How big Montenegro is: area, coast, mountains and lakes

When someone asks me how big Montenegro is, I give the figure and then add a caveat straight away. It’s 13,883 km² according to MONSTAT, a small country, but so mountainous that its size on the map tells you very little about how long it takes to get around. Here are all the official figures for the territory and what they mean for a trip.

13,883 km², with the number still under review

The official area comes from MONSTAT’s 2025 yearbook, which draws on data from the Real Estate Administration. The statistics office itself notes the figure may change while the land registry is completed. If you read a different number elsewhere, stick with this one, since it’s the one the state publishes. Converted, it’s about 5,360 square miles.

There’s a quirk too. Add up the 25 municipalities and you don’t reach 13,883 but about 13,659 km². The difference is Montenegro’s share of Lake Skadar, which in MONSTAT’s table belongs to no municipality. The lakes and reservoirs, with their figures, are in Montenegro’s lakes.

Coast, borders and extremes

The coastline measures 293.5 km, and the Bay of Kotor alone takes up 87.3 km² of water, with 105.7 km of shore and up to 68 m of depth, according to the National Tourism Organisation. The land border totals 716.02 km with five countries, the longest with Bosnia and Herzegovina and the shortest with Croatia. The four extreme points and the full outline are in the map of Montenegro.

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

Mountains over 2,500 m

This is why the country feels bigger than it is. MONSTAT’s table of peaks, which only lists those above 1,800 m, has two summits tied for first at 2,522 m, Durmitor’s Bobotov Kuk and Prokletije’s Maja Rozit, with Kom Kučki third at 2,487 m. The National Parks give 2,534 m to Zla Kolata, on the Prokletije border, which isn’t in that table. There’s no single agreed height for Bobotov Kuk, so I call it roughly 2,520 m. The ranges, one by one, are in Montenegro’s mountains.

Rivers and municipalities

The Tara is the longest river within the country, with 141 km of its 146.4 km in Montenegro, and the Lim runs 123 km of its 220 here. Among municipalities, Nikšić is the largest at 2,087 km² and Tivat the smallest at 47 km². Podgorica, the capital, covers 997 km², and the north as a whole takes up more than half the country, as I explain in the regions of Montenegro.

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

What it means for your trip

The area tells you everything is close, and the mountains tell you nothing is quick. From Podgorica airport, Tivat is 88 km away, yet Airports of Montenegro reckons on 1 hour 55 minutes by car. So when I plan, I count hours rather than miles, and I’d suggest placing the whole country first with where Montenegro is.

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