Montenegro -Essential things to know before your trip to hidden gem of Balkan.

MONTENEGRO

Essential things to know before your trip to hidden gem of Balkan

Montenegro is a wonderful destination for a road trip, offering breathtaking mountains, charming medieval towns reminiscent of Venice, and some of the most exquisite coastlines in the Balkans. This  trip is one of my favorite  trip for many reason even though it was a boiling summer. As you know i am a budget traveler. I pre plan things way in advance which makes it cost effective and to get cheaper options to choose within. Like wise this trip was also planned a couple of months before the travel date. It was suppose to be a solo trip but things changed and my friend joined me. And it ended up as a road trip .I am residing in south of England and the nearest Airport is Gatwick Airport , London. we took the  last  train of the day and waited in airport till early morning 3 to get the check in counters to open to avoid spending money on taxi. It cost only 13£ for train rather than spending 80£ for taxi.

How to reach Montenegro?

From my part of country flying to Montenegro was the only possibility . You can enter through land from the bordering Balkan countries like Albania ,Croatia and Serbia. Most of the tour packages i checked was covering Albania along with Montenegro. I booked Wizz air which is a budget airline and got the ticket for 120£ two way. This is higher because it was summer time. I didn’t add any extra baggage and packed light in backpacks .Flight took off punctually. Montenegro has three main airport Porgorica Aiport , Tivat Airport and  Dubronik Airport which is in Croatia. Unlike other countries, Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro,  has the biggest airport in Montenegro, but it’s not a good idea to base yourself during your trip. Podgorica airport is  not as  big as i expected. It looks tiny to me. You should keep extra hours in Podgorica airport because it does have long queues for everything. On our return we spend hours in queue even at the entrance to Airport  where our Id’s check. Montenegro has relaxed immigration rules so they were people pulled out due to insufficient documents which  made others in the queue to wait.

Car Rental

 Train and buses are pretty basic in Montenegro . There are plenty of buses from Podgorica to rest of the corners of the country. The roads in Montenegro is wonderful. As a tourist the best way to move around in Montenegro is renting a car. You can drive with your own country's driving license. Car rentals in Montenegro are affordable and easy. There are plenty of Car rentals in Montenegro. You can choose where to Rent from. We booked our car from Local rent through online a  couple of weeks before our trip. Getting the feedback from different bloggers i booked a Audi A3 Automatic for 180£ for 4 days  ,collecting from Podgorica Airport and dropping back at Airport. I would recommend Trans Lux Rentals, Montenegro which we had a satisfying service .We booked through Local rent website.  No deposit or credit card was needed. Car was neat and clean .It functioned well. We got lucky to drive an Mercedes as well because two days after Rentals contacted that they need the car for some other reason urgently. So they replace with Mercedes C Class  which was quite good. We agree to replace and they came to our location. Everything was smooth and happy.

Sim Card

We purchased sim card from a  shop inside the airport complex named Tabacco Shop. That's the only local shop that i found there.15€ for 500GB  ,the company name is One. It had reception  every city we visited in Montenegro ,even in the mountains.

Currency 

The currency in Montenegro is Euro . I exchange 100€ cash and rest of the money in Wise account like i usually do . Wise is a multi currency  prepaid card which can be used in 190+ countries. By using this way you don’t lose money as exchange rate.

Public Toilets

In case of public toilets ,Montenegro is still behind centuries. Most of the public places  the toilets are like the old toilet which are on the floor. I find it very inconvenient and unhygienic with no basic amenities. But that was not in case of restaurants and Hotels. When you travel to tourist attractions in Montenegro keep in mind about toilets

Accommodation

I am a fan of booking.com .I compare price with other accommodation booking site but will finally end up booking through booking.com. Booking.com has options like pay in advance ,pay on a specific date and pay at property .I felt this convenient for my trip planning. And i don’t spend a fortune on accommodation. Something safe and clean just to spend night. I pre booked three accommodation in Montenegro .

First night at Zabljak , second nights in Kotor and last night in Podgorica for the convenience of our road trip. You can book accommodation through any platform as per your budget. I highly recommend Etno village in Zabljak if your are traveling north of Montenegro.  Oh boy! It is a must visit place in Montenegro. Check my blog for more information on Zabljak and its Etno village.