Distances and drive times across Montenegro

On the map everything in Montenegro looks next door, and in kilometres it is. What fools people is the time, because almost everything away from the coast is mountain road. I’ve worked out the most useful journeys with OpenStreetMap, centre to centre with no traffic, and put them alongside the official distances the airports publish. Use them as a baseline and add the summer on top.

Along the coast and the bay

Round the Bay of Kotor nothing is more than an hour apart. Kotor to Perast is about 14 km along the shore, Kotor to Tivat about 10 and Kotor to Budva about 22, half an hour. Herceg Novi to Kotor is about 31 km round the bay, nearly 50 minutes, although for Tivat or Budva the Kamenari ferry saves a chunk. Heading south, Budva to Sveti Stefan is about 9 km, to Petrovac about 18, to Bar about 38, and Bar to Ulcinj another 28. End to end, Herceg Novi to Ulcinj comes out at about 108 km and over two and a half hours. For the single most searched route, see Budva to Kotor.

From the coast to Podgorica

Podgorica to Budva, some 60 km and a little under ninety minutes, is the run everyone checks when they fly into the capital and stay on the coast. Podgorica to Kotor is about 72 km by my reckoning, while Kotor’s tourist board gives 79 to 88 km from the airport, and I go into it in Podgorica to Kotor. Cetinje sits roughly halfway, about 36 km from Podgorica and 48 km from Kotor. To Bar, the train covers what is 53 km by road in an hour for €2.80.

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Inland and to the north

This is where the numbers stretch. Podgorica to Nikšić is about 52 km, an hour; to Kolašin about 58, also around an hour; and to Žabljak about 121 km, nearly two and a half hours. From the coast it’s worse, with Kotor to Žabljak about 153 km and over three hours without a break. Plav, by Prokletije, is about 130 km from Podgorica via Kolašin and Andrijevica, nearly two and a half hours; the shortest line on the map runs through Albania and means two border crossings. If Durmitor is on your list, look at Žabljak for an overnight rather than a day return.

The airports’ own figures

Airports of Montenegro publishes its own distances. From Tivat airport, 4 km to Tivat, 8 km to Kotor and 21 km to Budva. From Podgorica airport, 40 km to Cetinje, 46 km to Bar, 88 km to Tivat and 133 km to Žabljak. These are the official numbers I’d use to choose which airport to fly into.

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And if you’re going by coach

My table’s times are by car with no stops. By coach you need to add a fair bit, because services stop in every village. According to the booking platform Podgorica airport and Kotor bus station point to, on a Wednesday in October 2026 the coach from Podgorica to Kotor took between 95 minutes and 2 hrs 45, when the drive is an hour and a half, and Plav about four, as it goes round by Berane. On the coast the gap is smaller and the frequency huge, with 38 departures a day between Budva and Kotor. It’s in the second table, and the whole network is in buses in Montenegro.

Using these numbers

The times are theoretical. Summer traffic jams on the coast and at border posts, and rough rural roads in winter, both feature in the Foreign Office’s advice. I’d add a third in August and keep driving days to three or four hours. Rules and fines are covered in driving in Montenegro.

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