Nikšić, lakes, stone bridges and King Nikola's town

Nikšić is known for industry, and its tourist board likes to point out that Montenegro’s first brewery and first steelworks opened here. As a destination it gets overlooked, which I think is unfair. It’s the country’s second city, its centre was laid out in the 19th century around a fortress with Roman roots, it has a stone bridge its tourist board ranks among the loveliest in south-east Europe, and there are warm lakes for swimming five kilometres away. Above all, it’s very well placed for the interior.

King Nikola’s town

Nikšić’s tourist board sketches a long history. The Roman road from Narona to Shkodër ran through here, the Goths built a fort called Anagastum in the 5th century, and in the Middle Ages the town was called Onogošt. The Turks arrived in 1465, strengthened the stronghold in the early 18th century and lost it on 8 September 1878, after a 47-day siege by Prince Nikola’s army. The present name, according to the legend on the same website, comes from Nikša, the servant who said his own name instead of his master Ban Ugren’s when digging the foundations.

What you see today came afterwards. The first town plan was drawn up in 1883 by the architect Josip Slade at the prince’s request, and the centre keeps that layout. On Trg Šaka Petrovića stand the Cathedral of St Basil of Ostrog, from 1900, with the names of 3,098 soldiers killed in the wars of 1875 to 1879 on its side walls, and King Nikola’s palace, also from 1900, home to the local museum since 1951. Behind it, a lapidarium holds stećci from the 13th to 15th centuries.

Bedem and the bridges

Bedem fortress is what remains of a 4th-century Roman castrum, 213 metres long and 30 wide, used in turn by Romans, Goths and Ottomans. Today it’s a concert venue, best known for Bedem Fest, a rock and electronic music festival.

The town’s pride is Carev most, the Tsar’s Bridge, 269 metres long, over 13 metres high in the middle, with 18 arches of dressed stone. The tourist board says Prince Nikola named it after Alexander III of Russia, who helped pay for it, and that his son Prince Mirko used to cycle along its half-metre parapet. Six kilometres out is the Moštanica bridge, from the 3rd century, the only surviving Roman bridge in Montenegro and still used by walkers.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Nikšić before prices climb.

Lakes, mountains and Krupac

Nikšić sits on a vast karst plain with around 900 sinkholes and springs, and has six lakes around it. Krupac, 5 km away, is the one for swimming, covering 5.7 km² with a sandy beach and water at 28 °C in summer, and Lake Fest rock festival takes place below its dam. Slano lake, 8.89 km², is the country’s most important bird habitat after Skadar, and the National Tourism Organisation recommends it for birdwatching alongside Krupac and Vrtac.

To the north-east, Krnovo and Lukavica form an upland of around 1,500 metres with 365 springs and the glacial Kapetanovo lake at 1,678 metres. In winter the Vučje ski centre, about 20 km out on the road to Žabljak, has three runs and snowshoe trails.

Crvena Stijena and Ostrog

Some 45 km away, above Bileća lake, is Crvena Stijena, a cave with more than 180,000 years of human occupation and 31 archaeological layers, which the tourist board says is, along with El Castillo in Spain, the oldest site in Europe. To the south, between Nikšić and Danilovgrad, is Ostrog Monastery, the country’s great pilgrimage.

If you would rather have a local show you round, book a guided tour in Nikšić and choose by the reviews.

Getting there and when to go

From Podgorica there are five ZPCG trains a day, taking 66 or 67 minutes, calling at Danilovgrad and costing €3.20 in second class. By road it’s 50 km to the capital and 95 to Kotor, and Podgorica airport is 52 km away, according to the tourist board.

In 2024 the Nikšić weather station recorded a July mean of 25.1 °C and only three days of snow cover. May to September is when I’d visit, for Krupac and the mountains, and note two dates from the tourist board, the Korzo festival, whose fifth edition ran on 28 and 29 August 2026, and the New Year markets in December. Further ahead, the town says it will be a European Capital of Culture in 2030.

Once your dates are set, check which hotels are still free in Nikšić before prices climb.