Montenegro is small but steep: a few hours on the road take you from the sea to the Sedlo pass at 1,907 metres. Five national Top Biking Trail routes and the Montenegrin section of the European EuroVelo 8 cross the country, alongside dozens of shorter trails around Lake Skadar, on Bjelasica and in Prokletije. The coast can be ridden all year, the mountains from late spring to autumn.
Five national Top Biking Trail routes, EuroVelo 8 along the coast, the Durmitor Ring over the Sedlo pass and easy trails around Lake Skadar: how to plan a bike trip through Montenegro.
The route network
The backbone is five national Top Biking Trail routes: Salty and Sweet, North Discoveries, Eastern Enchantment, Endless Landscapes and Stories by the Water. They are multi-day tours: Endless Landscapes, for example, runs through Danilovgrad, Šavnik, Plužine, Žabljak and Kolašin. Along the coast runs the Montenegrin section of the European EuroVelo 8, about 195 kilometres of asphalt from Njivice near Herceg Novi to Sukobin on the Albanian border.
All routes and shorter trails, with map, length and climbing, are on our cycling trails page.
The Durmitor Ring
The best-known mountain ride is the Durmitor Ring, a 76-kilometre loop from Žabljak (83 with the Ćurevac viewpoint). It is paved all the way but narrow and winding, and its highest point is the Sedlo pass at 1,907 metres. It is mostly closed in winter, so the season runs from May to October. Rockfall is common in the Sušica canyon, and the section from Nedajno towards Trsa runs through forest where the asphalt is often damp.
For mountain bikers, Žabljak also has the Štuoc bike park enduro trail, a short descent of about 4.4 kilometres.
Did you know?
The first cyclist is recorded as reaching Orjenska Lokva above Herceg Novi in 1904, and that year is taken as the start of mountain biking on Orjen.
Around Lake Skadar
A favourite ride from Podgorica goes to Virpazar, then along the old road through the villages to Rijeka Crnojevića and back to Podgorica on the Cetinje road. Skadar Lake National Park has several marked trails: the easy Rijeka Crnojevića – Rogani (10.7 km), Ckla – Virpazar along the lake and Bar – Sutorman – Virpazar over the pass.
Gravel in the north and east
On Bjelasica, the demanding gravel tour Two Peaks and Five Lakes crosses Biogradska Gora, while the easier KO01 trail mostly descends from the mountain to Kolašin. Around Plav and Gusinje riders know the "Osmica" (figure of eight), a loop past Plav Lake, Mount Visitor and the Ljuča river that also gives its name to a local race; the PL02 loop is similar. For flatter riding on gravel there is the old narrow-gauge railway line Nikšić – Bileća.
