Getting around Montenegro by bus

Montenegro has no national bus company. Routes between towns are run by private carriers, and the departures and tickets for the whole country are on busticket4.me, the site that Kotor bus station, Podgorica Airport and Blue Line all point to. City buses run in Podgorica (Putevi, EUR 0.90 for 90 minutes, live map on ePodgorica), in Budva (Mediteran Express) and around the Bay of Kotor (Blue Line for Kotor-Tivat and Herceg Novi). Coast timetables change with the season and are published as PDFs or images, so check the day's times the evening before, at the station or on the operator's page.

Intercity buses

Private carriers run the routes between towns, and busticket4.me (Cassiopeia d.o.o., Podgorica) brings their departures together and sells the tickets. Each route page shows the carriers, the first and last bus and the journey time, and the day's departures load once the page is open; Kotor-Budva, for example, is about 27 km and 44 minutes. The site is for personal use, so plan from the route page for the day you travel.

The official record is the Ministry's register of intercity timetables, issued for each registration period. It shows which carrier holds the licence on a route, the registered departure times and whether the line runs all year; it is the place to check who is licensed on a route, not today's departures.

Stations

Kotor bus station (operator Autoboka, autobuskastanicakotor.me) has its own website and sends you to busticket4.me for times. Tivat bus station works around the clock: phones +382 32 663 366 and +382 67 691 522, e-mail autobuskastanicatv@gmail.com. Departures from the stations in Podgorica, Budva, Herceg Novi and Bar are on busticket4.me; the station counter is the place to confirm a departure.

Podgorica city buses

City lines are run by Putevi d.o.o. (putevi.me, phone +382 20 220 120); the monthly ticket is valid on all lines and with all carriers. The network has about 30 lines, and each line has its own Putevi page with times for weekdays, Saturdays, and Sundays and holidays. Use Putevi or ePodgorica for times; the city's own transport page is out of date.

Frequency, taking line L1 (Botun-Masline) as the example: every 30 minutes from 06:00 to 22:30 on weekdays, in both directions. Podgorica runs a school-year timetable and a separate summer timetable (in 2024 from 1 July to 19 August), so expect different times in July and August.

A single ticket costs EUR 0.90 and is valid for 90 minutes. Monthly tickets are EUR 30 for workers, EUR 25 for students and EUR 20 for pensioners, sold at the counters in the City Assembly building (entrance from Trg nezavisnosti) on working days from 08:00 to 15:00 and on Saturdays. Fares can change: the Putevi price list is the one to check.

The city portal ePodgorica shows the buses live. The public transport map, running since 2 June 2025, gives each bus's position and the estimated time to a chosen stop, and the same section manages a personal bus card, including a prepaid card.

No city line serves Podgorica Airport; the "Stari aerodrom" in some line names is a city district. Airport buses are separate carriers (below), and local trains stop at the Aerodrom halt.

Coast towns

Local buses on the coast are run by private operators, and the timetables are published by the tourist organisation, the municipality or the operator itself.

Budva

Local buses are run by Mediteran Express (Trg sunca 2; +382 33 451 089, +382 67 890 999; mediteranexpress@t-com.me). They leave from Mediteranska street at the central roundabout, opposite café Perla. The tourist organisation's transport page gives the times for Budva-Jaz-Trsteno-Ploče, Budva-Aqua Park, Budva-Petrovac and Budva-Sveti Stefan; the Sveti Stefan and Petrovac lines run all year, first bus 06:00, last 01:30. The page carries no date and no fares.

Kotor

The municipality's public transport page carries the Blue Line timetables and price lists as PDFs: Kamp-Stoliv, Škaljari-Kostanjica, Kotor (ŠC)-Gorovići, Kotor (ŠC)-Krimovica, Kotor (ŠC)-Kavač, Gornji Kavač-Gradiošnica and Risan-Kotor (ŠC). None states how long it stays valid, so check the posting date on the page and ask the driver or Blue Line if in doubt.

Kotor-Tivat and Herceg Novi

Blue Line d.o.o. (Trebinjska 48, Igalo; +382 31 336 006; office1@blueline-mne.com; office Monday to Saturday 07:00 to 14:00) runs the Kotor-Tivat line (Kotor-Tivat office +382 32 331 635) and the Herceg Novi city and suburban lines. Its timetables are images: one for Kotor-Tivat, a city and a suburban one for Herceg Novi. The images carry no validity dates, so confirm the times with the office before a tight connection.

Tivat

The Tivat tourist organisation links the municipal stop map for the local and suburban lines and a local timetable from the 2022 season, with no fares; the stop map has no stop at the airport. The municipality re-tendered the city and school transport in 2023 when the Blue Line contract ended, so the operator may have changed; for Kotor use the Blue Line Kotor-Tivat timetable, and for the rest ask at the station on the phones above.

Bar and Nikšić

Neither Bar nor Nikšić publishes a city-bus timetable. Short runs such as Bar-Sutomore are intercity departures by private carriers and appear on busticket4.me.

Airport buses

At Podgorica Airport buses stop in front of the terminal. BTC Zeta, MS Tours and Zejdin run to Podgorica bus station, and Zejdin also to Ulcinj; tickets are sold on board or on busticket4.me. The timetable on the airport's site is out of date, so take the times from the carrier or busticket4.me. The other public option is the train: local trains on the Bar line stop at the Aerodrom halt.

For Tivat Airport no bus line is published: the airport lists none and the Tivat stop map has no airport stop. The nearest published departures are from Tivat bus station in town; the Blue Line Kotor-Tivat timetable covers Kotor, and the intercity buses to Budva and beyond are on busticket4.me.

Routes visitors ask about

• Kotor-Budva: about 27 km and 44 minutes; the busticket4.me route page lists the carriers, the first and last bus and the day's departures.
• Podgorica Airport to Budva or Kotor: airport bus (or train) to Podgorica, then an intercity bus from the bus station; the coast departures are on busticket4.me.
• Tivat Airport to Kotor or Budva: no published airport bus. From Tivat bus station: the Blue Line Kotor-Tivat timetable for Kotor, busticket4.me for Budva.
• Podgorica city lines: times per line on putevi.me, live positions on ePodgorica.

Before you go

• Timetables change by season: Podgorica has a school-year and a summer timetable, for example, and the coast timetables are reissued for the season.
• Times and fares change without much notice and none of the coastal pages states how long its times stay valid: confirm a departure with the station, the operator or locals the day before you rely on it.
• Podgorica: EUR 0.90 for 90 minutes; the live map shows where your bus is.
• Podgorica Airport: three carriers to the bus station; take the times from the carrier or busticket4.me.