Cycling in Montenegro, from Lake Skadar to the Durmitor Ring

Cycling in Montenegro takes legs, because hardly anything is flat, but the scenery changes every few kilometres to make up for it. The national tourist board pitches it as an easy-going way to see five national parks, the largest lake in the Balkans and one of the world’s deepest canyons, through beech and pine forests, meadows, old caravan tracks and bridle paths. There’s something for every level, from a 10 km spin by the lake to rides of several hundred kilometres. And because the Mediterranean climate reaches so much of the country, the national tourist board says you can ride all year; in high summer, though, I’d set off early on the coast and around Podgorica.

The five national routes

Montenegro has five national cycle routes, numbered TT1 to TT5, with GPX files you can download from the national tourist board’s website. The longest is Slano i slatko, Salty and Sweet, at 626 km, followed by Beskrajni pejzaži, Endless Landscapes, at 415 km. That one is the toughest the tourist board suggests, for riders in good shape, and runs from Podgorica through Danilovgrad, Šavnik, Plužine, Žabljak and Kolašin. The other three are Otkrića na sjeveru, 390 km across the north, Čarobni istok, 305 km in the east, and Priče pokraj vode, 236 km.

The favourite rides

From Podgorica, the tourist board suggests riding to Virpazar, climbing the old road to Rijeka Crnojevića through lovely villages and coming back along the Cetinje road, with bends and viewpoints the whole way. Up north, the Osmica leaves Plav, runs round the lake, past Mount Visitor and the Ljuča river to Gusinje, and loops back in a figure of eight; along the way you can stop at a farmhouse for honey, kajmak and plums. The other two favourites are the Durmitor Ring and the Bay of Kotor route finishing at Njeguši, both also among the country’s scenic drives.

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Lake Skadar and Bar

Lake Skadar National Park has five cycle routes and two mountain bike trails starting from Virpazar, Rijeka Crnojevića and Dodoši, on tarmac, gravel and dirt, and you can pick up the map at the Vranjina and Virpazar visitor centres. The Bar tourist board gives distances and climbing for its routes, most of them waymarked and usable all year. Gentle ones include Dodoši to Žabljak Crnojevića, 10 km with 10 m of climbing, and the Virpazar loop round the Crmnica plain, 17.5 km with 260 m. Longer ones include Virpazar to Bar via Sutorman, 34 km with 730 m, and Rijeka Crnojevića to Ckla via Virpazar, 65 km with 470 m.

Mountain biking in the parks

In Durmitor, the Jezera plateau is good mountain biking country, with a cross-country and a freeride trail both starting from Black Lake. Lovćen has three waymarked MTB trails, all loops on gravel climbs and descents; only the big round-Lovćen loop is bikes-only, and you can hire bikes at the Ivanova korita visitor centre. In Prokletije, the park suggests Plav to Memina planina and Hakanje, or Gusinje to the Ropojana valley, about 23 km there and back.

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Hire and practicalities

You can hire bikes in Budva, Kotor, Tivat and Herceg Novi, in the national parks, where Durmitor, Biogradska Gora, Lovćen and Prokletije charge €3 an hour or €8 a day, and at the Piva Nature Park centre in Plužine, which has 30 mountain bikes. For races and events, the tourist board points you to the Cycling Federation of Montenegro. I’d always ride with a helmet and lights, as Spain’s foreign ministry notes that the main roads are in good condition but secondary ones aren’t. Traffic drives on the right, as in the rest of mainland Europe.

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