13 things to do near Piva Canyon and Plužine

Plužine is the nearest town to Piva Canyon, and the lake, the dam, the monastery, the canyon road and our via ferrata are all within half an hour of it. Durmitor, Tara rafting, Trnovačko Lake and Nevidio each fill a day of their own. Drive times below are from Google Maps.

1. Climb Via Ferrata Piva

Via Ferrata Piva is a loop of about 1.5 km that starts at the road bridge over the Piva, 20 km from Plužine. A cabled path takes you down through the forest to the river, the route follows the canyon wall back downstream a few metres above the water, and an 80 m limestone wall brings you back up to the bridge. It’s graded B/C, takes one to two hours and needs no experience. Climbers must be aged 12 to 60 and weigh up to 120 kg. Prices start at €70 per person, guide and equipment included, and we climb all year when the weather allows. It opened in 2024 as Montenegro’s first certified via ferrata. The complete guide goes through it stop by stop.

2. Go out on Piva Lake by boat or kayak

Piva Lake is the reservoir behind the Mratinje Dam, about 45 km long and up to 188 m deep, with Plužine on its shore. Piva Nature Park runs boat trips and rents kayaks in Plužine, and lake cruises take two to three hours. Fishing needs a permit from the park office in Plužine. Piva Lake and the Mratinje Dam has more about the lake.

3. Ride the zipline over the lake

The zipline at the entrance to Plužine is listed by the national tourist board as the longest in Montenegro: about 1,400 m in two flights, with a short walk in between and speeds of up to 65 km/h. It runs in spring and summer, so check that it’s open before you go.

4. Drive the canyon road

The M-3 from Plužine to the Šćepan Polje border crossing is about 27 km long and takes about 35 minutes. It runs along the lake, then down the canyon below the dam through more than 50 short rock tunnels, most of them narrow and unlit. The via ferrata bridge is on this road, 20 km from Plužine, and the rest of the canyon road is another 7 km to the border. Drive it in daylight if you can.

5. Cross the Mratinje Dam

The road crosses the crest of the Mratinje Dam, a concrete arch 220 m high that was completed in 1975 and holds back Piva Lake. Stopping on the crest isn’t allowed, so you see it from the car. On one side is the lake, and on the other the canyon drops away towards the river.

6. Visit Piva Monastery

Piva Monastery is about 8 km south of Plužine, near the village of Goransko, on the road towards Nikšić. Its church was built between 1573 and 1586 next to the source of the Piva. When the dam was planned, the site was going to be flooded, so between 1969 and 1982 the church was taken apart stone by stone and rebuilt about 3.5 km away on higher ground. About 1,260 m² of frescoes were removed and put back in the new building.

7. Raft the Tara

The Tara meets the Piva at Šćepan Polje, 7 km past the via ferrata bridge, and that’s where most Tara rafting trips finish. Most one-day trips start at Brštanovica, upriver inside the Tara canyon, and multi-day trips start at Splavište under the Đurđevića Tara bridge. The rafting camps are around Šćepan Polje. The season runs from April to October. The water is highest and fastest during the snowmelt in April and May, and the Durmitor park authority names 1 July to 15 September as the safest period. Our partners Adventure Montenegro run both a three-to-five-hour trip from Brštanovica to Šćepan Polje and a full day through the canyon. Tara Canyon vs Piva Canyon compares the two rivers and explains how to do the climb and the rafting on consecutive days.

8. See the Đurđevića Tara bridge

The concrete arch bridge over the Tara was built between 1937 and 1940. It is 365 m long, stands on five arches and carries the road about 170 m above the river. It’s about 20 km from Žabljak by road, on the far side of Durmitor from Piva, so from Plužine you drive over the Sedlo pass to Žabljak and on from there. Combine it with a day in Durmitor rather than with the climb. Ziplines cross the canyon beside it.

9. Walk round Black Lake in Durmitor

Durmitor National Park is on the other side of the Sedlo pass. Žabljak, its town, is at 1,456 m and about 1 h 40 from Plužine over the pass in summer. Black Lake (Crno jezero) is 3 km from Žabljak, and the path round it is about 3.5 to 3.6 km and takes about an hour. The lake is two lakes joined by a narrow strait that dries up in summer. Park entry is €5 per person per day, and children up to 15 go free. Durmitor from Piva covers the park, including the hike up Bobotov Kuk, and Adventure Montenegro run guided hikes there.

10. Drive the Sedlo pass road

The R-16 (often still called the P14) climbs from Plužine onto the Durmitor plateau and crosses the Sedlo pass at 1,907 m on its way to Žabljak. Plužine to Žabljak is about 50 km this way. On the climb out of Plužine there are views back over Piva Lake, and higher up the road winds across open pasture past the hamlet of Trsa. Snow closes the road in winter. In recent years it has reopened in late May, most recently on 21 May 2026.

11. Hike to Trnovačko Lake

Trnovačko Lake is a glacial lake at 1,517 m, shaped like a heart when you see it from the ridges above. It’s in Montenegro, in Piva Nature Park, but there’s no road to it. The usual way is to cross the border at Šćepan Polje, drive through Foča to Tjentište in Bosnia’s Sutjeska National Park, take about 20 km of gravel road up to Prijevor and walk about two hours to the lake. The season is June to September. Trnovačko Lake has the route, the park fees and the border details.

12. Try sport climbing near Plužine

Plužine has a bolted sport-climbing crag. Adventure Montenegro also guide sport climbing near Plužine and at crags elsewhere in Montenegro, with sessions for complete beginners in which the guide handles the rope and anchors. The rope, harness, helmet and shoes are provided, so you can try it the day after the via ferrata without buying anything.

13. Go canyoning in Nevidio

Nevidio is the canyon of the upper Komarnica, near the road between Šavnik and Žabljak, in the Dragišnica and Komarnica Nature Park. Its name means “the unseen”. In places it is less than a metre wide, and it was first passed all the way through in August 1965. Adventure Montenegro guide canyoning trips through it with a wetsuit and full kit from about mid-June to the end of September, when the water level allows, and a trip takes four to six hours in total. The water stays around 10 °C even in summer. If you only want to look, a short path leads to a small bridge over the entrance.

With two or three days

Climb on the first day and spend the afternoon on the lake or at the monastery. Plan a day at Piva has timings for that. On the second day, in summer, drive the Sedlo road to Žabljak and walk round Black Lake, or raft the Tara from Šćepan Polje. Keep a third day for Trnovačko Lake or Nevidio. To work out when to come, see the best time to visit Piva Canyon, and for the roads, how to get to Piva Canyon.