Lake Skadar, water lilies, pelicans and monasteries on islands

If someone asks me what they shouldn’t miss in Montenegro away from the coast, Lake Skadar is my first answer. Not because it’s dramatic, though it is in its quiet way, but because it changes the pace of a trip. After the crowds on Kotor’s walls and the packed beaches, here you get still water, water lilies as far as you can see, fishermen in wooden boats, monasteries on tiny islands and pelicans. And from the Bar coast it’s a short hop inland via Virpazar.

The largest lake in the Balkans

MONSTAT puts the Montenegrin part at 369.7 km², only 6 metres above sea level and up to 44 metres deep. The national tourism office points out that the lake grows and shrinks with the seasons, about 370 km² in summer and 540 in winter, with an average depth of just 5 metres. It’s shared with Albania, and the Cetinje tourist board reckons two thirds are Montenegrin.

Its protection has grown in layers, national park in 1983, Important Bird Area in 1989 and Ramsar site in 1995. The National Tourism Organisation counts about 280 bird species, with the Dalmatian pelican as the headline act, and tells the legend that the lake was formed from a Montenegrin fairy’s tears.

Seeing it by boat, kayak or on foot

The classic way is by boat. National Parks of Montenegro names four departure points, Plavnica, Vranjina, Virpazar and Rijeka Crnojevića, and organised trips usually call at the islands with their monasteries and fortresses and include a swim. If you’d rather paddle, the park hires out single kayaks for €3 an hour and doubles for €5, or any kayak for €20 a day, and the National Tourism Organisation adds that boats and kayaks can be hired in Virpazar and at the Vranjina visitor centre.

On foot, the park has nine waymarked trails, and the two it recommends are Komarno to Rijeka Crnojevića along the old caravan route, 10.1 km and about six hours, and Zabes to Godinje, 4.5 km and around two hours. For cyclists there are five road routes and two mountain-bike routes, which set off from Dodoši, Virpazar or Rijeka Crnojevića. Pick up the trail map at the park’s visitor centres in Virpazar or Vranjina.

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

The islands, their monasteries and fortresses

The islands could have had a page of their own, but I’ve kept them here because you see them on the same outing. National Parks counts six monasteries and four fortresses protected within the park. On the islets off the Krajina shore, the Balšić family built small monasteries with funerary churches in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, Starčevo, Beška and Moračnik. The Bar tourist board dates Starčevo to 1377, founded by the hermit Makarije, and says the printer Božidar Vuković is buried there; Beška has two churches, St George from the 14th century and the Virgin’s from 1440.

The fortresses are another story. Lesendro was the «key to the lake» in the 19th century and now looks like a ship at anchor, according to the National Tourism Organisation, and Grmožur, an island fortified by the Turks, ended up as a jail, the Montenegrin Alcatraz. On land you’ll find Besac, above Virpazar, and Žabljak Crnojevića, the old Crnojević capital.

Birds, beaches and fish

For birdwatchers, National Parks says the most species are seen in April, May and June and the great migratory flocks in winter, and it arranges birdwatching with a day’s notice. The National Tourism Organisation lists five birding stations, Manastirska tapija, Grmožur, Omerova gorica, Crni žar and Pančevo oko, and a guided visit to the last of these costs €160 for four people.

For swimming, the park has equipped beaches at Pješačac, Pelinovo and Murići, and the National Tourism Organisation rates Murići the best on the lake. To eat, try pan-cooked carp with prunes, apple and quince, dried carp and smoked bleak, with a glass of local wine.

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

Getting there and when to go

The lake is 19 km from Podgorica according to its tourist board, and about 9 km from Cetinje according to Cetinje’s. From the coast you come in via Bar and Virpazar. You pay €5 a head per day, with both visitor centres thrown in.

I’d go between spring and autumn for boats and swimming, and in winter only if birds are the point. Podgorica averaged 30.9 °C in July 2024, so in summer I’d set out early. To see the lake from above before you get on the water, the Pavlova strana viewpoint is the best introduction.