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The Port of Bar cargo and ferry terminal seen from Mount Vrsuta, Montenegro

Jul 12, 2026 · Greencar.me Taxi

Arriving in Bar, Montenegro: Ferry, Train, Bus, or Boat

Most guides to getting to Montenegro start and end with the airport. Fly into Podgorica or Tivat, grab a transfer, done. Fair enough, that's how most people arrive. But it's not how everyone arrives, and it's definitely not the most interesting way.

Bar happens to sit at the meeting point of four completely different ways into the country that have nothing to do with an airplane. There's a ferry that crosses the Adriatic from Italy and lands you right in the port. There's a railway, genuinely one of the more talked about train rides in Europe, that ends its run here after crossing half of Serbia and Montenegro on bridges and through tunnels. There's an intercity bus station that connects Bar to a long list of regional cities. And there's Marina Bar, sitting in the middle of town, for anyone who sails in rather than rolls in.

If you're arriving by any of these, this guide is the map. We'll walk through each route at a high level, then link out to a dedicated guide for the specifics: schedules to expect (loosely, because they change), what the arrival point actually looks like, and how to get from there to wherever you're actually staying.

We're a local taxi company, so full disclosure: we'd love it if you called us once you land. But even if you don't, this is a genuinely useful map of arrival options that most travel sites skip over in favor of flight info.

Why Bar, specifically

Bar isn't the biggest town on the Montenegrin coast, but it's the country's main seaport, which is exactly why so many non-flight routes converge here. It's the terminus of the only international railway that reaches the coast. It's the endpoint of the international ferry line to Italy. It has a real bus station with connections across the region. And its marina is one of the larger ones on the coast. If you've ever wondered why a fairly modest coastal town shows up so often in "how do I get to Montenegro" searches, this is why: it's a transport hub first and a beach town second, even if most visitors experience it the other way around.

If your trip is really centered on Bar municipality itself (the town, Sutomore, Čanj, Dobra Voda, Šušanj, Stari Bar, Virpazar, Utjeha), our guide to getting around Bar municipality by taxi covers each of those towns in depth. And if you're flying in through a Montenegrin or cross-border airport instead, start with our airport transfers guide, which also explains our pickup zone rules in detail. Worth reading regardless of how you arrive, since it applies to every pickup we do.

By ferry, from Italy

There's a seasonal ferry connection across the Adriatic between Bar and Bari, Italy, roughly 165 to 170 miles of open sea, historically run by Montenegro Lines (and in some years by other operators covering the same route). Crossings have generally run somewhere in the 8 to 9 hour range, though this varies by year, vessel, and season. It's not a year-round, fixed-schedule service, so always check current timetables before you build a trip around it.

For a lot of travelers coming from southern Italy, or anyone who'd rather not fly, or anyone bringing a car across, the ferry is a genuinely appealing option. You go to sleep in one country and wake up in another. We cover what to actually expect from the crossing, the port, and the arrival process in Arriving by Ferry from Bari, Italy: What to Know Before You Land, and how to get from the ferry terminal to your accommodation in From Bar Ferry Port to Your Hotel: A Taxi Guide. If you're still deciding between the boat and a flight, Ferry or Flight: Comparing Ways to Reach Montenegro from Italy lays out the real trade-offs.

By rail, from Belgrade

The Belgrade-Bar railway is one of those routes that shows up on "most scenic train journeys in Europe" lists fairly often, and for good reason. It runs close to 300 miles from Serbia's capital down through the mountains of Montenegro, crossing an enormous number of bridges and passing through tunnel after tunnel, before finally dropping down to sea level and ending at Bar's train station. The full run typically takes somewhere in the 10 to 12 hour range, depending on the service and current track conditions. This is a line where "on time" is a relative concept, so build in some slack.

The highlight most people talk about is the Mala Rijeka Viaduct, a rail bridge that was, at the time it was built, reportedly one of the highest railway viaducts in the world. We get into the full route and what you'll actually see out the window in The Belgrade to Bar Railway: Riding One of Europe's Great Scenic Train Lines and zoom in specifically on the viaduct and the rest of the dramatic stretch in The Mala Rijeka Viaduct and the Rest of the Rail Route. Once you roll into Bar's station, From Bar Train Station to Your Hotel: A Taxi Guide covers the last leg.

By bus, from the region

Bar's bus station sits on the edge of town and handles a genuinely long list of domestic and international connections: regional Montenegrin towns, plus routes toward Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and North Macedonia, run by a handful of different regional operators. It's a workhorse option, not glamorous, but reliable, cheap, and frequent compared to the ferry or the train.

Arriving by Intercity Bus: Bar's Bus Station Guide covers what the station is actually like and how to move on from there. If you're coming from a specific neighboring country and weighing bus against other overland options, Traveling to Bar Overland from Neighboring Countries is the broader picture.

By your own boat

If you're sailing or cruising into Bar rather than taking public transport, Marina Bar sits right in the middle of town, next to the town beach: one of the larger marinas on this stretch of coast. It's not something most visitors think about, but for boaters and yacht crews it's a real and common way to arrive. Bar Marina: A Land-Side Guide for Visiting Boaters and Crews covers what's around the marina and how to get into town or further afield once you've tied up.

Cruise ships also call here

Separate from the ferry and separate from Marina Bar, the Port of Bar receives cruise ship calls too, usually for a single day. If that's you, A Cruise Ship Day in Bar: Making the Most of a Short Port Call is built specifically around the tight timeline of a port call, and A Stopover Day in Bar: What to See Between Connections works for anyone with a few spare hours between any two forms of transport, not just cruise passengers.

Wherever you land, the taxi question is the same

However you arrive (ferry port, train station, bus station, marina, or cruise pier) the next question is usually the same: how do I actually get to where I'm staying? A quick reminder on how we work: we can pick you up anywhere inside Opština Bar municipality (Bar town, Sutomore, Čanj, Dobra Voda, Šušanj, Stari Bar, Virpazar, Utjeha) and take you anywhere from there, including outside the municipality. The full explanation of that zone and why it exists is in our airport transfers guide.

Fares run on the standard tariff structure we use everywhere: a boarding charge plus a per kilometer rate that depends on whether you're inside town or heading to the suburbs, with a different, elevated rate for longer intercity runs. We break the full pricing structure down in our earlier guides rather than repeating it in every post, but as a quick anchor: city rides start from a 2.00 EUR minimum at 1.45 EUR per km, suburb rides from a 5.00 EUR minimum at 1.10 EUR per km, plus a 1.00 EUR boarding charge.

A few more things worth knowing before your first ride:

You can book through the Greencar.me Taxi app, available on Google Play and the App Store, or just flag one down once you're in town. Either way, welcome to Bar, however you got here.