After Dubrovnik, I crossed into Montenegro! This was my first time to this tiny country of  only about 700,000 people.

CITY: Kotor

HOW LONG: 4 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Montenegro Hostel 4U and had very mixed feelings about this place. On the one hand, the facilities were great- Big rooms, big lockers, nice bathrooms, and good kitchen/common area. There were kayaks and bikes available to rent and it was right on the water. HOWEVER, this hostel had the most aggressive organized drinking I had ever seen. I mean it’s one thing for the staff to encourage people to socialize and drink, but it’s another to pressure a kid into drinking so much that he had to go to the hospital. I found the staff to be very sexist and too involved with getting people to drink. When I would say that I was fine drinking water, they seemed to be upset and continually asked me to drink alcohol instead. Despite the aggressive staff, I did meet some awesome people here!

WHERE TO EAT:

The hostel had organized BBQ’s most nights so I tended to join in to meet people, but my favorite restaurant I went to was called Konoba Akustik. They had delicious Cevapi and other yummy food.

WHAT TO DO:

The most important thing to do while in Kotor is hike the old fortress. It’s not the easiest hike (about 1,300 steps straight up the mountain) but the views make it worth it. It was only 3 euros (as opposed to the 20 euros it costs to do the city walls in Dubrovnik).

Walking across the bridge into Old Town

Heading up with Jacob, a guy I met at the hostel

View over old town

Up we go!

The old fort at the top over looking the bay

Old Town

Next up was renting some kayaks with some new British friends (Yay Louisa + Matt!). We spent many hours joking about our mutual appreciation for good butter (butterbaes for life) and Louisa does an amazing valley girl accent so we also had many made up conversations about our alter egos Becca and Ashley! We literally couldn’t even….

Lastly, I decided to do a day tour of Montenegro because apparently with one day tour you can see about 60% of the country. Crazy right?! While I did see some cool things and we went for a boat ride on a river, the tour wasn’t anything special. I probably would’ve preferred to just hang around Kotor.

View over Bay of Kotor

the Mausoleum (the second highest peak of mount Lovcen) where is buried the great Montenegrin ruler and poet Petar II Petrovic Njegos

Cetinje Monastery

River Crnojevica

Budva

Budva

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Despite my hostel being less than ideal, I met some fun people and enjoyed exploring Kotor/ other parts of Montenegro. Kotor and Montenegro in general are so untouched compared to many other parts of Europe. But, slowly it is being discovered. In Kotor, more and more cruise ships are stopping for a visit and surely, it will become a hotspot in the next 5 years.

CITY: Ulcinj

HOW LONG: 3 NIGHTS

ACCOMMODATION:

I stayed at Hostel Pirate and it couldn’t have been more opposite to my hostel in Kotor. It was so relaxing and because Ulcinj is not very big, there wasn’t much to do at night so all the guests would drink beer and just hang at the hostel. I had a great time meeting new people and playing cards. The rooms were nice and the lockers were big enough for valuables. A large guest kitchen and common room were available for use. Also the staff were super awesome, helpful, & generous. ALSO as a bonus there was a Belgian Shepard and the house cat had just had kittens!!!!

WHERE TO EAT:

I mostly cooked my own food while I was here so don’t have any recommendations unfortunately.

WHAT TO DO:

Despite being fairly small, Ulcinj has plenty to do! First up for me was a walk through the old town, which was literally empty (again polar opposite to Dubrovnik). Fun views of the little cove and town below the old town.

Walking through the Old Town

View of Ulcinj

Next was a day trip to ALBANIA!! I went to Shkodër which is near Skadarsko Jezero, a huge lake that is half in Montenegro and half in Albania. I spent a couple of hours exploring the town and went to some castle ruins. Rozafa Castle was built around the 14th century. Definitely cool to walk around the ruins, and it wasn’t really regulated in terms of where you could go, so you can essentially walk everywhere and can climb up all the old walls.

Rozafa Castle ruins

Albanian flag

Ebu Beker Mosque

The best day was my first proper beach day in a while. I ventured out with an American couple I had met on the bus from Shkodër that also happened to be staying at my hostel. First, I went with Tess to a women’s only nudist beach, which is interesting as this is a Muslim dominated area, but we had a very relaxing time. After an hour in the sun we walked 40 minutes along the coast to another beach (14km long!!!) We met up with her boyfriend, Aaron, here. Our hike ended with a treacherous bridge, but we survived! I honestly thought this might be how my life ended (or at least how I ended my trip with a broken leg). After the adrenaline wore off, the three of us enjoyed the breeze and sun rays for a couple of hours.

Views along the hike to the beach

The beach all to ourselves

THE CRAZY BRIDGE

I ran out of time so was not able to do all I wanted to do in Ulcinj, so if you have time definitely explore all the forests and hikes in the area!!

OVERALL THOUGHTS:

Ulcinj was awesome!! I barely heard any english being spoken as I walked around and all the locals were so friendly!! There was so much to do and I enjoyed everything I did while here. I would love to come back some day!