Godinje, a huddle of stone houses and cellars above Lake Skadar

Godinje doesn’t appear on anyone’s list of Montenegro highlights, and I like it more than plenty of places that do. It’s a handful of stone lanes on a slope above Lake Skadar, with 44 residents at the last census, vines all around and wine cellars on the ground floor of the houses. If you want to see what a Crmnica village looked like before tourism, this is it.

A village huddled against attack

Bar’s tourist board counts it among the best-preserved historic rural settlements in Montenegro. The first written records of Godinje go back to the 13th century, and traces of the 15th-century Balšić dynasty survive in the village.

What strikes you is the layout. The houses are packed so tightly that they form a single block, and the same source compares it to a fortified medieval settlement, with loopholes in walls up to a metre thick. Most are stone houses with vaults and a konoba, the ground-floor cellar, and features of the period such as the threshing floor and the mills are still there. They’ve been adapted for modern living, but nearly all keep their old shape and look.

Crmnica wine at the grower’s table

Godinje is in Crmnica, where Bar’s tourist board counts more than 500 years of vine growing and winemaking, and which the National Tourism Organisation calls the cradle of Vranac, Montenegro’s native red grape. According to National Parks of Montenegro, several families on this shore will let you into their cellars to taste red made from Vranac and Kratošija. For the bigger picture on where it comes from and the other regions, I’ve written a guide to Montenegro wine.

There are no published opening hours or price lists, and that’s part of the charm. I’d ask at the visitor centre in Virpazar before heading up, or simply ask in the village.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Virpazar on Expedia and filter by area before price.

Grmožur, the lake’s prison, across the water

Off Godinje’s shore sits the island of Grmožur. Bar’s tourist board says the Turks built a fortification of 430 m² there, long, irregular and with two entrances, which the Montenegrins took in 1878. The National Tourism Organisation notes that it ended up as a prison, nicknamed the Montenegrin Alcatraz, and tells the story of the inmate who couldn’t swim and still made it to the shore.

Walking or driving in

The national park recommends the Zabes to Godinje trail, 4.5 km of moderate walking that takes about two hours. It passes the Brčelice pass viewpoint, the Ćelišta stream and St Nicholas’s church before entering the village through the hamlet of Lekovići. Maps are available at the park’s visitor centres.

Driving, you’re there from Virpazar in a few minutes. I’d pair it with Besac fortress on the same afternoon.

If you are short on time, see the best tours in Virpazar and pick one that fits your day.

To sleep close to everything, search places to stay in Virpazar on Booking.com and filter by area before price.