Montenegro currency: how to pay without surprises

Montenegro’s currency is the euro, which makes it simpler than it might sound for a country outside the EU. The interesting part is how it came to use the euro without being a member, and what that means for your card and your fees. Here’s what the European Commission, gov.uk and the National Tourism Organisation say, plus how I’d handle money from the UK.

The euro, without EU membership

That’s how the European Commission puts it on its page about countries using the euro outside the eurozone. It names Kosovo and Montenegro as the two Balkan countries that run on the euro without having signed anything with Brussels, and Spain’s foreign ministry calls it a unilateral adoption. For you, at the till, it works as it would in Spain or Italy, with the same notes and coins.

The difference shows up on your bank statement. Montenegro isn’t in the EU, and from the UK it’s a non-sterling transaction either way, so check what your card charges for overseas spending and cash withdrawals before you go. What being outside the EU does and doesn’t change is covered in Montenegro and the EU.

Card for almost everything

The National Tourism Organisation says the vast majority of restaurants, hotels, bars, petrol stations and grocery shops take cards, naming Visa, Visa Electron, Mastercard, Maestro and American Express, and that there are cash machines in every town. Even so, I’d always carry some cash for the small things, the beach boat, a village car park or a shop in a northern hamlet, which is exactly where a declined card leaves you stuck.

gov.uk’s advice, which I think is sensible, is to use cash machines inside a bank branch and never lose sight of your card while paying. There are more warnings of this kind in is Montenegro safe.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Kotor for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.

The pay-in-pounds trap

This is the one that catches British visitors. When a card machine or cash machine offers to charge you in pounds, it’s a currency conversion done on the spot, and the rate is usually worse than your bank’s. I’d decline every time and pay in euros. It’s an easy saving that adds up over a week, and the same goes for withdrawals, where the screen may offer a ‘guaranteed’ sterling amount. Pick euros there as well and leave the exchange to your card provider.

How much cash, and what it’s for

To give you an idea, the National Tourism Organisation puts a parasol and two sunbeds at about €10 at the mud-therapy beaches of Igalo and Ulcinj and the boat to Sveti Nikola island from Budva at €3 to €4, though it doesn’t date those prices. National park entry ranges from €3 on Lovćen and Prokletije to €5 in Durmitor and at Lake Skadar, and the Kotor City Pass costs €19 or €30 depending on the version. It’s all pulled together, with a daily budget, in is Montenegro expensive.

If you’re carrying a lot of cash, remember that €10,000 or more has to be declared at the border, as gov.uk points out.

So you do not lose the morning at the ticket office, browse tickets and tours in Kotor on GetYourGuide.

When banks and shops open

If you need to change money or sort something out in a branch, mind the hours. Banks keep long weekday hours and most food shops shut on Sundays; the exact times the National Tourism Organisation gives are in time in Montenegro. I wouldn’t leave the picnic shop for a northern day trip until Sunday afternoon. Bear in mind too that some of the small payments you’ll make, a car park in a mountain village or a boat across to an island, are the kind where a card machine may not be on hand, so a few notes in your pocket save a wasted trip back to the cash machine.

Tourist tax and tipping

Each municipality sets its own tourist tax, and the only official amount I’ve read is Herceg Novi’s, €1 per adult per night, €0.50 for 12 to 18-year-olds and free for under-12s. The tax and the compulsory 24-hour registration, which hotels handle for you, are both explained in Montenegro tourist registration.

Tipping has no official rule that I’ve come across. My own habit is to round up in restaurants and taxis when the service has been good, without feeling obliged, and to leave nothing extra if service is already on the bill. For more ways to stretch the budget, see Montenegro on a budget.

If you are staying the night, see the best hotel deals in Kotor for your dates: the well-placed rooms go fast.