These wild journeys: Van Life in Montenegro

They are Jack and Jo, two nature-obsessed explorers and their canine co-pilot Frank. They are travelling the world in their tiny home on wheels, sharing videos, blogs, photos and more from their wild journeys to beautiful places, to help inspire people to live smaller, greener and outdoors.

Planning a road trip to the Balkans, and curious to know whether you should visit Montenegro? Are you wondering what Vanlife in Montenegro is like? Or do you want to find out why we think the best way to travel around Montenegro is by campervan? Well, look no further.

This compact country packs more than a punch when it comes to epic park-ups, views, cultural towns, cities and incredible views.

In this blog we want to share our experiences with you – giving you the topline info you need to know before you travel, as well as share some ideas of things to see and do here. Plus, some extra info if you are like us, vegans on the road.

Campervan travel in Montenegro – VanLife in Montenegro:

Wild/Free camping

Wild / Free camping is not, officially, allowed in Montenegro. But plenty of people, including experts at Caravanya vouch that "if you behave inconspicuously and stay away from tourist areas and beaches, the authorities and residents will usually turn a blind eye."

We stayed on a number of free parking spots, found through Park4Night, and we did not experience any issues whatsoever. As usual, it's easier to stay in scenic spots in the low or shoulder season, than it would be in the peak season. In the week and a bit that we visited here, we did a mixture of free/wild camping. It felt like it was tolerated, provided you didn't overstay your welcome and remained discreet. And of course, you spend your money in the local area!

Campsites

Montenegro is slowly becoming a popular place to visit in a campervan, with campsites and businesses catering to the growing number of campers and campervans.

While we free camped for the majority of our visit, campsites weren't too badly priced; in fact our favourite spot of the whole week was AutoKamp Dule, which was 15 euros, but had THIS view of the Bay of Kotor 

Other spots we stayed on included a city view of Ulcinj (in peak season a man in the car park charges 5 Euros, we stayed for free!), a beach spot by Petrovac, as well as an empty car park close to Lovcen National Park. All are available on Park4Night – if you drop us a DM on Instagram, we can share them with you

What are the roads like?

Fine to drive, and beyond scenic. In fact, Montenegro has a number of Scenic Highways that cross up and down the country, and are clearly signposted, and are a trip highlight in and of themselves!
The roads are in really good condition, and the driving is a lot more chilled out than we experienced in Albania

Where can I get water?

We used campsites to fill up safe drinking water. If you're staying the night, this is included, but we also paid 5 euros to fill up, and to also empty our black and grey water half way through our trip via a campsite we were passing by.

What about gas?

We used a refillable LPG system, and pretty much all petrol stations supplied LPG.

What do I need to enter the country with my own vehicle?

We crossed the border twice into Montenegro, and both times they asked for our V5 registration document. So make sure you have that to hand!

Insurance

We contacted our insurance provider before we visited and we were told that we were not covered to drive in Montenegro under our current policy. After a bit of confusion at the gates with border insurance – who told us we were fine and didn't need insurance as the country is part of the greencard membership in Europe, we were able to buy insurance for our vehicle for 15 euros for 15 days!

We are not 100% on whether we needed this insurance, or indeed, if it actually covered us, so please don't take our word for it. Speak with your insurer first! 

A boat trip on the Bay of Kotor and other places find on the blog thesewildjourneys link