Montenegro in 4 Days on a Budget (Costs)
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4 Days Adds a Skadar Lake Wine Day to the Kotor/Cetinje/Budva Route
The old version of this page sent you inland to “hike” Durmitor National Park on Day 3, which just isn’t real: Durmitor is roughly 2h50 from Kotor each way, so a rushed day trip only ever manages the Tara Bridge and a Black Lake photo stop, not the hiking and kayaking that page promised. This rewrite keeps Durmitor out of anything shorter than a 6-day trip. Four days here covers Kotor’s bay, a Njeguši/Lovćen/Cetinje mountain day, Budva’s coast, and a Lake Skadar wine day. Tighter on time? See the 3-day itinerary . Want Ostrog Monastery too? The 5-day itinerary adds it.
Book these before you go
- A Bay of Kotor boat trip for Day 1
- A rental car picked up in Kotor and kept through Day 4; there’s no practical bus for the Njeguši/Lovćen/Cetinje loop or a same-day Skadar run
- A Skadar Lake boat tour for Day 4
Day 1: Kotor and Perast
Climb Kotor’s walls to San Giovanni/St John’s Fortress early, before the heat and cruise crowds; it’s €15 (verify) for around 1,350 steps with almost no shade. The Bay of Kotor is a UNESCO World Heritage Site , and an afternoon Blue Line bus to Perast (around €1.50) sets up a boat trip to Our Lady of the Rocks. Eat a couple of streets back from the main square, not on it.
| Day 1 cost (EUR, per person) | Low | Higher |
|---|---|---|
| Bed (Kotor Old Town) | 10 | 44 |
| 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 + dinner | 18 | 35 |
| Day 1 total | 49.50 | 107 |
Day 2: The Njeguši Road, Lovćen, and Cetinje
Pick up the rental car and take the Njeguši serpentine, roughly 25 hairpins climbing straight out of the bay, up into Lovćen National Park . Njeguši village’s smokehouse pršut and cheese tastings run only a few euros. From there it’s on to the Njegoš Mausoleum (several hundred steps, fee unconfirmed, verify) and then Cetinje , Montenegro’s old royal capital, where the Cetinje Monastery and National Museum cover a cheap afternoon.
| 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 + dinner | 18 | 35 |
| Day 2 total | 37 | 105 |
Day 3: Budva and a Sveti Stefan Viewpoint
Budva’s walled Old Town, carefully rebuilt after the 1979 earthquake, is free to wander, and Mogren I beach beside it costs nothing to sit on. Drive or bus toward Queen’s Beach for a look at Sveti Stefan, the fortified islet-turned-private-resort; the causeway itself is guests and diners only, so the public beach view is the free version of this photo. Cheap ćevapi or burek beats a tourist-menu sit-down here.
| Day 3 cost (EUR, per person) | Low | Higher |
|---|---|---|
| Museum of Budva (optional) | 0 | 3 |
| Free beach (Mogren I) | 0 | 0 |
| Fuel/parking for the Sveti Stefan drive-by | 3 | 6 |
| Lunch (ćevapi/burek) | 2 | 6 |
| Dinner | 12 | 25 |
| Day 3 total | 17 | 40 |
Day 4: Lake Skadar and Plantaže Wine
Base yourself around Virpazar, roughly 48 minutes from Budva, for a boat out among the reed islands looking for the lake’s Dalmatian pelicans, one of Europe’s last breeding populations. A shared boat trip runs cheap split across a small group (verify current rates locally). On the way back, a stop at the Plantaže vineyard near Podgorica, one of Europe’s largest single-piece vineyards, is a cheap way to taste Vranac and Krstač before your last night on the coast.
| Day 4 cost (EUR, per person) | Low | Higher |
|---|---|---|
| Skadar boat trip, shared (verify) | 10 | 20 |
| Wine tasting at Plantaže (verify) | 5 | 12 |
| Lunch (Skadar Lake fish) | 8 | 18 |
| Dinner (last night) | 15 | 30 |
| Day 4 total | 38 | 80 |
Getting Around on This 4-Day Plan
Keep the rental car from Day 2 through Day 4; the interior loop and the Skadar run both need it, and returning it once at the end costs less than picking it up twice. Day 1 and Day 3 are walkable/bus-only if you’d rather not pay for the car on the coast days.
If you only remember one thing: don’t let a tour company sell you Durmitor as part of this trip. At 2h50 each way from the coast, it needs its own overnight, which is what the 6-day itinerary is for.