Lovćen National Park

Tickets and opening hours

The park ticket is sold at the checkpoints in use, Bjeloši and Krstac, and online at ulaznice.nparkovi.me; it covers the visitor centre at Ivanova korita and the educational trails. The mausoleum ticket is sold by the National Museum at the monument and also admits you to Njegoš's birth house in Njeguši.

The mausoleum is open daily 09:00-16:00 from 11 April to 15 November and closed from 16 November to 10 April. The park itself has no closing season. Park entry is free on 22 April, 21, 22 and 24 May, the second Sunday of June, 13 July and 31 July.

What to see

• Njegoš's Mausoleum on Jezerski vrh: decided in 1951 for the centenary of the poet-prince's death and built in 1974 to Ivan Meštrović's design, with granite caryatids and a vault mosaic of about 200,000 gilded tiles. A tunnel of 461 steps leads up from the car park. The summit is 1,657 m.
• The viewing platform behind the mausoleum, which looks over about two thirds of Montenegro, from the bay to the lake and the mountains of the north.
• Štirovnik (1,749 m), the highest point, with the endemic munika pine on its slopes and a bellflower found nowhere else, in rock crevices at 1,300-1,400 m. Forests cover 67% of the park (4,189 ha), almost all beech; about 200 bird species and 36 mammal species live here, among them the brown bear, the wolf and the wildcat.
• Ivanova korita: the visitor centre and park administration, with the Transfiguration church (protected since 1954), a 140 m barefoot path and an adventure park.
• Kuk (1,348 m) and Kraljevo počivalo: lookouts over the Bay of Kotor. Kraljevo počivalo also takes in Budva, Tivat, Herceg Novi and Tivat airport.
• The old road and serpentines from Kotor towards Lovćen: the Kotor serpentine viewpoint is on the way up.
• Njeguši, in the buffer zone: the birth houses of Njegoš and King Nikola at Erakovići, protected since 1949; the village gave the Petrović dynasty seven rulers.

Hikes and trails

The park maintains five marked mountain trails, partly on old Austro-Hungarian stone roads, and three marked mountain-bike loops.

• Staza vuka (Wolf trail): 6.8 km loop, 1 h 30 min, easy.
• Visitor centre to the mausoleum via the Ivanova korita spring, Blatišta and Mali Bostur: 4.8 km one way, 2 hours, medium.
• Kuk loop (Ivanova korita, Ljubin potok, Velji Bostur, Međuvršje, Studenac, Kuk, Dolovi): 14 km, about 4 hours, easy.
• Treštenički vrh (1,474 m) and Babina glava loop via Dolovi and Vjetreni mlin: 13 km, about 3 hours.
• Barefoot path by the visitor centre: about 140 m.

Of the three bike loops only the "Velika kružna tura oko Lovćena" is bike-only; the Lovćen cycling page has the detail. Bikes (€3 an hour) and snowshoes (€4 a day) are rented at Ivanova korita, and a park guide costs €40 for 4 hours or €80 for 8 hours. More routes on the hiking hub.

Rules

• Camping: the park has a defined camping area at Ivanova korita that is not yet developed; the price list charges €3 a day for a tent pitch and €5 for a fire at a designated place. Camping elsewhere is prohibited by the Law on National Parks.
• No fishing waters are listed for Lovćen.
• Drones need a permit from the Environmental Protection Agency, a Civil Aviation Agency permit above 249 g, and the park's approval. Commercial filming costs €200-400 a day.

Getting there

From Cetinje (35.8 km, about 45 minutes, from Podgorica) it is about 10 km up to Ivanova korita and on by road to the mausoleum car park. From Kotor there are two ways: the old serpentine road, or the Kotor-Lovćen cable car, opened on 13 July 2023, from Dub near the Vrmac tunnel to the Kuk station inside the park, a ride of about 11 minutes; shuttle buses run from Kotor bus station to Dub. Tivat airport is about 8 km from Kotor; Podgorica is 90 km from Kotor by road. Parking at the park checkpoints costs €1 an hour for a car. Road distances to the mausoleum car park on Jezerski vrh, with driving times that leave out traffic and snow:

When to visit

The mausoleum season sets the calendar: 11 April to 15 November. The park itself is open all year and rents snowshoes in winter, but the mausoleum is closed from 16 November to 10 April. The coastal hiking season, mid-April to the end of October, matches the park's range of 939-1,749 m.

Nearby

Cetinje holds the Cetinje Monastery and the Biljarda, Njegoš's residence; the National Museum's €20 combined ticket covers its museums and the mausoleum. Part of the park lies in Budva municipality, and Cetinje municipality also reaches Skadar Lake National Park. All five parks are on the national parks hub.

Questions

How many steps to the mausoleum?

461, through a tunnel from the car park on Jezerski vrh.

Is the mausoleum open in winter?

No. It opens 11 April to 15 November, 09:00-16:00, and is closed 16 November to 10 April. The park itself has no closing season.

Is the park ticket the same as the mausoleum ticket?

No. The park charges €3 a day at Bjeloši or Krstac; the National Museum charges €8 (€4 for pupils and students) at the mausoleum, which also admits you to Njegoš's birth house in Njeguši.

Can you get there from Kotor without a car?

Shuttle buses run from Kotor bus station to the lower cable-car station at Dub, and the cable car reaches the Kuk station (1,348 m) inside the park in about 11 minutes. The mausoleum on Jezerski vrh (1,657 m) is a separate leg from Kuk, not part of the cable-car service, so plan that stretch before you ride up.