Nestled in a shallow bowl surrounded by clipped woods and frozen limestone peaks, CETINJE, 30km west of Podgorica, is the spiritual heart of the country. Once the royal capital of Montenegro, it also withstood repeated Turkish assaults over the centuries — thus the town exerts a peculiarly romantic hold over many Montenegrins.
Travelling in the 1930s, Canadian journalist Lovatt Edwards described Cetinje as "sleepy and undistinguished, a city of pensioners" - and whilst this simple mountain town of around twenty thousand inhabitants retains a languid, almost timeless air,
Consuming the greater part of Lake Skadar National Park, the second largest of the country's four designated parks, Lake Skadar (Skadarsko jezero), some 25km south of Podgorica, is the most substantial body of water in the Balkan peninsula. Bordered to the east by Albania (to which a third of the lake belongs), and enclosed on three sides by bare-topped karst mountains, Lake Skadar maintains an eerie, almost magical presence; timeworn villages and monasteries dot the lakeshore,
Backing onto a magnificent crescent-shaped bay some 8km south of Sveti Stefan, PETROVAC is one of the coast's more laid-back and stylish resorts. Unblemished by unsightly hotels or other high-rises, it retains a tranquil air absent from many of the other resorts along this stretch of coast. A good time to be here is for the Petrovac Jazz Festival at the end of August, a terrific three-day gathering featuring international-class acts playing on stages on the beach and by the fortress. Within striking distance of Petrovac is the lovely Gradište Monastery, which looks out over the expansive Buljarica beach, also an important birding habitat.
The major resort in Montenegro, BUDVA is the coast's star turn. During the summer it's jam-packed with tourists, drawn to the town's fine array of beaches and associated watersports on offer, as well as its nightlife, which is the most pulsating anywhere along the coast. There is culture here, too, with churches and museums spread throughout the confines of the delightful Old Town, almost entirely rebuilt from the rubble of the 1979 earthquake . Moreover, the town's plentiful supply of accommodation and excellent bus links make it a convenient base for exploring this stretch of the coast.