Via ferrata in Montenegro: the six routes and how they compare

Montenegro has six via ferratas you can climb in 2026. The first two were built in 2018, one above the Old Town in Kotor and one on Durmitor. Piva followed in October 2024, Orlina near Nikšić that December, Štirovnik on Lovćen in October 2025, and a small private route near Gusinje in Prokletije in 2026.

Ferrata.me guides climbs on Via Ferrata Piva, so the Piva section below is about our own route. For the other five we’ve used figures from their builders, from viaferrata.rs, which maps the via ferratas of the region, and from the Montenegrin press. Where the sources disagree, we say so.

Route	Near	Opened	Grade	Time
Kotor	Kotor Old Town	2018	B/C	about 45 min
Durmitor (Uvita Greda)	Sedlo pass, Žabljak	2018	B/C	about 2 h
Piva	Plužine	2024	B/C	1–2 h
Orlina	Slano Lake, Nikšić	2024	not published	45 min–1 h
Štirovnik	Lovćen National Park	2025	C	about 1.5 h
Prokletije	Gusinje	2026	B/C	about 1.5 h

The grades come from the builders and from guide sites, on the A to E scale used in Austria and Slovenia. Via ferrata difficulty grades explained covers what the letters mean. We left lengths out of the table because each route measures them differently. Some count only the cable, and Piva’s 1.5 km includes the walk down to the river.

Kotor

The Kotor via ferrata climbs the rock behind the Old Town, where the Škurda canyon comes out above the town. It starts about 250 m from the north gate, behind the waterworks, so you can walk to it from town in about ten minutes. It opened on 2 May 2018 and was the first via ferrata in Montenegro.

Sources put it at 180 to 200 m long with 125 to 150 m of height gain, starting about 80 m above the sea. You look out over the Old Town and the Bay of Kotor as you climb. The crossing takes about 45 minutes, and guided tours are sold as about two hours. It’s open all year. In July and August the rock gets very hot, and viaferrata.rs recommends going early in the morning or in the evening.

If you’re choosing between Kotor and Piva, Kotor or Piva compares the two in more detail.

Durmitor (Uvita Greda)

The Durmitor route is on the Uvita Greda rock, a ten-minute walk from the Sedlo pass inside Durmitor National Park. It starts at about 2,000 m and finishes at about 2,190 m. It was built in 2018 by the same Slovenian and French team as the route in Kotor. Sources give about 400 m of route and about 200 m of height gain. Viaferrata.rs grades it B/C, while climbers rating it on ferrataguide.com put it at A/B. A guided climb takes about two hours.

The Sedlo road closes in winter and has reopened in late May in recent years, and the route is climbed from about June to October. The route charges its own entry fee, and the national park ticket is separate: €5 per person per day, free for children up to 15. Sedlo is about 13 km from Žabljak and about 37 km from Plužine. More on the park and the pass is in our Durmitor guide.

Piva

Via Ferrata Piva opened on 7 October 2024 in Piva Canyon, about 20 km past Plužine on the canyon road towards the Bosnian border. It was the first via ferrata in Montenegro built and certified to the European standard for via ferrata construction, EN 16869.

The loop starts and ends at the east end of the road bridge over the Piva. A cabled path drops through the forest to the Kaluđer springs and a wooden shelter by the river. From there the cable runs back downstream a few metres above the water, past steel grates that stick out over the pools, and the climb finishes up an 80 m limestone wall to the bridge. The whole loop is about 1.5 km and takes one to two hours. It’s graded B/C. The traverse is the easier part, and the wall needs some arm strength.

We climb all year when the weather allows. You need to be 12 to 60 years old and weigh up to 120 kg, and you don’t need any experience. A climb costs €150 for one person, €160 for two and €70 each for three or more, and that includes the guide, the kit, the photos and the €5 route and park fee. The complete guide covers the route stop by stop.

Orlina, near Nikšić

Orlina is a rock about 20 m from Slano Lake near Nikšić. The Nikšić tourist organisation built a via ferrata on it with support from the Ministry of Tourism, and it opened in December 2024. It’s short, about 120 m of cable, and takes 45 minutes to an hour. The builders haven’t published a grade. Our partners Adventure Montenegro guide climbs on Orlina, with the gear included.

Štirovnik, Lovćen

The first via ferrata on Lovćen opened in mid-October 2025 on the east cliffs of Štirovnik (1,749 m), in Lovćen National Park. A Cetinje mountaineering club, Slobodni penjači Cetinje, designed and built it with support from the Cetinje tourist organisation. You drive to Međuvršje (1,340 m) and walk 35 to 45 minutes through beech forest to the start at 1,540 m. The route is about 145 m long, in five sectors, and finishes at 1,645 m. The newspaper Vijesti gives it C, and other sources say B/C. Allow about an hour and a half on the rock. Climbers with their own kit pay a fee to the club to use it.

Prokletije, near Gusinje

The newest of the six was built in 2026 by two alpinists near Gusinje, in the east of the country by the Albanian border, and paid for privately. It’s 280 m long with 150 m of height gain and suspension bridges along the way, graded B/C, and takes about an hour and a half. It is non-commercial on purpose. Climbing it is free with your own equipment, and beginners aren’t allowed on it without an experienced guide. In August 2026 its caretaker said the route was available on request.

Which one suits you

If you’re staying on the coast and want a first via ferrata, Kotor makes the most sense, because it’s ten minutes’ walk from the Old Town and the route is short. It also fits into a cruise stop. Piva is the one to pick if you want the canyon and the river under you, and children can climb it from the age of 12. Durmitor is the high one, at about 2,000 m, and its season depends on the Sedlo road.

Orlina is short enough to add to a day that already has something else in it. Štirovnik and Prokletije both let experienced climbers with their own kit go without a guide.

Doing more than one

The Sedlo road links Plužine with the Durmitor route, so in summer you can stay in Plužine or Žabljak and climb one each day. Žabljak to Plužine is about 50 km over the pass, about 1 h 40 by car. Orlina is near Nikšić, which is on the way to Piva from Podgorica and the coast, and the bridge at Piva is about 1 h 20 from Nikšić. Kotor and Štirovnik are the two nearest the coast. How to get to Piva Canyon has the drive times to the Piva bridge from everywhere else, and plan a day at Piva has ideas for the rest of the day.