The Mala Rijeka Viaduct and the Rest of the Rail Route: What You'll Actually See

If you've read anything about the Belgrade-Bar railway, you've almost certainly seen the Mala Rijeka Viaduct mentioned. It's the single most photographed structure on the whole line, and for good reason.

What the viaduct actually is

The Mala Rijeka Viaduct is a railway bridge on the Montenegrin section of the line, roughly 500 meters long, and reportedly around 200 meters above the river it crosses at its highest point. When it was completed in the 1970s, it was, by most accounts, the highest railway viaduct in the world, a record it's said to have held for a couple of decades before eventually being surpassed elsewhere. Whether it's still described as "the highest" or "one of the highest" varies depending on the source, so treat the exact ranking loosely rather than as a fixed fact, and check Wikipedia or an engineering reference if you want the precise current standing.

What isn't in dispute is that it's an enormous piece of engineering for its era, built through genuinely difficult mountain terrain, and it's a striking thing to cross by train, whether you're looking straight down at the gorge below or watching it approach from a distance as the track curves toward it.

Where it sits on the route

The viaduct is located on the Montenegrin stretch of the line, in the mountainous terrain the railway has to cross to get from the interior down toward the coast. It's one landmark among many on a route that includes several hundred bridges and a similarly large number of tunnels over its roughly 300 mile length, but it's the one that shows up on postcards and travel blogs more than any other.

What else to watch for on the ride

The viaduct gets the headlines, but the rest of the route earns its reputation too. Expect long stretches of tunnel, sometimes back to back with barely a glimpse of daylight in between, interspersed with dramatic river gorges and mountain valleys opening up outside the window. As the train works its way from the Montenegrin interior down toward Bar, the landscape shifts from mountain terrain to a first, often unexpected, glimpse of the Adriatic before the final descent into town.

For the fuller picture of the whole journey, timing, comfort, what to bring, see The Belgrade to Bar Railway: Riding One of Europe's Great Scenic Train Lines.

Getting a good view

If seeing the viaduct clearly is a priority, a window seat is essential, and depending on which side of the train you're on, your view of the structure itself (versus the gorge it crosses) will differ. There's no universally agreed "best side" that we've found consistently reported, so this is more about being ready with your camera in general on the Montenegrin stretch of the line than optimizing for one particular seat.

After the viaduct: arriving in Bar

Once the train clears the mountain sections, it's a more straightforward run down to the coast and into Bar's station. If you're planning that last leg, From Bar Train Station to Your Hotel: A Taxi Guide covers exactly how to get from the platform to your accommodation.

For the full arrival picture beyond just the railway, our pillar guide to arriving in Bar covers the ferry, the bus station, cruise calls, and Marina Bar too. And when you're ready to head into town, you can book through the Greencar.me Taxi app: Google Play or the App Store.