Bar to Cetinje: Montenegro's Old Royal Capital

Cetinje doesn't get nearly the visitor numbers the coast does, and that's part of what makes it worth the trip. Montenegro's former royal capital, tucked into a valley in the mountains behind Kotor and Budva, it's a small, unhurried town that still carries the weight of having once been the seat of a kingdom.

The drive

It's around 50 to 55 kilometers from Bar to Cetinje, and while the straight-line distance is modest, the road climbs and winds through the mountains to get there, so figure on somewhere around an hour to an hour and a quarter rather than judging it purely on distance. The route typically runs up through the hills behind the coast, a genuinely scenic climb with views back down toward the sea opening up as you gain elevation.

Why it's called the Old Royal Capital

Cetinje was the capital of the Kingdom of Montenegro from the time Prince Nikola I declared himself king in 1910 until Montenegro was absorbed into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes after the First World War. It's kept the honorary title of Old Royal Capital ever since, and the town still has the look of a place built to punch above its actual size, small but formal, with a cluster of former foreign legation buildings that once housed embassies from across Europe, an unusually grand diplomatic footprint for such a modest town.

King Nikola's Palace, built between 1863 and 1867, is one of the main draws, a relatively understated building on the outside that served as the royal family's residence for more than fifty years and is now a museum under Montenegro's National Museum. Cetinje Monastery, the spiritual center of Montenegro's Orthodox church for centuries, is another key stop, holding some of the country's most significant religious relics.

The town itself is compact and walkable, low stone buildings and quiet streets that feel a world away from the coast despite being less than an hour's drive from it. It's a good half-day trip on its own, or a natural pairing if you're also headed up into Lovćen National Park, which sits close by in the same mountain range and shares a good part of the same road.

What it costs

Cetinje runs somewhere around €65 to €75 one way under the intercity tariff, with the exact fare confirmed by the meter or the app's estimate at time of booking.

Booking

Book through the Greencar.me Taxi app or the App Store, with pickup starting inside Bar municipality. Cetinje falls outside our licensed zone, so a return trip from there would need a locally licensed taxi.

If history and old capitals are what draw you, our quick guide to matching a day trip to your travel style has more suggestions in the same vein, and the day trips overview covers everything else in this series.