Belgrade + Montenegro: through 254 tunnels to the Adriatic by train
The Belgrade–Bar railway is considered one of the most beautiful in Europe: it crosses the mountains on viaducts two hundred metres high and ends at the sea.
Why this way
People usually just fly to Montenegro. There is a better version: start in Belgrade and descend to the Adriatic on a railway built through a mountain range in the seventies. The line has more than two hundred and fifty tunnels and several hundred bridges, including the Mala Rijeka viaduct, one of the highest railway bridges in Europe. In daylight this is not a transfer but an attraction, and it costs less than any excursion.
Belgrade: three days
Kalemegdan above the meeting of the Sava and the Danube, the church of Saint Sava, Skadarlija, Zemun with its fish restaurants. Belgrade has a poor reputation for architecture and an excellent one for life: coffee is drunk for hours, dinner is late, and clubs on the water work through the night. Of the museums pick two: Tesla and the House of Flowers.
Montenegro: five days
Podgorica is the administrative capital and short on sights, so the base belongs on the coast or in the mountains. Kotor with its walls climbing the slope and the Bay of Kotor, which looks like a fjord. Budva with beaches and an old town, Sveti Stefan from the photographs. In the mountains: Lovcen with Njegos's mausoleum, the Ostrog monastery built into a sheer cliff, and Durmitor with the Tara canyon, the second deepest in the world.
About the train, honestly
The journey takes about eleven hours, the carriages are old, the air conditioning is unreliable and the timetable lives its own life. Travel by day and sit on the right-hand side — the view earns it. Anyone who needs comfort should fly: direct flights between Belgrade and Podgorica take under an hour. But this train is the part of the route people talk about afterwards.
When to go
June and September — warm sea, fewer people than July and August. The mountain season is longer: Durmitor is good from June to October, and in winter people ski there. Belgrade is nicer in spring and autumn. The worst combination is August: the coast is packed, and eleven hours in a carriage without working air conditioning becomes an ordeal.
Durmitor and the Tara canyon
Northern Montenegro holds the Durmitor national park with the Black Lake at the foot of the range and dozens of peaks above two thousand metres. Beside it runs the canyon of the Tara, the second deepest in the world, crossed by the Djurdjevica bridge with a zipline strung over it. In summer people raft the Tara. It is three to four hours from the coast on mountain roads, so go with at least one night in Zabljak.
The Bay of Kotor
The bay is often called a fjord, though it is a drowned river canyon. Kotor inside its walls is a maze of streets without addresses, and you can climb the wall to the fortress of Saint John: 1,350 steps, an hour and a half, best early morning or at sunset. Perast opposite is a baroque town with two islets, one carrying the church of Our Lady of the Rocks, built on stones dropped into the sea. Driving the bay takes a day, and the road itself is the sight.
Practical matters
Both countries are visa-free for a Russian passport, up to 30 days. Montenegro uses the euro though it is not in the eurozone. A rental car on the coast is close to essential: buses run, but reaching Durmitor and Ostrog by them takes forever. Train tickets are bought at the station; buying online in advance works poorly.
Moscow → Belgrade → Podgorica
Route and nights go into the form — adjust the date and passengers.