The hook
A high massif of jagged peaks and glacial lakes above one of the deepest river canyons on earth, where the Tara has cut more than a kilometre down through the mountains.
01Why it's worth it
The north of Montenegro is a different country from its coast: the Durmitor massif is a rugged national park of limestone peaks, around eighteen glacial lakes the locals call "mountain eyes," and forests of black pine, centred on the still, dark Black Lake below the summits. Cutting through the range is the Tara River Canyon, among the deepest river canyons in the world and the deepest in Europe, spanned by a graceful 1930s concrete arch bridge and run by rafts through its rapids in summer. It is a place for walking, swimming in cold lakes, and rafting rather than sightseeing from a car, and it stays far quieter than the crowded Adriatic. Winter buries it in snow and turns the little town of Žabljak into a ski base.
02How to experience it
Base at Žabljak, walk the loop around the Black Lake and higher into the peaks, and raft the Tara canyon in summer for the view up its walls. Cross the Đurđevića Tara bridge for the canyon view. Come in the warm months; the park closes down under snow.