After the Boka Marathon: Durmitor National Park

The Route: Kotor → Žabljak (1 night) → Kotor or Podgorica Logistics: Around 2.5 hours by road, climbing from sea level to 1,450 m. A car is required; there is no useful public transport. Winter equipment on the vehicle is a legal requirement on Montenegrin mountain roads in the winter months, and snow on the approach in December is likely. Marathon Month: December Duration: 1 night

Kotor (sea level) ──(≈2.5 hrs by road)──> Žabljak (1,450 m)
                                               │
                                        (20 min on foot)
                                               ▼
                                     Black Lake / Crno Jezero

Montenegro is small enough that the mountains are a morning's drive from the coast, and the change is total: you leave a bay with palm trees on it and arrive on a high plateau with snow on it. Durmitor is a UNESCO-listed massif in the north of the country, centred on the town of Žabljak at 1,450 m, which is the highest town in the Balkans.

This is a December trip with conditions attached. Check the road reports before you commit. The approach roads carry snow from late autumn, the requirement for winter tyres or chains is enforced, and a hire car agreement may not cover you on mountain roads in winter. If the forecast is poor, do Perast instead and come back in another season.

Black Lake

Crno Jezero sits about 3 km from Žabljak and the walk out to it is flat, on a broad track through spruce forest, taking around twenty minutes. The lake is two connected basins under the wall of Meded and the Durmitor peaks, and in December it is frozen or freezing and the forest around it is silent. There is a circuit path around the shore of roughly 3.5 km, which is usually walkable in winter and is as much exercise as anyone needs the week after a marathon.

This is the accessible part of Durmitor and the reason the trip works on tired legs. Everything else in the park is a mountain.

The Tara Canyon

The Tara river canyon runs along the northern edge of the park and is the deepest in Europe, cut to around 1,300 m. The Đurđevića Tara bridge, a concrete arch from 1940 about 40 minutes north of Žabljak, is the standard place to look into it, and there is a viewpoint and a café at the end of the bridge. The rafting that the canyon is known for runs in summer and is not a December activity.

The drive from Žabljak to the bridge and back is itself most of the point: the road crosses open plateau with the peaks on one side and very little traffic on it in winter.

The Ring Road

The Durmitor Ring, a 75 km circuit of the massif from Žabljak, is the other drive, and in December sections of it close. Ask in Žabljak before attempting it. In clear winter conditions it is one of the better mountain drives in the region; in poor ones it is a bad idea in a hire car.

Where to Stay and Eat

Where to stay: Žabljak is a small ski town and has guesthouses and apartments through the winter at low prices. Anywhere in the town is within walking distance of the lake track.

Where to eat: Mountain food: lamb cooked under a metal lid, smoked ham, kajmak, and the local cheeses. The restaurants in Žabljak are unfussy and open through the ski season.

Getting Home