Montenegro in 3 Days on a Budget (Costs)

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3 Days Adds a Cetinje and Lovćen Day to the Bay of Kotor

The old version of this page had broken links, an invented “Museum of Montenegro,” and a “Church of St. Sava” that isn’t in Kotor at all, so this is a full rewrite using real places only. Three days is enough for Kotor’s bay on Day 1, a rental-car day into the mountains for Lovćen and Cetinje on Day 2, and Budva’s beaches on Day 3. Shorter trip? The 2-day itinerary drops the mountain day. More time? The 4-day itinerary adds Lake Skadar.

Book these before you go

Day 1: Kotor’s Bay and Old Town

Climb Kotor’s walls to San Giovanni/St John’s Fortress early, before the heat and the cruise-ship crowds; it’s €15 (verify) for around 1,350 steps with almost no shade. The Bay of Kotor itself is a UNESCO World Heritage Site , and in the afternoon a Blue Line bus to Perast (around €1.50) sets up a boat trip to Our Lady of the Rocks, the bay’s only artificial islet. Eat a couple of streets back from the main square for the same grilled fish and black risotto at a lower price.

Day 1 cost (EUR, per person) Low Higher
Bed (Kotor Old Town private room) 10 44
Breakfast 3 6
Kotor wall climb (verify) 15 15
Perast bus, round trip (verify) 1.50 3
Our Lady of the Rocks boat + entry (verify) 5 10
Lunch 8 15
Dinner 10 20
Day 1 total 52.50 113

Day 2: The Njeguši Road, Lovćen, and Cetinje

Pick up your rental car in Kotor and take the Njeguši serpentine, roughly 25 hairpins climbing straight out of the bay, a scenic drive in its own right before you even reach Lovćen National Park . Njeguši village is where Montenegro’s pršut and cheese come from; a smokehouse tasting plate costs only a few euros and beats anything you’ll find on the coast. From there it’s a short drive to the Njegoš Mausoleum, several hundred steps up to the tomb of the poet-prince-bishop Petar II Petrović-Njegoš (exact fee unconfirmed, verify), then on to Cetinje , Montenegro’s old royal capital, where the Cetinje Monastery and the National Museum cover an easy, cheap afternoon before the drive back down to the coast.

Day 2 cost (EUR, per person) Low Higher
Rental car, per day (verify) 11 41
Fuel share 5 10
Njeguši pršut/cheese tasting 3 8
Njegoš Mausoleum (verify) 0 5
Cetinje museum entries (verify) 0 6
Lunch in Cetinje 8 15
Dinner back on the coast 10 20
Day 2 total 37 105

Day 3: Budva’s Old Town, Beaches, and Sveti Stefan

Return the car or bus down to Budva (roughly €5, verify, about 30 minutes from Kotor). The walled Old Town, rebuilt after the 1979 earthquake, is free to wander, and Mogren I beach right beside it costs nothing to sit on. If you want a look at Sveti Stefan, the fortified islet-turned-private-resort, take a short local bus toward Queen’s Beach and view it from the public sand; you can’t walk onto the causeway unless you’re a guest or paying for the resort’s restaurant. Close the trip with ćevapi or burek from a bakery counter rather than a tourist-menu sit-down.

Day 3 cost (EUR, per person) Low Higher
Bus/transfer to Budva (verify) 5 5
Museum of Budva (optional) 0 3
Free beach (Mogren I) 0 0
Bus to Queen’s Beach for Sveti Stefan view 0 2
Lunch (ćevapi/burek) 2 6
Dinner 12 25
Day 3 total 19 41

Getting Around on This 3-Day Plan

Coastal buses cover Day 1 and Day 3 cheaply, but Day 2’s interior loop needs a car; there’s no direct public transport up the Njeguši serpentine to Lovćen and on to Cetinje that fits a single day. Drop the car back in Kotor or Budva the same evening rather than paying for an extra day you don’t use.

If you only remember one thing: don’t try to squeeze Durmitor or Ostrog into these three days. Both need their own overnight or half-day and will wreck the pacing above.