Montenegro – Trebinje to Niksic mountain crossing

Trebinje, B&H to Niksic, Montenegro mountain crossing

Loved this drive across snowy mountains for my Trebinje to Niksic mountain crossing between Bosnia and Montenegro. At times I was the only car in sight on the really well maintained and safe mountain roads – just remember to keep an eye on the road as the views can be amazing but distracting. I took longer than expected as I kept stopping to take in another snowy mountain view and the final drop down from the mountains into the little city of Niksic was welcome after the mountain scenery.

Trebinje to Niksic mountain crossing

I visited here as part of my 3 week road trip I did to see as parts of Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina by hire car from Podgorica, Montenegro.

This was combined with crossing the border into Croatia and also Bosnia Herzegovina, eventually returning to where it all started.

See below for the other destinations on this trip. Travelling by car between these places was actually one of the best car trips I have done and so easy. Road conditions were good, traffic light but do remember to get the necessary car insurance upgrade from the hire company to take it across the borders.

Check beforehand if they permit it, tell them and get the stamps etc put on the documents as all border police in the Balkans do check these documents.

Montenegro – Balkans car trip info

Podgorica, Montenegro

Budva, Montenegro

Kotor city, Montenegro

Kotor bay area, Montenegro

Herceg Novi, Montenegro

Adriatic coastline, Croatia

Dubrovnik, Croatia

Trebinje, Bosnia Herzegovina

Trebinje to Niksic mountain crossing and beyond

I was now on my penultimate day of my near three week road trip through Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, and what a trip it had been.

The route would now take me from my overnight stopover in the quaint little B&H town of Trebinje – get there if you can. What it lacks in size, it makes up in charm and atmosphere.

My rented car was parked in the hotel’s large carpark and my next route started on the main road right outside the hotel. I could even see from the hotel where I was heading – yep straight into the mountains facing me!

This would take me along the valley of the Trebisnjica River which flowed through Trebinje in the opposite direction.

I knew that the ancient bridge that presently sits near the town centre, was actually originally located here further up river. It was moved downstream when the hydroelectric power station was built as a dam on this river.

There was no way they were going to let this historic bridge be submerged, so they carefully removed it and transported it to its new location in the city for safe keeping.

The dam had formed a enlargened river-gorge of water, but despite my best efforts I could not find a place to pull over to get a few shots of the dam and lake itself.

The route was gradually climbing into the mountains and I was again surprised and somewhat relieved that it was in a good state of repair and felt quite safe.

Bosnia-Herzegovina mountains

Once I was a good 10 km out of the town the mountains loomed into view. They wre dark brown, also black in places and often heavily forested with winter brown trees.

The ascent started to become quite steep in places and gradually the dark brown gave way to a dusting of white snow on the higher hillsides. By the time another upward 10 km had been achieved the snow had well and truly settled on the slopes. The air became colder to the point that I had to put up my window to stop the semi-freezing draught flowing into the car.

It was fascinating how the climate had changed from the brown and urban, to the dark and craggy to the now white and slightly misty panorama of the mountain summits.

I managed to pull the car over at a few viewpoints and safely take some pics of the surrounding scenery. This Trebinje to Niksic mountain crossing was going well so far and I was quite enjoying the panoramic views.

It was eerily quiet and peaceful, just the sound of crunching snow underfoot as I walked nearer the edges to get a good view. It felt that I was at the summit of the pass through the mountains as I could see no mountains higher nearby and the snow was pretty much covering most of the slopes

It did cross my mind that I hoped the car started after every stop as if I breakdown here there was nothing for miles. Even while I took 10 mins to take a series of photos I was lucky if even one other vehicle passed me while I was stationary.

A little further along and I came to the border crossing…. This could be interesting.

Border crossing

At first I thought they would question why I was in this remote mountain area and even as I stopped at the border checkpoint I was aware that I was the only vehicle there. The border guard smiled cheerily and asked for my papers and he seemed pleased that at last someone was going through the check point. Maybe I had actually lightened his day!

The checks took about 2 mins, passport stamped, car papers handed back and I got an ” Enjoy your trip” and a smile from the guard as he waved me onward.

WOW, I had heard reports that this crossing was slow to get across due to heavy traffic, temperamental guards and not an easy route.

So far all the opposite and I was still impressed at how snow-clear the roads were.  The surrounding landscape was now full with heavy snowfalls and in areas it was several centimetres thick. However they had keep the road completely clear and made the route so passible and safe.

Once over the border crossing the route started to flatten out and I was obviously heading downwards. Again the road was still well maintained and I just knew it was coming out of the mountain range. I could see the lower slopes ahead of me for miles.

As I turned one large and long corner in the slopes suddenly a view of lakes came into view ahead of me.

There was a large stop off point here – clearly so many people want to stop and look/take photos of the sub mountain lakes and I took that opportunity too.

Lake Slano in the pic and another one nearby, are both man-made lakes formed by damming rivers. It has a large and several smaller islands in the lake  and its shoreline is untouched by any development. It is apparently, famously used by migratory birds as a stop-off point. Not many birds today in February and the slightly hazy conditions stopped me from getting a better picture.

From here it was a fairly straight and easy drive down to my next port of call.

Niksic

As my route took me through (or past, if I used the new bypass road) Niksic, I planned a little stop-off.

I reckoned that I might need a rest after climbing, and navigating the curvy mountain road and then the long descent down. My map told me that it should take about 1 hour 10 mins from Trebinje to Niksic. Why bypass a town and see nothing of it. Even if I only saw one place, it would add something into the interest of the route.

It was also the halfway point on my trip to my final destination of Podgorica where I would rest the night at an out of town hotel nearer the airport. In the morning I had  a few hours to also re-see something of Podgorica, as I really liked it the first time round. I would then be ready to drop the car off at the airport car hire desk and take my evening flight back to London.

So I headed into Niksic for a short detour. This detour was literally off the main road, then onto a straight city road and then directly to the plaza near the only monument I wanted to see here.

It was so easy to navigate as the city was planned in 1883 as a half spider’s web design of streets . All streets pretty much radiate from the central plaza I was headed for. Click here for a link to read up more on Niksic

The Cathedral Church of St Basil of Ostrog, Niksic, Montenegro

This small Cathedral is actually set in the grounds of an extensive city park of well maintained trees and gravel walkways.

It was built in the 19th Century and is quite plain on the outside but in beautiful proportions. There is an extensive car park below its mound and access to the Cathedral is via a flight of steps, up its majestic mound.

From the vantage point at the top there is a view over the surrounding area of the town. The view is not idyllic as the town is in the most heavily industrialised area of Montenegro. Mines, mills steelworks, factories and processing plants are in abundance here. The drive to here shows it is very commercialised and factory driven,

The trees on the mount gave it plenty of shade from the now bright and warming sun and a cool breeze wafted over the area to refresh me, after the warming exercise of ascending the large flight of steps!

I just had to take in the fact that I had gone from the coolish but fresh and clear air conditions of Trebinje, through the very cold, hazy and snow-laden mountains of the border crossing and was now standing in the somewhat warm and crisp weather conditions of Niksic. All this in one day – almost felt as if I had paseed through three of the four seasons of the year in a 7 hour period.  I had gone from Autumn to Winter to Spring very quickly!

The interior was very calming and clearly well maintained. The usual iconography was there but the dominant colours of white walls with red and gold adornments gave it an organised feel.

The altarpiece in its gold and brown colours of the saints with the again white plainness of the walls. gave a creative yet simple aspect to the design.

At one point I was the only person in the Cathedral and I was able to wander everywhere and take in the design of the interior. It was one of the simplest yet for me most creative churches I had been inside in a while

Leaving Niksic, I realised that I was now at the end of my Balkans road trip. A night in Podgorica lie ahead of me in a different hotel to the one I originally stayed in.

This one was nearer the airport and I was looking forward to an early night and my first lay in, in the morning, of my whole trip.

My evening flight was already confirmed and I was checked in – London awaits!

I had big concerns when I booked this as a road trip with a hire car. I was worried about the car cost, the road conditions, ease of finding accommodation with free parking and the standard of other roads user’s driving. In the end none of these were an issue. In fact, if anything, they were complete non-events and I would readily do the same again.

Using a car gave me enormous flexibility and convenience that I would never have gotten otherwise. I have read of backpackers successfully taking buses between towns.  Although more than one mentioned how the bus stations were often not in the centre of town or near the hotel. That then required a long awkward walk to get there.

I would definitely recommend a car – and at less than £100 for car and petrol in total for my near 3 weeks, it was a bargain as far as I’m, concerned.

Trebinje to Niksic mountain crossing

Feb 2018