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explored on foot. Or, in some places, by car along wilderness roads called Panoramic Roads. T ese are no Sunday drives. Some 50 miles east of Biogradska Gora, a route called Durmitor Ring encircles the mighty massif from which it takes its name. Here, 50 peaks reach 6,500ft,


rising to 8,278ft at Bobotov Kuk, Montenegro’s highest mountain. Impassable for half the year, the road climbs through narrow winding canyons that I fi nd still banked with freshly fallen snow. Burrowing into a succession of deep mountain tunnels carved through rough, unsealed rock, I’m accompanied by bats fl itting in front of my windscreen. It feels like going spelunking in a car. Casa Di Pino is an unexpectedly


urbane fi nd in Durmitor’s shadow, with an infrared sauna, a library of locally foraged herbal teas and electric rental bikes. T e eco-hotel in the small town of Žabljak has rooms crafted from local pine, with energy effi cient insulation and a ground-source heat pump. “We started building during lockdown so we’re still catching up,” says manager Danica Baranin. “But we aim for complete sustainability, with roof photocells to generate power.” Breakfast comes from the


hotel’s farm: eggs, olives, dried fruits and crisp cucumber, along with homemade cheeses, smoked charcuterie and breads. Built by a local doctor now living overseas, the house became a hotel. “Rather than have it stand empty, the family wanted to give something back to their hometown,” says Danica. “T ere’s really nothing else like this around.” T ere’s scope for the region’s


existing hotels to be rebooted, too: a savvy developer is needed to reimagine rather than raze the clutch of angular 1970s megaliths, once winter playgrounds for the Tito-era politerati. Shiny ski resorts were requisite accessories in the notoriously lavish lifestyle of Josip Broz Tito, the communist revolutionary architect of Yugoslavia. I fi nd traces of Tito deep in


Park ranger at Biogradska Gora National Park PHOTOGRAPH: JORDAN BANKS


Durmitor National Park. Hidden among the 400-year-old pines encircling Black Lake (Crno Jezero) is a tiny cave where Tito headquartered for a week in 1943, planning a battle that would lead Allied countries to recognise him as the leader of the Yugoslav resistance. Just over a year later, Montenegro became part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a federation of Balkan states that lasted from the Second World War until 1992. Today, nought but a rusty plaque marks the spot. I clamber back down


T e Travel Guide 5


to the shoreline through the black pines that lend the lake both its name and its blue-black hue. But the trees aren’t doing their job today. T e water shines glacial turquoise in the sun, and I stop to drink from one of the little streams feeding the lake; icy rivulets tumbling down sheer canyon walls that will soon become thundering tumults of meltwater whose roar will echo across the park. But for now, all is silent save for the croak of warty frogs announcing the coming of summer.


First published in the Jan/Feb 2023 issue of National Geographic Traveller (UK). Read the feature in full at nationalgeographictraveller.co.uk/travel


GET THE LOWDOWN


GETTING THERE & AROUND Ryanair fl ies from Stansted to Montenegro’s capital, Podgorica. Average fl ight time: 3h. ryanair.com Alternatively, fl y to Bari in Italy, where Jadrolinija operates ferries across the Adriatic to Bar. jadrolinija.hr Average journey time: 11h


WHEN TO GO With dramatically contrasting elevations, altitude aff ects climate as much as season. July-August gets busy on the coast with 26C-32C temperatures. November-April is the north’s ski season, with heavy snow, when temperatures can dip well into the minus fi gures; hikers should explore the national parks outside these times.


WHERE TO STAY Hotel Casa di Pino. Doubles from €70 (£60), B&B. casadipino.com Cue Hotel Podgorica. Doubles from €120 (£105), B&B. cue-podgorica.com Blue Mediterranean. Studio sleeping two from €50 (£44), room only. bluemediterranean.me Hotel Stara Caršija. Doubles from €70 (£61), B&B. staracarsija.me T e Chedi. Doubles from €170 (£148), B&B. chedilusticabay.com


MORE INFO Montenegro Tourism montenegro.travel


HOW TO DO IT Wild Frontiers off ers the eight-day Walking in Montenegro tour, taking in Kotor, Lake Skadar and four of Montenegro’s fi ve national parks, for £1,725 per person based on two sharing, including accommodation, guide and driver. Excluding fl ights. wildfrontierstravel.com


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