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Where is the country of Montenegro located? Montenegro is a Balkan country. On the Adriatic coast is the country of Montenegro (Crna Gora), which used to be part of Yugoslavia and separated from Serbia as an independent state in 2006. Much of Montenegro consists of mountains and hills that belong to the Dinaric Alps. The lower area along the coast has a Mediterranean climate (type Csa), with warm, dry summers and mild winters. The higher areas have a moderate maritime climate, with mild to fairly cool winters on average and mild summers with an increased chance of peaks to very high maximum temperatures. This is because in the mountain areas the cooling effect of the Adriatic Sea is much less present than along the coast and because warm air from the northeast and east, as it were, sticks against the mountain walls and can cause the thermometers to rise considerably. In Central Montenegro in particular, it can regularly be sweltering hot in July and August, with temperatures that can rise to as much as 40 degrees Celsius during the day.

Code green for Montenegro

Since Thursday, July 8, 2021, ‘code green’ has been in effect for Montenegro. That means you can travel to Montenegro for a holiday. There is no mandatory PCR test or vaccination to re-enter the Netherlands for the return journey. You do not have to quarantine when you return home, unless you have corona-related complaints. Then the normal rules apply: stay home and get tested. For the trip to Montenegro, the rules of the country of arrival apply. They can vary and change.

Travel advice can be adjusted quickly due to changing circumstances. We are primarily a weather and climate site. To be sure, always check the government site Wijsopreis.nl for the current travel advice for Montenegro.

Cool winters

The months of December, January and February mean cold and snow for the mountain areas. The average daytime temperature barely rises above freezing during this period, rarely if ever on the highest peaks. At night temperatures are on average about five to ten degrees below zero. In the higher places, however, it can easily be five to ten degrees cooler. These figures are long-term averages, from which a significant deviation is possible at least once every winter. Sometimes it is not too bad and the supply of warm air from the Adriatic Sea ensures a period with mild winter weather. What is more common is that temperatures can drop considerably under the influence of very powerful high pressure areas above the mainland. A strong wind blowing from the northeast, the bora, can cause a freezing effect, which makes it unpleasant to say the least to be outside. In winter, the bora can last for days and cause very uncomfortable conditions, especially in combination with the blowing up of already fallen snow. Because the bora is almost unpredictable, people are regularly in danger because of this suddenly rising wind. When the bora blows, the weather is usually clear with no precipitation. There is a lot of snow in the mountains in winter. The quantities differ per region, month and year, but a few tens of centimeters is actually the minimum you should count on. In some places, a pack of snow up to a few meters thick can fall in one winter. It therefore takes quite a long time in the spring before this snow layer disappears.

Winter sports

Thanks to the mountains and the snow, Montenegro has some excellent ski areas. As a winter sports destination, Montenegro is therefore an excellent alternative to our popular destinations in the Alps. You mainly practice winter sports here in the regions of Kolašin (Bjelasica), Žabljak (Durmitor) and Turjak (in Rožaje). Popular ski resorts include Javorovača, Lokve, Turjak, Vučje and Savin Kuk. Winter sports in Montenegro is enjoying adventure in a beautiful winter setting.

The winters are much more pleasant along the coast. With afternoon temperatures that are around or just below ten degrees and minimum temperatures on average a few degrees above freezing, you have little trouble with winter along the coast. Even snowfall is quite rare here, in contrast to the interior and the mountains.

Hot summers

The summer months in Montenegro, just like the other months, show clear differences in weather. Along the coast there is mainly sunny and stable summer weather, with afternoon temperatures averaging around thirty degrees. The thermometers here do not often reach forty degrees and cool days you will not experience much here in the months of June, July, August and September. In the evenings along the Adriatic coast it is generally sultry and the thermometers usually only dip below twenty degrees until well into the night. During heat waves, it can happen that the lowest temperature is around 25 degrees within 24 hours.

In the interior, the afternoon temperatures are on average on a par with the coastal areas, the minimum temperatures are on average a few degrees lower in summer. In practice, the interior has the greatest chance of extreme heat. The supply of hot air from the central part of the Balkan Peninsula can make it uncomfortably hot inland, with temperatures ranging from 35 to a whopping 40-41 degrees Celsius.

In the mountains, where the altitude exceeds 1200-1500 meters above sea level, the heat is generally not too bad. The long-term averages here are also a lot lower than in the rest of Montenegro. During the day the temperature is on average between 22 and 25 degrees, while at night it generally cools down to around ten degrees Celsius.

Precipitation

Montenegro is one of the wettest countries in Europe. The mountain areas in particular register fairly large amounts of precipitation on an annual basis, the majority of which falls from the sky in the winter months. The wettest places in Montenegro account for no less than 4000-5000 millimeters of precipitation on average per year. There is less precipitation along the coast, where it stops at 1300 to 1600 millimeters of precipitation on an annual basis – still double what we are used to in the Netherlands. In the interior, precipitation amounts are fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. An exception to this is the region around and immediately north of Lake Shkodër (Skadarsko jezero), which is also home to the capital Podgorica.is. The last three months of the year are wet here, with over two hundred millimeters of precipitation per month, while the summer months (June, July and August) are relatively dry, with only about 35 to 60 millimeters of rain per month.

Climate figures

The figures below are based on long-term average climate statistics. The temperatures are displayed in degrees Celsius (°C).

Best time to visit Montenegro

Do you want to know when is the best time to travel to Montenegro? You can determine the best time to travel to a destination based on the weather and climate. In addition, there are other factors that are not directly related to the weather and that can influence the best travel periods for a travel destination. Think, for example, of holidays or festive periods, which makes traveling more interesting or not, because daily life comes to a standstill as a result. The relatively small country of Montenegro is located in the Balkans, which is approximately two-thirds smaller than the Netherlands in terms of land area. Montenegro is located on the Adriatic Sea, where it has approximately 294 kilometers of coastline. There are various beaches along the coast. The more than twelve kilometers long sandy beach Velika Plaža is the longest beach in the country and can be found in southwestern Montenegro. Behind the relatively narrow coastal strip, the landscape of Montenegro mainly consists of karst areas. Many areas are on average around a thousand meters above sea level, but there are also peaks within the Dinaric Alps that go towards two thousand meters. The combination of a Mediterranean climate in the coastal areas and a continental climate inland means that the winter period is not so suitable for a tour through Montenegro or a general holiday to this country. On the coast it is then too wet and actually too cool. Inland, winter conditions ensure that this winter is not the best time to travel for a holiday in Montenegro, unless you want to celebrate a winter sports holiday.

Best months for Montenegro

The best time to travel for a holiday in Montenegro is from June to August. It is then warm, fairly dry and sunny to very sunny in many places in the country. Conditions are best on the coast. There you can count on afternoon temperatures of 27 to 33 degrees Celsius, with sometimes an outlier to the top. Inland it is often a bit cooler.

Winter sports

Do you want to travel to Montenegro for winter sports? Then it is best to do that in January, February or March. The combination of sufficient snowfall with temperatures that are often around or below freezing provide good conditions for skiing or snowboarding. A winter sports holiday in December is also possible, especially in the second half of the month, but this period is less guaranteed to snow than January and February.