At 7:14 a.m. on a Tuesday morning in May 2025, I was sitting on the Perast boardwalk eating a burek the size of my forearm, watching the first kayak of the day pull away toward Our Lady of the Rocks. The rental car was parked twenty meters further back. Sveti Stefan had the plan on Saturday. At that point I hadn’t looked at a single ferry schedule.
I learned this the hard way on my first trip to Montenegro in 2024. I showed up at the Kamenari jetty at 18:40, watched the last ferry of the race sail without me, and ended up driving the long way around the Bay of Kotor in increasingly dim light. I didn’t have an hour and a quarter.
This is the version of the road trip I wish someone had given me before that first crossing.
TL;DR
- Five days, about 95 kilometers of real coastal driving, with a side loop through the Lovćen serpentines taking it up to 140.
- Perast → Kamenari–Lepetane Ferry → Tivat → Lovćen Detour → Budva → Sveti Stefan → Petrovac, in that order.
- The Kamenari ferry runs every 15 minutes during the day and every 30 minutes from midnight to 05:00 (€4.50 per car at the time of writing).
- Two clean moving dead zones to plan for: the upper curves of Lovćen and the inner stretch between Cetinje and Njeguši.
- Solo female security – very comfortable in Kotor, Perast and the old town of Budva after dark. By all means, park on the lighted side of any parking lot.
Why This Route Works (And Why Most People Get It Wrong)
Most beginners fly to Tivat, drive directly to Kotor, and then panic because the old town is not a road trip city, which it is not. The trick is to use Perast as a base for the bay and then move south on day three instead of the second. You will see the same things, but at the pace they were created for.
The Adriatic coast here is short. Technically, you could drive from Perast to Sveti Stefan in under two hours if you ignored the ferry and stayed on the coast. No. The ferry is the route. The Lovćen detour is the route. The 90-minute cafe in Njeguši is, in a way, also the route.
Day 1: Perast and the Bay of Kotor
Land in Tivat, pick up the rental car (Sixt and a local company called Meridian operate from the terminal – I’ve used Meridian twice and they were fine). Drive 25 minutes north to Perast. Do not try to base yourself in Kotor. The old town does not allow cars and outdoor parking is brutal in summer.
Perast is small. Two churches, a promenade, about 350 residents and a pier that makes the five-minute journey to Our Lady of the Rocks for €5 return. Do it in the late afternoon, when the cruise day crowds have gone. The light on the islet at 5:30 p.m. is the photograph you came looking for.
Dinner at the Conte Restaurant on the seafront. Order the black risotto. Walk along the boardwalk and enter early; Tomorrow the ferry arrives.
Day 2: Kamenari-Lepetane ferry, then Tivat to the coast road
Depart Perast at 09:00. The Kamenari jetty is fifteen minutes south, just before the bay narrows. The ferry leaves every quarter of an hour, takes seven minutes and costs €4.50 per car. Pay the assistant from your window. Don’t queue at the kiosk. There is none.
Once in Lepetane, the road south passes through Tivat and then up the coastal route towards Budva. This is the part worth taking slow. Between Tivat and Bečići there are three rest areas that are worth stopping to take a photo. The third, just before the Trsteno turnoff, is the one that takes the unmarked goat path to a stony cove. Bring water shoes.
Sleep in Bečići or Budva. Bečići is calmer; Budva is noisier and closer to the old town walk.
Day 3: The Lovćen Detour
This is the day that everyone underestimates. From Budva, drive inland to Cetinje (45 minutes), then take the road to Njeguši and towards Lovćen National Park. The serpentines over Njeguši are the famous ones: twenty-five hairpin bends stacked into a cliff, and yes, you can see them from the air on the descent to Tivat.
Stop in Njeguši for prosciutto and cheese at any of the family-run smokehouses on the main street. With €10 you can buy a board that two people will have difficulty finishing. Then continue to the Lovćen Mausoleum at the top: 461 steps from the car park, the view of the Adriatic on a clear day is literally theatrical.
Go back down the same path before sunset. The eastern descent to Kotor is beautiful but narrower, and you won’t want to do it after dark on a first visit.
Day 4: Budva to Sveti Stefan
Short driving day. Twelve kilometers south along the coastal road, panoramic views all the way and before 11:00 you reach the parking lot of the Sveti Stefan viewpoint. The islet itself has been a closed Aman resort property for years and you can’t walk onto the causeway if you’re not a guest, but the public Miločer beach just to the north is open and free, and the view of the islet from the sand is the sight to behold.
Lunch at Olive Tree in the Miločer pine forest. In the late afternoon, drive the four kilometers further south to Petrovac. This is your finish line.
Petrovac is the underrated part of this trip. Two beaches, a 16th century fortress at the southern end, a quieter promenade than Budva and a hotel called Hotel Riva that costs between 90 and 110 euros per night in mid-season and with a balcony over the bay.
Day 5: Petrovac and the slow journey back
I usually use the last day for nothing. Swim before breakfast, walk the fortress trail, eat at one of the small konobas behind the promenade, and drive an hour back to Tivat for the overnight flight. If you have time, the Lustica peninsula south of Tivat is the excursion no one tells you about: a thirty-minute detour to Plavi Horizonti beach and back, and you’ll have the cove to yourself at 5 p.m.
Safety notes for single women
I’ve done this loop twice solo and I would do it a third time without hesitation. Kotor Old Town after dark is one of the easiest night walks I’ve done in Europe: well lit, busy until midnight, families and locals as much as travelers. The old town of Budva is the same. The only place I would point out is the inner stretch of Cetinje after sunset – it’s not unsafe, but it’s unlit and unknown, and there’s no good reason to be late. Plan your day in Lovćen to return to the coast before the sun goes down.
Park on the lighted side of any parking lot. Do not leave the rental car documentation on the dashboard. Standard tips you already know.
A brief coverage table (route by carrier, what I saw)
| Region/Route | Local operator | Signal quality | Grades |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perast and Bay of Kotor | Crnogorski Telekom | 4G, full bars | Reliable along the entire boardwalk and on the boat to Our Lady of the Rocks |
| Kamenari-Lepetane Ferry | Crnogorski Telekom / m:tel | 4G mid-crossover | Brief fall on approach to the stands; recovers in 90 seconds |
| Tivat → Budva Coast Highway | m:tel | 4G | Strong in populated areas; weakens in Trsteno cove |
| Cetinje → Njeguši interior | Crnogorski Telekom | 2G until death | First dead zone confirmed; essential offline maps |
| Lovćen Streamers (upper) | (none) | dead | Second dead zone; the mausoleum parking lot has nothing |
| Budva → Sveti Stefan → Petrovac | m:tel / Crnogorski Telekom | 4G/5G | Complete coverage south of Bečići |
Stay in line at sea and between ports
Connectivity in Montenegro is better than the road trip suggests, but it is not uniform. The coast is well connected. The detour into Lovćen is not.
What worked for the multi-country stretch
For my 2025 loop I crossed from Dubrovnik, meaning the first ninety minutes of driving was on a Croatian operator (HT Hrvatski Telekom or A1 Hrvatska) before reaching the border at Debeli Brijeg and the Montenegrin networks taking over. If you fly directly to Tivat, you skip that part, but for anyone doing the road trip variant from Dubrovnik, network transfer is the point where most travel SIM cards fail.
I had HelloRoam data package for the Adriatic coast loaded for the trip, which passed through Crnogorski Telekom in Montenegro and the A1 Hrvatska on the Croatian side, and maintained the 4G connection through the Debeli Brijeg junction without me touching any settings. That was especially important on the Kamenari ferry access, because the dynamic lane assignment for the car queue is signposted in Montenegrin and the Google Translate camera mode is what saves you. (Helpful tip: Take a screenshot of the ferry schedule the night before. Dead zone stretches don’t care how good your data plan is.)
When to use it and when not
Use it for one thing every day: the driving time of the next leg in Maps. Download the full map of Montenegro offline at your hotel the night before; Otherwise, the Cetinje-Njeguši section is the one that will surprise you. Once you’re climbing Lovćen, your phone will be a decoration. Lean into it.
Costs (the approximate version)
- Car rental (5 days, Tivat to Tivat): £160-220 in mid season.
- Fuel for the circuit: £45-60.
- Kamenari Ferry: €4.50 each way per car.
- Hotels: €70-110 per night in May/September; double in July-August.
- Eating out: €15-25 per person for a dinner with wine.
Frequently asked questions
How many days do you need for a road trip along the coast of Montenegro? Five is the sweet spot. You can do it three at a time, but you’ll skip Lovćen, and Lovćen is the reason you came.
Do I need to book the Kamenari ferry in advance? No. It runs every 15 minutes during the day and every 30 minutes from midnight to 05:00, takes seven minutes and costs €4.50 per car. Pay the assistant from the window.
Can you walk to Sveti Stefan islet? Not as uninvited. The islet is a closed tourist property. You can swim and sunbathe at Miločer Beach immediately to the north, which is public and free, and that’s where the postcard view of the causeway lives.
Is it safe to drive in Lovćen for a beginner driver? Yes, if you have patience. Twenty-five hairpin bends on the western climb, one car wide in places, but well paved and signposted. Put it in third gear, yield uphill and do it before the light goes out.
Where should I base myself if I only have two nights? Perast for one night, Budva for the second. You’ll see the bay, the ferry crossing, the view of Lovćen from the coast, and Sveti Stefan from the Miločer viewpoint, in that order.
Closing note
The road trip to Sveti Stefan is short, scenic, and totally doable in a long weekend. The mistakes I made on my first loop—chasing the last ferry, ignoring the dead zone map, doing Lovćen after lunch instead of after breakfast—are the ones it took me a second trip to correct. Get those three right and the rest of the route will take care of itself.
Sometimes it’s worth going back to simpler loops.
