Montenegro in November and December: weather, snow and what's on

November and December are the quiet, wet end of the year, with the New Year programmes as the one big draw. November is the wettest month at all five main ZHMS stations on the 1961-1990 normals (308 mm in Kolašin, 256 mm in Herceg Novi), and the coast still averages highs of about 17 °C; December drops to about 14 °C with 14 to 15 wet days. Two things change in mid-November: the traffic law's winter-tyre period starts on 15 November and the Njegoš Mausoleum on Lovćen closes from 16 November. From mid-December the town squares open their New Year bazaars, and skiing in the north starts only when enough snow has fallen: Kolašin 1600 opened on 21 December in 2024 but not until 10 January in the 2025/26 season.

Weather in November and December

The figures are ZHMS climate normals for 1961-1990, the only normals the institute publishes. Kotor and Budva have no ZHMS station; Herceg Novi and Bar are the nearest coastal stations.

November

December

Rain falls on about half the days everywhere in both months, and December has the fewest sunshine hours of the year in Kolašin (68.5 h). The coast stays almost frost-free (one day in an average December in Bar and Herceg Novi), while Žabljak has frost on 21 days in November and 28 in December, and Kolašin on 24 in December. Snow in town is thin in November (ZHMS averages of 7 cm in Žabljak and 2 cm in Kolašin) and builds in December to 25 and 7 cm, with recorded maximums of 149 and 77 cm. These are town stations, not ski slopes; current depths are on snow today.

Today's forecast: Podgorica, Bar, Herceg Novi, Kolašin, Žabljak, or the weather page for the whole country.

What's on in November

• Koštanijada (chestnut festival), Ostros in Krajina, Bar municipality: part of Bar's Liberation Day programme, in an area with more than 20,000 chestnut trees. The 17th edition was moved from 8-9 November to 15-16 November 2025 because of rain.
• Bar Day, 24 November, the Liberation Day of Bar. The town also holds Susreti pod starom maslinom (Meetings under the Old Olive) in November, a children's creativity festival in Mirovica held since 1987 according to the Bar tourist organisation.
• Nikšić Guitar Fest, Nikšić: now a classical-music festival; the 21st edition opened on 23 September 2026 and ran to 15 December.
• Kotor Winter Fest opens at the end of the month in some years: the 2025/26 edition, the third, ran from late November or 1 December (the municipality's programme and the local press differ by days) to the end of January.

What's on in December

• Kotor Winter Fest, Kotor: a winter programme with a New Year bazaar on the town waterfront and stage acts on most days, through December and January.
• New Year programmes on town squares: for 2026/27, the Nikšić bazaar from 10 December, Tivat's programme from 12 December to mid-January and ice skating at Portonovi from 12 December. In 2025/26 the programmes began on 10 December in Tivat, 19 December in Podgorica (the Pazar on Trg nezavisnosti) and Cetinje, 23 December in Ulcinj (Sweet December), 29 December in Budva and Bar, and 31 December in Herceg Novi. Line-ups, end dates and days off: New Year in Montenegro.
• Boka Marathon (Bokeški maraton), Tivat: the sixth edition was set for 11-13 December 2026 on the Pine waterfront, with four adult and four children's races; the Tivat tourist organisation expected about 7,000 runners.
• Ubrzaj film festival, Kotor Old Town: a human-rights film festival; in 2025 it ran on 12-13 December, according to the Municipality of Kotor's programme.
• Olive Festival (Maslinijada), Stari Bar: a fair of olives, olive oil and citrus fruit. The 23rd edition had its central day on 13 December 2025, with about 70 exhibitors.
• Nikšić Guitar Festival, Nikšić: the 2026 edition closed on 15 December.

Dates are set each autumn. The New Year programmes are announced by the town tourist organisations in November and December (Podgorica, Tivat, Budva, Herceg Novi, Bar); the Boka Marathon is in Tivat's yearly calendar, Koštanijada and Maslinijada are announced by the Municipality of Bar, and Kotor's programme by the Kotor tourist organisation.

Seasons: what opens and closes

Skiing. Ski centres hold their winter openings in December, but skiing starts only with natural snow. Kolašin held its 2025/26 winter opening on 12-14 December 2025 with a bazaar, concerts and free gondola rides, yet skiing at Kolašin 1600 began only on 10 January; in March 2026 the centre still had no snowmaking. At Savin kuk near Žabljak the lifts started on 19 December 2025. After a fatal accident on the Savin kuk 2 chairlift on 20 December, the chairlifts were taken out of service for inspection; the season ran on the surface lifts from 12 January, and the Savin kuk 1 chairlift reopened on 31 January 2026. In 2024/25 Kolašin 1600 opened on 21 December. Each winter's opening date is announced by the resorts once the snow is there; the resort pages and snow today show the current state.

• Winter tyres: from 15 November to 1 April, a car driven in winter conditions must have winter tyres on all wheels or the other winter equipment the law prescribes (traffic law, Art. 132). See driving in Montenegro.
• Njegoš Mausoleum: open daily 09:00-16:00 to 15 November, then closed from 16 November to mid-April (the museum's pages give 10 and 14 April as the last closed day).
• Snowshoeing: from December the national tourist organisation lists snowshoeing and ski touring on Bjelasica and Sinjajevina (to March).
• Trains: the yearly railway timetable changes in mid-December; the 2025/26 timetable ran from 14 December 2025 to 12 December 2026. The night train between Bar and Belgrade runs all year. See the Bar-Belgrade train.
• Ferry: the Kamenari-Lepetane ferry is on its winter timetable (mid-October to early May): every 20 minutes from 06:00 to 24:00 and hourly through the night.
• Swimming: both months are outside the bathing season that Morsko dobro monitors, May to October. There are no official sea-temperature normals; see the latest measured sea temperature.

Public holidays

13 November is Njegoš Day. Under the law on state and other holidays it is kept for two days, 13 and 14 November, and both are non-working. December has no public holiday; New Year's Day and 2 January are non-working days (see January). Religious holidays, Christmas included, are paid leave for believers rather than general days off. Dates and rules: public holidays.

Where to go

• Bar and Stari Bar are the November towns: Bar Day on 24 November, Koštanijada in the chestnut country of Ostros, and Maslinijada among the olives in mid-December. Bar is also the mildest of the five stations in both months, with 17.3 °C by day in November and 13.7 °C in December.
• Tivat for the Boka Marathon in the second week of December and one of the earliest New Year programmes (from 10 December in 2025, 12 December in 2026).
• Kotor for the Winter Fest bazaar on the waterfront from the start of December.
• Podgorica, Nikšić and Cetinje for the New Year bazaars from mid-December; Nikšić also has the Guitar Fest's last concerts in the first half of December.
• Kolašin and Žabljak only once the snow has come: the opening events are in mid-December, but in 2025/26 skiing began in January. Žabljak averages 25 cm of snow in town in December and frost on 28 days.

What to pack

These are the wettest weeks of the year, so a proper waterproof and shoes that can take rain matter everywhere: 14 to 15 wet days a month on the coast and 16 to 17 in Kolašin. The coast is mild by day (17 °C in November, 14 °C in December) and cool at night (6 to 9 °C), so a warm layer for the open-air bazaars and the evening concerts. In the north pack for winter: lows of -2.6 to -6.5 °C, frost on most days and snow on the ground in December. Anyone driving inland after 15 November needs winter tyres on all wheels. The sea is outside its bathing season.

A sample week in mid-December

1. Days 1-2, Tivat and Kotor: the Boka Marathon weekend in Tivat (11-13 December in 2026) and the Kotor Winter Fest bazaar on the waterfront.
2. Day 3, Stari Bar: Maslinijada, the olive fair (central day 13 December in 2025), in the old town above Bar.
3. Day 4, Podgorica: the New Year Pazar on Trg nezavisnosti (from 19 December in 2025).
4. Days 5-7, Kolašin: the winter opening weekend at the ski centre (12-14 December in 2025) and skiing if the snow has arrived; otherwise snowshoeing on Bjelasica. Check snow today first and drive on winter tyres.

Dates shift every year; build the week around the organisers' announcements, which usually come in November.