Durmitor National Park in northwestern Montenegro offers beautiful views and mountainous hikes that are easily accessible even without a car. The small town of Žabljak is the perfect place to stay during your visit since it is just a short walk from the national park. We spent 5 days in the area enjoying the mountains, the trees, and the beautiful lake in Durmitor National Park. Our visit was during the month of June 2025.
Getting to Žabljak
A bus ride of just over 2.5 hours transferred us from Podgorica to the small town of Žabljak. The mountain views from the bus window got better and better as we neared the town. Once we pulled into town we had a quick lunch at Nal Restaurant Tara, then walked to our nearby Airbnb.
Our Airbnb host’s father met us outside to welcome us to our home for the next few days. Although he didn’t speak English and we only knew a couple words in Montenegrin, he still made us feel very welcome. He even offered us a drink upon arrival which we accepted. He ran up to his place on the second floor and returned with a bottle of rakija. Rakija is a strong brandy that is popular throughout the Balkans. He poured one for each of us and himself, we raised our glasses in cheers, drank the strong liquor, and then he left us to get settled in.
Day 1: Black Lake, Durmitor National Park
Black Lake (Crno Jezero) is the most well known sight of Durmitor National Park and it is easy to reach from Žabljak. Black Lake is just a little over 2 km from the center of town and easily reached by foot on a nice sidewalk or by car. It can also be reached by a hiking trail through the woods from the western part of town.
The view of Black Lake with the tree covered mountains rising up behind it is stunning. After enjoying the view for a while, we decided to explore the trail around the lake. We walked clockwise along this hiking trail for about a quarter of the lake. Here the land on each side squeezes in, almost cutting the lake in half. We normally could have easily walked all around the lake, but we kept our walk short due to my knee which had been causing me pain for a few weeks since we were in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The trail around the lake also connects with other trails that can lead hikers up the mountains beyond and other areas of Durmitor National Park.
Day 2 – Rest Day
Since we are full-time traveling and my knee was limiting what we could do in this area, we took day two as a rest day. We did check out a bakery to get some spinach and cheese burek, but otherwise had a rather uneventful day.
Day 3: Walking around Žabljak
On our third day, we spent a few hours wandering around the little town of Žabljak and found it quite charming. Žabljak offers gorgeous views of the Durmitor Mountains from around town. We visited the tiny Orthodox Church on a hill in the northern part of town and found what I think might be the best view in town.
On the same hill as the Orthodox Church is the Monument to the Heroes and Partisans of WWII. It is located just southwest and across the cemetery from the church. Inside the monument, the back wall depicts people rising up against oppression and hundreds of names are carved into the side walls.
Day 4: Savin Kuk Mountain Summit
Savin Kuk is a 2,313 meter high mountain with great views over much of Durmitor National Park. It is an easy mountain summit to reach and therefore very popular with tourists.
We took a taxi to the base of Savin Kuk, though it is also possible to reach it by hiking. A trail connects it to the trails that surround Black Lake. Once at the base there are two options for reaching the peak of Savin Kuk. You can hike up or take the easy option (what we did) and ride the Savin Kuk Ski Center ski lift which will carry you most of the way to the summit. The ski lift is comprised of two separate lifts that connect by a short walking path, carrying tourists up just 100 meters shy of the summit.
Dismounting the ski lifts is a bit of an adventure since they don’t slow down as you come into the small step off platform. You need to move quickly and jump off the platform to the side before the chair hits you. I would hesitate to recommend this to anyone that isn’t nimble. We saw a lady that had gotten injured with what seemed like a broken ankle and I suspect the fast dismount may have been the culprit. The cost of a roundtrip ticket was 12 euros when we were there.
Once you have survived the ski lift dismounts, a fairly easy hike will take you to the top of Savin Kuk where awesome views will surround you. To the east is an expansive view over lower grounds. To the north you see a huge forest of green trees, Black Lake, and Žabljak far below. The best view is to the west where you are looking over many impressive peaks of Durmitor National Park including Bobotov Kuk, which is the highest peak of Montenegro.
Day 5: Hiking in Durmitor National Park
Against my better judgement, day five was spent hiking with my bad knee. We walked the forest trail from the western part of town back to Black Lake rather than the main road this time.
From Black Lake we turned right and proceeded along the lake trail. We found the connecting trail leading to Ice Cave and started climbing up in elevation. Most of the hike was through the trees with just a few lookouts along the way.
We only hiked up to the “Mountain View” area of this trail because of my knee pain. It was about 1,000 feet of elevation gain to reach the view. The hike up wasn’t too hard, but the hike back down was a miserable experience for me. As soon as we turned around and started hiking downhill, I was met with sharp pain in my knee. It was a very slow, painful, struggle to get to the bottom. For anyone that is a hiker and is not injured however, this would be a fairly easy hike.
When we finally reached the parking lot of Black Lake, we luckily found a Dutch couple willing to drive us back to town. Back in Žabljak we celebrated that we had finally made it back with a local Nikšićko beer.
Time to Leave Durmitor National Park
It was now time to leave this beautiful part of Montenegro so we took the bus back to Podgorica. Two days later we boarded a north-bound train and headed into our next Balkan country: Serbia.
To read more about our time in Montenegro check out my blogs on Herceg Novi, Kotor, and Podgorica.
[…] planning for our next couple destinations, it was time to catch the bus to our next destination of Durmitor National Park. If you are thinking about visiting Montenegro, check out my posts of Kotor and Herceg Novi for […]