view, and far better than a sandwich on the chairlift.

Savin kuk 2 is a 700 m chairlift that climbs to about 2,200 m, near the Savina Voda spring, and it served the 800 m black run. On 20 December 2025 a tourist fell from a chair on this lift and died, and others were injured. The lift has been out of service since. Prosecutors in Pljevlja are running a case against one company and two people, and no reopening date has been announced. In February 2026 a tender for rebuilding the resort was being prepared.

You can still look at the ridge. Savina Voda is the spring that pilgrims climb to on Ilindan, 2 August, by foot or lift, and the local tradition says Saint Sava made it appear. In summer, with the lift closed, the walk up is a real mountain walk, so ask at the ski centre before you start. In winter this stop is only a view from below.

This is the winter swap for anyone who doesn't ski. A marked snowshoe trail, 6.7 km long and rated easy, links the ski centre and the Black Lake in about two hours, with 268 m of ascent from the lake side. Winter markings keep you on it through the spruce and fir forest. The park rents the snowshoes and the poles at the visitor center and at the ski centre.

The trail is described from the lake up to the ski centre. For an easier walk, take a taxi to the ski centre and walk down. It is a good way to see Durmitor in snow without paying for a lift, and in summer the same route is a plain forest walk.

Podgora is a wood-and-stone restaurant near the bus station, built in 2014 in a local ethno style. It is known for cheap grilled meat, with a kilo of mixed grill listed at around 10 EUR, and for boiled lamb on young potatoes baked on kajmak. Lamb is the Durmitor main course, and this is a safe place to try it.

Come hungry and order the lamb or the mixed grill, with a salad. It is a simple place, and the point is the portions and the price. After a day on the slopes it is exactly right.

The Đurđevića Tara Bridge was designed by Mijat Trojanović and built between 1937 and 1940 by a Belgrade company. It has five arches, is 365 m long, and its road stands 172 m above the Tara. When it opened it was the largest concrete road arch bridge in Europe. It is also the setting of a war story told in the 1969 Yugoslav film Most.

In 1942, with Italian troops across Montenegro, partisans blew up one arch to halt the advance, helped by Lazar Jauković, an engineer who had worked on the bridge. The Italians captured and shot him on the bridge. It was rebuilt by the autumn of 1946, and a monument to Jauković stands at the entrance on the Žabljak side. The film Force 10 from Navarone also used it in 1978. Park, walk onto the bridge and look down: the canyon floor is far below. This is the Tara Canyon, about 78 km long and around 1,300 m deep at its deepest, the deepest in Europe.

Several companies run ziplines across the canyon next to the bridge, and the staff speak English. Blogs and tour listings quote anything from about 10 EUR for a shorter line to about 45 EUR for the longest, so prices and line lengths vary. No operator price list is public, so ask at the bridge.

It is a short ride for a high price, so compare two operators before paying. Don't count on it in winter: ask before you drive out.

About a kilometer downstream from the bridge, in the hamlet of Luke on the right bank, the Monastery of St. Archangel Michael sits against a steep slope above the Tara. Nobody knows who founded it. An inscription copied in 1857 recorded that the church was renovated in 1591, and the monastery was torn down and rebuilt more than once afterwards. It once had a scriptorium that supplied liturgical books to other churches, and it is one of three monasteries in the Tara valley, with Dobrilovina and Dovolja.

It is a working monastery and not a museum, so be quiet and cover your shoulders and knees.

Rafting is Durmitor's best-known activity, and the park's own recommended day route starts at Splavište and runs 14 km to Žugića Luka in three to four hours. It passes the mouth of the Ljutica spring and goes under the bridge. Longer trips continue to Radovan Luka and Šćepan Polje, where the Tara and the Piva meet to form the Drina, and some are two or three days with camps on the way.

The season is short, 1 July to 15 September, when the water level is right, and aggregator listings range from roughly 60 EUR for a shorter day trip to around 140 EUR for a full day from Žabljak. Book through an agency in town, ask what is included (the park ticket, lunch, transfers) and bring a change of clothes. In winter skip this stop and spend the afternoon on the monastery and the Ćurevac view.

Ćurevac, at 1,625 m, is the park's own pick for a canyon viewpoint, a rock look-out above the Tara with the village of Tepca far below. Drive north from Žabljak on the panoramic road towards Tepca, park at the signed spot and walk up a short path, which the guides give as about an hour for the round trip. The full circular hike from Žabljak is 17.7 km and a day, so most people drive.

Come near sunset. On flat ground the sun sets around 8:20 pm in late June, around 7 pm in mid-September and around 4:45 pm in late October after the clocks change, and it is earlier behind the ridges. In winter the road may be under snow, so check in town first, and don't walk near the edge in the dark.

Or'O on Njegoševa street is the more polished of the traditional places in town. The goulash is the dish people praise, and it arrives with so much meat that you will want extra potatoes.

After a day by the canyon you want something filling. Share a starter of cheese, prosciutto and kajmak, order a main, and finish with priganice if there is room. Ask for the day's soup first.

Start with a short stop at Pošćensko Lake, a shallow glacial lake at 1,487 m by the village of Pošćenje, no deeper than 3.6 m, surrounded by pastures and dense forest. It is on the way to the pass and gives a gentler picture of Durmitor than the Black Lake.

Nearby is Stožina, a 1,908 m peak that the tourist organization calls the gateway to southern Durmitor, with views of the high ridges. It is a short stop, but it sets the mood.

The Sedlo pass, sedlo meaning saddle, is the high point of the P14 road that links Žabljak and Plužine through the heart of the park, at about 1,907 m. The road is paved but narrow, so drive slowly and watch for sheep, cows and cyclists. Around it you are in the highest part of the park, with Bobotov Kuk and the saddle ridge Sedlena greda, which the park calls the Saddle of the Gods, within reach of the road.

The pass is open only from late spring to autumn. After a hard winter it can stay closed into late May, and the cafes along it close in October. If you don't have a car, ask a Žabljak taxi driver or your host about a ride to the trailhead.

Bobotov Kuk, 2,523 m, is the highest peak of the Durmitor range. For a long time it was thought to be the highest point in Montenegro, but newer surveys put three higher peaks on the border with Albania, and the myth has survived on postcards. Its first recorded ascent was by the Austrian cartographer Oscar Baumann in 1883.

The easiest route starts at the Sedlo pass, runs by the Zeleni Vir lake and is well marked, with about three hours up and two and a half down on the tourist organization's figures. It needs good fitness, firm footwear and good weather, and it is exposed, so start early and turn back if clouds build. If the peak is too much, the park suggests the Sedlena greda viewpoint at 2,227 m, with a view of the Valovito and Modro lakes.

This is the winter stop, and the official word is blunt: Javorovača has no organized skiing and no working lift right now. What it has is a slope right next to the town, 400 m from Podgora, that people use for sledding and for recreational skiing, with a walk back up.

It suits families and anyone who wants snow without a ski pass, so bring a sled. In summer it is just a hill next to town. For longer cross-country trips, the tourist organization points to the plateau below Savin Kuk, the forest trails near the Black Lake and the open land towards Virak and Mliječni Do.

Konoba Luna on Njegoševa street is a family konoba, a small tavern, and one of the cheaper places in town. It is the right spot for a plain mountain dinner after a long hike: a soup, a grill and a salad.

Order the lamb or the grilled meat with potatoes and ask for kajmak on the side. Keep the evening simple, because you have an early start for tomorrow's drive.

Plužine is the small town beside the Piva lake, and its story is under the water: the old town lies at the bottom of the reservoir that formed when the Mratinje dam closed the Piva canyon. The road from Sedlo brings you down to it in about an hour from Žabljak.

There is not much to see, but it is a coffee stop and a base for the rest of the day. Stock up on water, because the monastery and the dam have few services.

The Piva Monastery was built between 1573 and 1586 and dedicated to the Dormition of the Mother of God. It is the largest Serbian Orthodox church built under Ottoman rule, and it has frescoes and a museum with rare liturgical books and a psalm from the first printing press in the Balkans.

Its history is the reason to come. The reservoir was going to drown it, so between 1969 and 1982 it was taken apart and rebuilt stone by stone about 3.5 km away, with more than a thousand fresco fragments, 1,260 m2 of painting, moved and replaced. Visit hours and tickets are not published, so ask at the gate and dress modestly.

The Mratinje dam, completed in 1975, is a concrete arch 220 m high, which makes it one of the highest dams in Europe. It closed the Piva canyon and created the Piva Lake, 45 km long, up to 188 m deep and 12.5 km2, the largest lake entirely inside Montenegro.

Drive to the dam and look at the arch and at the canyon and lake it shaped. It is a piece of Yugoslav-era engineering in a wild landscape, and it is the reason the valley looks the way it does. Don't expect services, and bring your own drinks.

The Sedlo road is worth driving twice. On the way back the light is lower, the herds may be on the road, and every bend shows another view of the Durmitor wall. Allow 70 minutes and don't rush: the road is narrow, and one driving guide suggests 30-40 km/h.

Leave Plužine in the late afternoon so you reach the pass in daylight. On flat ground the sun sets around 8:20 pm in late June and around 7 pm in mid-September, and the ridges darken it earlier. If the weather turns, the only other road is the three-hour one round by Nikšić, so check the sky before you start up.

Back in town, Restoran Durmitor on Božidara Žugića street is a good place for a last dinner. Order a lamb soup, kačamak if you skipped it, or raštan, a dark, slightly bitter green stewed with smoked pork.

Ask for Njeguški prosciutto, the dry-cured ham from the village of Njeguši, and a glass of Vranac, the red wine of Montenegro.