Podgorica Airport and how to get away from it

Podgorica Airport hasn’t got Tivat’s scenery, but it works all year and it’s the one that drops you closest to Lake Skadar, Cetinje, Ostrog and the mountains. In winter it’s also where the London flights land. Here’s how to get away from it, what parking costs and where everything lies, using the figures published by Airports of Montenegro.

At Golubovci, not in the capital

It bears the capital’s name, but the terminal stands at Golubovci, which belongs to the municipality of Zeta. Its official address is Aerodromski put 14, Golubovci, and by road it’s about 12 km into central Podgorica by my OpenStreetMap calculation. The current terminal opened on 14 May 2006, but the story goes back much further. The first passenger plane landed in Podgorica on 5 May 1930, and the Golubovci airport with its 2,500 m runway opened on 13 July 1977. The city itself is covered in Podgorica.

Buses and taxis

The bus stop is outside the terminal. According to the airport, three companies run to Podgorica’s central bus station, BTC Zeta, MS Tours and Zejdin, and Zejdin also links the airport with Ulcinj. Some make stops on the way. You buy your ticket on board or through busticket4.me, a private booking platform. The snag is that the timetable on the airport’s website was only valid until 31 May 2025, so I’d confirm times with each company before you travel. The wider network is in buses in Montenegro.

For taxis, the airport names Zeta Taxi and Vuk BG Taxi. Read gov.uk’s warning here, because not every taxi company is authorised to collect passengers at the airport. The safe option is a cab from the rank in front of the terminal, or confirming that your pre-booked driver is allowed to pick up there. Passengers aren’t fined, but you lose time if the driver gets pulled over.

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Car hire and parking

There are desks for Sixt, Avis, Europcar, Budget and Renault, plus several local firms including Rokšped, Ideal, Meridian and Kompas. Bear in mind it’s right-hand drive on the road, and ask whether the contract allows border crossings, which I cover in car hire in Montenegro.

If you’re leaving your own car, parking costs €1.50 an hour, €8 a day and €80 a month, with 384 spaces since temporary areas were added. A lost ticket costs €30.

Where everything is

The airport publishes its own driving distances. It’s 40 km to Cetinje (39 minutes), 46 km to Bar (55 minutes), Nikšić 62 km, Tivat 88 km and 1 h 55 min, Bijelo Polje 118 km and Žabljak 133 km and 2 h 13 min. For Ulcinj it allows 1 h 20 min. For Kotor, Kotor’s tourism board gives 79 to 88 km depending on the road, and the journey is covered in Podgorica to Kotor.

It also suggests routes. To Bar and the southern coast, through the 4,185 m Sozina tunnel past Lake Skadar. To Budva, via Cetinje and Lovćen. North, via Kolašin or Nikšić. In daylight I’d take the lake road, which is the prettiest.

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

Before your flight home

The operator wants you in the terminal two hours before take-off. Check-in desks open 120 minutes before the flight and close 30 minutes before, and access control, where hand luggage is checked, also opens two hours ahead. There’s a fast track for families with small children and passengers with reduced mobility. Each checked bag can weigh 32 kg at most, and in the cabin liquids go in containers of up to 100 ml inside a one-litre bag, with a two-litre cap per passenger including anything in shop packaging. Two warnings I’d take seriously. The airport says its staff have had to refuse boarding to Wizz Air and Ryanair passengers over passport validity, so check yours before you leave home. And the EU recognises its security screening as equivalent to its own, so if you change planes at an EU airport you won’t be screened again.

Inside the terminal

Wifi is free, there’s a duty free shop airside, two newsagents selling top-ups for the three mobile networks, and a café between gates 4 and 5. The detail I find most reassuring is the medical service, with a doctor and technician on duty and a consulting room in the arrivals hall. In winter it’s also the one with most routes, and that’s where the Gatwick and Stansted flights are. How it compares with Tivat is in Montenegro’s airports.

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