3 days in Plav and Gusinje: Prokletije in summer

Start in town: the National Tourism Organisation dates Redžepagić tower and the Old Mosque in Ribare to the 15th century, and the two stand about 200 m apart. Plav Lake, below the town, is the largest glacial lake in Montenegro: 1.99 km² at 906 m and 9.1 m deep at most. The Ljuča feeds it and the Lim leaves it, at the start of a 220 km course to the Drina. The lake, the Ljuča and the first 4 km of the Lim form the same organisation's Plav fly-fishing zone, with grayling, brown trout, huchen, lake trout, pike, chub and nase, fished with a daily permit from the local club; fishing on the lake is closed from 1 October to 1 April and on the Ljuča from 1 October to 1 May except two stretches, and huchen and pike must be released until 1 April 2029 (fishing order of 2026).

Then south-west to Gusinje, a municipality again since February 2014 after a consultative referendum (it had been abolished in 1953), with 1,877 residents in the settlement in 2023. The National Tourism Organisation points to the Vizier's mosque (17th century) and to the Orthodox church of St George and the Catholic church of St Anthony standing on one street; the town's summer festival, Gusinjsko ljeto, ran from 13 July to 5 August in 2025. Ali Pasha's Springs (Ali-pašini izvori) are in Gusinje municipality, not Plav: karst springs at 925 m at the foot of Vezirova brada, which the Gusinje tourist board calls the largest permanent karst spring in Montenegro. The board puts them a kilometre from Gusinje and the national organisation 1.5 km from the Vizier's mosque; by road it is 2.2 km. The water is very cold and flows strongest in spring; it runs into the Vruja, which meets the Grnčar to form the Ljuča and so reaches Plav Lake. Local belief holds that the water keeps you young and that marriages made here last; the tourism organisation adds that vows are often taken at the springs, once 30 weddings in a single day, and that thousands gather here at the end of August. It also names other springs nearby, Savino oko, Bajrovića vrelo and Dragija, and the 15 m Skakavica waterfall at the entrance to the Grlja canyon.

Back through Gusinje and the village of Dolja to the Grebaje valley, a glacial valley at about 1,100 m, the most visited part of Prokletije National Park and the main starting point for mountaineering and climbing, with the Karanfili rising straight above it. From Gusinje the road is asphalt for about 6.9 km, then about 1.5 km of gravel. The valley's checkpoint is open all year, and entry is EUR 3 per person per day. The recommended loop, from Grebaje via Volušnica and Popadija back to Grebaje, is 10.2 km, graded medium, about 5 h 30. It starts at the Karanfil hut and climbs via point 1402 and the junction for Karaula (1,570 m) to the Volušnica katun, past the carved slab known as the Great Mother of Prokletije (Magna Mater) and a waterfall, to Popadija (2,056 m); it then follows Talijanka (2,057 m) and Volušnica, also called Maja e Can (1,879 m), before dropping back to the hut. Fill your bottles at Suljova česma, a little below the Karanfil hut: it is the last drinking water in the valley. Start early: there is no mobile signal in the park and snow is possible even in summer. The valley floor itself is easy walking if you want a shorter day.

From Plav to Babino polje, the hamlet with the Hrid mountain hut, for Hridsko jezero, a glacial lake at 1,970 m near the Albanian border and one of the park's most visited sites. The park lists the trail as 3.1 km, graded easy, about 1 h, a linear trail reached from the direction of Plav; the National Tourism Organisation lists the stretch from Babino polje to the lake among its easy walks. Ask at the Hrid hut in Babino polje about the start of the trail and the road beyond. This is a second park day, so a second EUR 3 ticket; the park opened a seasonal ticket checkpoint at Hridska krivina in 2025. The lake lies inside the Hridsko jezero special nature reserve: its surface varies between 33,000 and 36,000 m², it is about 5 m deep and its outflow is intermittent. The national organisation calls it the Lake of Happiness: wishes made on the shore are said to come true, and jewellery can be seen on the bottom. For a longer day, the park names a separate circuit, from Babino polje via Bajrovića katun, Hridsko jezero, karaula Bjelaja, Tromeđa and Ćafa Bogićes back to Babino polje, without a length; go with a licensed guide, as the tourism organisation recommends.

With a fourth day: Visitor, 2,210 m in the official survey table, is the mountain directly above Plav, outside the national park, with the glacial Visitorsko jezero. The National Tourism Organisation names it among the mountains hiked from June to the end of October.