White Water Rafting in Montenegro

Hi all!

So on August 6th, Caroline and I caught a ferry for the first time, from Bari to Bar in Montenegro.

Our ferry ticket was actually a receipt which we didn't realise, and it didn't list what dock the ferry would be leaving from, so when we arrived to the location, we had no idea where to go or what to do.

Our ferry was scheduled to depart at 7pm and we arrived at 5pm to the address on the ticket. No docks to be seen. We went to the nearest building in hope to find someone who can help us but to no luck. We managed to get some internet connection and it turns out that we needed to go by bus 30 minutes away from the dock to receive a proper ticket and have our passports checked. We found a way into the fenced off area between the road and dock, and spoke to the guy on guard at the fence. He said the bus stop is a 5 minutes walk away, just wait for a bus to pull up and go that way.

So we head on over to the bus stop with our luggage and wait. And wait. And wait...

It becomes 6pm and finally a bus pulls up. Everyone is at the stop now and we all pile onto the bus. Completely full, it takes off. 30 minutes later, we get to the check in section. We hop out and line up for passport check. The service is super slow, unorganised and overall a shocking experience. It's now 7pm. We make it onto the next bus back to the ferry docks and arrive at 7:30pm. We're sweating, thinking we won't be let on because we're late but we make it and they are still boarding thankfully.

We head up the stairs and take a much needed seat.

The ferry trip was 10 hours long and we didn't book a bed, our ticket was just for the standing area so we knew this was going to be a long and draining trip. We found a spot on the ground out of the way, and set up a makeshift space to lie down. It was very uncomfortable and warm but it was better than nothing. I think I got like 2 hours of sleep out of it. The food was not included either, and we had to take cash out to pay for everything. The conversion rate was terrible, and the tax rate for taking money out was also high. It had to be done, so there was no arguing with it. The food was pretty well priced luckily, managing to score a whole pizza for around $10 AUD.

We finally arrive into Bar and it was quite a lovely view to come in on, with the morning light just coming up over the mountains.

That all changed when we docked though. Once we got out of the port, there was no transport close by into the 'city' other than taxis and they charge quite a bit. We have the wrong currency on us anyway since the ferry ATMs gave out Croatian dollars instead of Euro because the ferry company is Croatian.

There were no ATMs near us and we didn't want to get a taxi anyway, because of the price. There are also no bus stations near us. The closest one was a 40 minute walk which was so stupid, but we had to hike it anyway. We eventually arrive to the bus station, which is so secluded. We go to pay for a ticket but it turns out they only except cash, like majority of places here we came to find out. They said the shops have ATMs but I had no idea where they were. I ask the taxi guy out the front, and he insisted to drive me because it was far. I agreed and it was like a 2 minute drive away. I went in, took some cash out, went back to the taxi and he drove us back to the bus stop. I paid him like $10 AUD and then paid for the bus tickets which were pretty expensive. The bus wasn't for another hour and a half, which made us mad, but again, we couldn't do anything about it. We grab a seat and some food from the little canteen they had here at the bus stop, and waited.

The bus arrived and we put our luggage in, but not before paying the luggage fee (like, what the hell). Everything is not going too well so far. We pay him and get on the bus, which is old, run down and small, with no air-con. Finally we were on our way to Tivat. Quite a fair hike from Bar, it took like 2-3 hours to get here because of the mountains we had to make our way around.

We get to Tivat bus stop, and then need to get another bus into the city where we've booked an Airbnb for 3 days.

Another waiting game for a bus. We finally arrive into the area we need to be at. And the hunt for the house begins.

We saved the address of the house in our phone, so we followed the directions there. The area the Airbnb is located in, is all apartment blocks stacked on each other. We looked for about 15 minutes for the right building number and start to hear faint calls. We look up and see Branka, our host. She lets us in to the building and we make our way up to the floor.

Branka is a local Montenegrin, and speaks pretty good English. It was still hard to understand her and hold a conversation though. She was very welcoming and we spoke about our trip with her. She lives alone, and has no family in Montenegro, so we gathered she was a little lonely, which would explain why she always checked up on us and didn't really give us our own space. Though, we knew she was just doing her best to care for us.

Anyway, the area we were staying in was pretty average, but we had a bay not too far from us which was nice. We didn't do much the first night, just relax a bit after the hectic trip over.

The next day we were up early for our White Water Rafting booking and made our way over to the bus pickup point. The bus took us to Kotor where we met the rest of the group at the companies head office and then boarded another bus to where we'd setup for the rafting.

The drive up was crazy! we had a few stops on the way and our guide gave us the history of each place we passed. He was awesome, and very easy to talk to. So many good scenic spots we got to see. A 3 or so hour drive later and we arrived to the little camp site where we had some breakfast and got our water gear on. We loaded the rafts on the top of the vans and went the rest of the way up the swerving road to our starting point for the rafting.

There was a large group of us, 2 bus loads. On our bus we had about 15 people and we broke into 2 groups as each raft could only sit 8 people. We had a really fun group. 2 couples from the U.K and a mother and daughter from Spain I think. We got to the starting point and carried the rafts down to the water. Secured all loose items in a water proof bag and were given a brief demonstration on how to steer the raft. Once done, we all piled in. Our instructor had myself and the tattooed guy from U.K (forgotten his name) up the front to set the rhythm of rowing for the rest of the group.

We waded out and started our little experience.

White Water Rafting had to be one of the top highlights on this trip. It was my first time doing it and I can't think of a better group of people to do it with, or a better place. We rafted down Tara River and the conditions were phenomenal. It was 30 degrees, the water was crystal clear and so much lovely scenery around us. It wasn't as rough as I thought it would be but that was because of the season, being summer. If we had of booked in Spring we would have had much rougher and faster water. But I enjoyed it nonetheless. We had another 2 rafts near us and every time we got close to the one in front, we'd end up in a water fight. We got to a point in the river where our instructor told us to jump into the water. So we did it but he didn't tell us it was 12 degrees. It was so damn cold. We slowly got use to it and then he mentioned there was a peak on the left side of the river we could climb up and jump from into the water. We swam to the side and got up to the ledge which would have been 7 metres up, and jumped in. I took my gopro with me so I got some great shots of this experience. We reached a point where we had a break and the instructors had set up a small canteen where we had some beer and chocolate bars and mingled a bit.

After that we got back in and carried on down the rest of the river. We got some faster water which was heaps of fun, manoeuvring between some rocks and going down mini ledge drops.

We arrived to the end point and jumped out, pulling the raft to shore. Loaded it back on the van and drove back to the camp site. There, we showered and dried off, changing back into our clothes. They had lunch provided for us, so we ate and had a break, before jumping back on the bus for the 3 hour journey back to Tivat. Such a great experience doing this. Anyone who plans on going to Montenegro needs to experience White Water Rafting here.

The next day we took a trip into the city of Tivat with our host and she showed us around a little bit, then went and did her own thing. Once we were done with the city we went back and made our way to the bay of Tivat and had a swim. Lots of little families here and there was one guy here from Scotland. I had my goggles on and he asked if I could help him. His keys to the house he was staying at fell out of his pocket when he jumped in and he couldn't find them. I dived under but there was so much sea grass and seaweed at the bottom you couldn't see anything past it. He thanked me anyway.

After some time here, we went back to the apartment and started to pack as we were leaving the next day to Serbia.

Montenegro ended up being very different to how I thought it would be. It's quite a run down country, living in the past. Its buildings, cars, roads and way of living are very outdated. The country overall is not that wealthy so they can't update anything. We were told that to make anything in Montenegro, like structures or roads, takes a very long time because they don't have the resources or the money to buy the resources, so it's at a bit of a stand still with things. They rely heavily on the casino business.

We got a bus to Bar and got a train from there to Serbia which was one hectic trip, but I'll leave that for next week.

Thanks for having a read and see you next time!

Here are some bonus videos from Montenegro: