Podgorica Airport is a single small terminal on the plain at Golubovci, 12 km south of the capital and almost exactly in the middle of Montenegro. Collect your car on arrival and you are twenty-five minutes from Lake Skadar, about an hour from Ostrog Monastery and the beaches at Budva, under two hours from the Bay of Kotor, and just over two from the Tara canyon bridge in the north.
Podgorica Airport is a single small terminal on the plain at Golubovci, 12 km south of the capital and almost exactly in the middle of Montenegro. Collect your car on arrival and you are twenty-five minutes from Lake Skadar, about an hour from Ostrog Monastery and the beaches at Budva, under two hours from the Bay of Kotor, and just over two from the Tara canyon bridge in the north.
Podgorica car hire: debit card, not credit card
You can rent without a credit card. A refundable security deposit is taken on your debit card at pick-up and released after return; the amount is on each car before you book.
Deposit and excess shown up front
Each car lists its insurance options, its excess and the refundable debit-card deposit before you book, so nothing about the cover is a surprise at the desk.
No airport surcharge
Direct prices from Montenegrin partners. What you book is what you pay at pick-up, with no desk fee bolted on at the terminal.
The middle of the country
Tivat and Dubrovnik put you at one end of Montenegro. From Podgorica the lake, the coast, Ostrog and the northern mountains are all within two hours, so no day trip is a long one.
Built for a late landing
Add your flight number at booking and the desk works to the real landing time, not the time on the voucher.
The plain around the airport is easy to drive straight past, but a national-park lake, a river waterfall and a wine cellar in an old aircraft hangar are all within half an hour.
The largest lake in the Balkans, a national park of reed beds, water lilies and pelicans shared with Albania. Boats leave from the stone bridge at Virpazar for the island monasteries; the village wine cellars serve the local vranac.
A broad, low waterfall where the Cijevna river drops over a rock shelf east of the city, with a restaurant terrace beside it. It is at its fullest in spring and after heavy rain, and can run almost dry in late summer.
A former military aircraft hangar tunnelled into a hill on the vineyard plain next to the airport, now a cellar of oak barrels belonging to the Plantaže winery. Tours and tastings run by booking.
The Ottoman quarter of Stara Varoš with its clock tower and the bridges over the Morača and Ribnica, then the ruins of Doclea, the Roman town the city grew from, just to the north-west.
From the airport Montenegro opens four ways: up to the cliff monastery, over Lovćen to Kotor, through the tunnel to the beaches, and north into the canyons.
about 1h15 one way
A white monastery built into a sheer cliff face above the Bjelopavlići plain, the most visited pilgrimage site in Montenegro. The last stretch is narrow and steep; park at the lower monastery if the upper car park is full, and dress with shoulders and knees covered.
about 50 min to Cetinje
To the old royal capital of Cetinje, up to Njegoš's mausoleum on the summit of Lovćen, then down the famous serpentine of 25 hairpins to Kotor. Allow the whole day and drive the serpentine downhill, in daylight.
about 1h15 to Budva
Through the Sozina tunnel and along the coast past Petrovac to Sveti Stefan, the island village joined to the shore by a sandbar, then on to Budva's walled old town and beaches. In July and August, leave early to beat the coast-road queues.
about 2h15 one way
North on the motorway to Mateševo, through Kolašin and past the Biogradska Gora forest to the Đurđevića Tara bridge, about 170 m above the Tara canyon. Fill up before you leave the motorway; fuel is sparse in the mountains.
Headlights on before you leave
Dipped headlights are compulsory day and night, all year. Switch them on in the car park; it is one of the first things police check.
Keep change for the Sozina tunnel
The quickest way to Bar, Petrovac and Sveti Stefan is the Sozina tunnel, which charges a few euros at a booth. The road over the mountains via Cetinje to Budva is toll-free but slower.
Give way on the narrow mountain roads
The upper road to Ostrog and the Kotor serpentine are barely wider than one car. Pull into a passing place when you meet a bus, and sound the horn before blind bends.
Avoid the coast road at midday in summer
Between Budva and Kotor the coast road crawls in July and August. Set off before nine, or reach Kotor over Lovćen and come back along the coast in the evening.
Winter equipment for the north
From mid-November to the end of March, winter tyres or chains are required on mountain roads. Check what the car carries before heading to Kolašin, Žabljak or Cetinje.
Ask before crossing a border
Dubrovnik, Shkodër and Trebinje are all within reach, but each crossing needs the partner's written permission and the right insurance papers. Arrange it at booking, not at the frontier.
Yes – you rent with a debit card. A refundable security deposit is taken on that debit card at pick-up and released after you return the car. Its amount is shown on each car before you book, so you know exactly what will be held.
It depends on the car and the cover you choose, and it is shown on each car before you book. It is held on your debit card at pick-up and released after you return the car; your bank may take a few working days to show it.
Podgorica Airport has one small passenger terminal, so there is nothing to choose and little distance to walk. Your voucher names the exact meeting point and your pick-up time.
The car is held for an hour past your booked pick-up time, within the station's opening hours. Give us your flight number when you book and the desk can follow the actual arrival rather than the time on the voucher.
About 1h15 to Budva through the Sozina tunnel, which charges a small toll, and about 1h45 to Kotor. In July and August add time for the coast road between Budva and Kotor, which slows to a crawl at midday.
Only with the partner's written permission, which usually carries a cross-border fee. Dubrovnik is about three hours with the border, and Shkodër in Albania about 1h15. Ask before you book, because crossing without permission can leave you uninsured.
The main roads are good and quiet outside summer. The mountain roads are narrow, with hairpins and sheer drops, and some local drivers overtake hard. Keep right on blind bends, keep the headlights on, and leave plenty of time.
Twenty-one, with at least a year of driving behind you. Some vehicle categories ask for more; each car shows its minimum next to the deposit before you book.
Podgorica Airport (TGD)
Book in minutes with a debit card, see the deposit on each car before you choose, and collect at the terminal when you land.
