The Mountains of Montenegro - A Walker’s and Trekker’s Guide

New guide to this fast-developing region with high mountain walking up to 2500m, great ridges, well-maintained trails, spectacular scenery and friendly people. Includes easier and harder routes throughout the country, and moderate to extensive treks.

View Sample Route Map

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Stage 1: Kameno – Vratlo Hut

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Time     2hrs
Distance     14km
Maximum altitude     1175m (Vratlo pass)
Total ascent/descent     600m/-25m
Rating     easy
Maps     see sketch map 1

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A short, easy stage, initially following an asphalted road from the village of Kameno for about 10km, ascending to Vratlo hut along the old Austro-Hungarian packhorse route.

From the bus stop in Kameno turn right and follow the road up past the small shop and café. The wall of rock ahead of you is not Subra itself, but the Dobraštica ridge which forms the outer ramparts of the Orjen massif. The obvious cleft at the E end of this ridge is Vratlo pass. The road soon ascends through a series of hairpin bends (there are a few unmarked shortcuts, for the sharp-eyed). Ignore any side roads and continue for 1hr until you reach a road on your left to the Borići Hotel, at about 800m. Turn left, following the unsealed road round to the right from the hotel and continuing uphill. A marked shortcut takes you off the road where it swings round to the right; you soon begin following sections of the well-engineered packhorse track. This zigzags up to Vratlo pass (1175m), from where a trail to the left leads up onto the Dobraštica ridge (see Stage 3). Continue straight ahead, descending to reach Vratlo hut (1150m) in 5mins.

Water is available from the well behind the hut. However, if the hut is locked, the well will also be padlocked, in which case the nearest water is from a well by one of the summer cottages, about 20mins along the onward route from the hut (see Stage 2). The best spots for camping are a little further along the trail towards Subra (Stage 2). Don’t pitch a tent in any of the walled enclosures, where locals grow crops.