Last Updated on: 4th August 2024, 11:37 pm
Filled with dramatic landscapes and interesting hiking trails, Durmitor National Park is one of Montenegro’s top highlights. Many visit to conquer Bobotov Kuk, the park’s highest peak. But for those looking to take things a bit easier, hiking to the Curevac viewpoint and the Black Lake are worthwhile excursions that can be done on the same day.
It’s atop Mt. Curevac that you can enjoy Durmitor’s best view of the Tara River Canyon – the deepest in Europe. But pictures of the breathtaking viewpoint can be deceiving, as the hike is surprisingly flat.
The Black Lake, meanwhile, is the park’s most-visited attraction due to its close proximity to central Žabljak.
To learn more about reaching Žabljak, the gateway to Durmitor National Park, be sure to check the end of this guide. Down below, you can also read more about tips on where to stay.
About this Hike
THE BASICS: The Curevac viewpoint offers clear views of the Tara River Canyon from above. But in contrast to how high up you feel at the viewpoint itself, the hike to get there is mostly easy and gentle.
From Žabljak, the hike takes about two hours each way. Confusingly, there’s not a single, straightforward trail that will take you to Curevac. The hike will repeatedly take you back and forth between various paved roads and forested paths.
I was staying in the west of Žabljak, not far from the Black Lake, and the following guide explains what the hike is like from there.
RECOMMENDED APPS: The best app to use for this hike is Maps.me, which will tell you the quickest way to hike to the Curevac viewpoint from wherever you are.
But as there’s no single trail connecting the viewpoint with the city, you could also try some of the alternate paths or roads you see on the map.
WHAT TO BRING: There’s not much you need to bring for this hike, other than snacks and water.
If you have decent hiking boots, wearing them would be a good idea. But even if you don’t, you’ll be fine in regular tennis shoes, or possibly even sandals.
(However, if you are also hiking to Bobotov Kuk at some point during your stay in Durmitor National Park, you will definitely want to bring proper gear and footwear!)
Hiking to the Curevac Viewpoint
In Durmitor National Park I chose to stay at a place called Rooms Apartment Durmitor. While a few kilometers west of the bus station and city center, its location near the Black Lake (more below) helped me feel like I was really staying in a national park and not a town.
But even if you’re staying in the town center, hiking to the Curevac viewpoint will only take you a couple of hours or less. The guide that follows, however, details the most direct route from the general area of the Black Lake.
I’d arrived in Durmitor National Park the previous day to find it gloomy and overcast. But to my pleasant surprise, I woke up the next morning to find the weather perfectly clear.
My first objective was to walk uphill and north until reaching a local road.
Reaching the road, you only need to walk along it for a minute before entering the forest. Making a sharp right, I searched for the trail entrance indicated on Maps.me.
While I found it, with no signage or trail markers in this area, it’s something I likely would’ve missed without the app.
Walking through the tranquil forest for several minutes, I soon found myself within a vast open meadow. If you’re coming the same way, you’ll know you’re in the right place when you spot part of a local ropeway network.
You should find a faint path outlined in the grass. Enjoy this rustic trail while you can, as the next portion of the hike has you walking along a paved road for quite a while. Reaching the road, you’ll then want to make a sharp right.
At the next intersection, you should spot a sign pointing you to Curevac. While there aren’t many trail markers (as far as I could tell) on this hike to help you on your way to the viewpoint, you will at least encounter numerous signs throughout the journey. Most of them seem intended for cars rather than hikers.
After turning left at the sign, I turned right at the next fork of the road, finding myself back on the Maps.me route. Even though the road had transitioned from a paved one to a dirt one, there were still a lot more cars driving down it than I would’ve liked.
Oddly, many of them happened to be luxury vehicles. In fact, while hiking to the Curevac viewpoint, I encountered more Audi’s than I did other hikers!
Though I repeatedly checked the app to see if I was missing an alternate off-road trail, they simply don’t exist for much of the route. And that’s why I largely found this to be a disappointing hike – at least until the viewpoint.
After making my way east through a village for a while, I turned left again and began heading northwest. And before long, I was relieved to find myself back in a forest.
The trail in the forest, however, was perhaps a little too faint. And it wasn’t always clear which path I was supposed to take. Furthermore, my phone’s GPS location started jumping all over the place.
After what was such an easy and straightforward hike, I suddenly found myself lost in the woods!
There was no point in panicking, though, as it was still morning. And so I decided to, somewhat blindly, continue in the direction of what I thought was northwest.
The forest turned out to be a lot bigger than I’d originally anticipated. But sure enough, I eventually encountered pavement.
With my GPS functioning once again, I saw that I was fairly close to my destination. But, disappointingly, I could only get there by walking for a while on yet another long stretch of road.
But finally, the road came to an end, and what followed was a rocky uphill section. And reaching the top, I found myself at the Curevac viewpoint, overlooking the stunning Tara River Canyon.
Despite hardly breaking a sweat on this hike, I suddenly felt as if I was on top of the world.
The Tara River Canyon is 82 km long and 1300 m deep, making it both the largest and deepest canyon in Europe. It’s just 200 m less deep than USA’s Grand Canyon!
The river itself is quite a distance away, but hiking to the Curevac viewpoint is still regarded as the best way to see it from above. If you’re hoping for a more intimate look, river rafting tours along the Tara River are a highly popular activity in the region.
Aside from the river itself, the views of the surrounding mountain peaks are stunning, and there are plenty of places from which to take in the scenery from different angles.
Strangely, despite encountering hardly any people on the hike over, I did see numerous other people at the viewpoint itself – but no more than a dozen.
After soaking up the views, I returned via the same uneventful route I’d come. Looking back, the experience of hiking to the Curevac viewpoint couldn’t have been more different than my exhausting and dangerous trek to Bobotov Kuk the following day.
Returning to my hotel area, I’d still have plenty of time to leisurely walk to another one of Durmitor National Park’s popular landmarks: the Black Lake.
The Black Lake
The Black Lake is probably Durmitor National Park’s most-visited landmark. At just a few kilometers west of the city center, it’s an easy walk (or drive) along flat terrain. As such, don’t be surprised to find the lake nearly as crowded as the central Žabljak!
While indeed pretty, the lake isn’t really much to write home about. Still, you can take a pleasant walk around it, utilizing the 3.6 km walking trail that encircles the lake.
From much of the area, you can enjoy a clear view of the imposing Medjed (Bear) Peak, which towers over the park at 2287 m high. That’s still not as high as the 2,523 m of Bobotuv Kuk, however.
And it’s the area of the Black Lake from which the trail to the park’s highest peak begins – at least for those daring enough to attempt the long route.
The long and treacherous hike to Bobotov Kuk, though, is not for everyone. Hiking to the Curevac viewpoint and the Black Lake, therefore, make for good alternatives for those who want to experience Durmitor without the risk.
Additional Info
During my time at Durmitor National Park, I stayed at a place called Rooms Apartment Durmitor, about 15 minutes on foot from the Black Lake. For just €10 (including VAT) per night, I had a private room with a shared bathroom. While the sound insulation was rather poor, it wasn’t a big issue because the other guests went to bed early.
The owners were also very friendly and hospitable, and I’d recommend it for anyone wishing to stay near the Black Lake. But where’s the best location for you?
Žabljak is the city which serves as the gateway to Durmitor National Park, and it’s the only place you’ll find supermarkets and restaurants.
If you’re only interested in easier hikes/walks, like hiking to the Curevac viewpoint and to the Black Lake, you can easily get to those places from central Žabljak.
Staying further west, however, gives you a head start for those hikes. And the area around the Black Lake is also a good base from which to hike to Škrčka Lake.
If you’ll be hiking to Bobotuv Kuk, there are a few important things you need to consider. While Bobotuv Kuk technically is hikeable from Žabljak, you’ll want to base yourself near the Black Lake if you intend to do the whole hike on foot.
But even then, the hike from the Black Lake area takes around 12 hours roundtrip! (While Maps.me usually give accurate time estimates, it’s totally wrong in this case.)
What a large majority of people do is take a taxi from Žabljak to a place called Sedlo. The hike from there to the peak is about 3 hours, while you can then do the longer hike back to Žabljak. The catch is that a taxi to Sedlo costs €20-30.
The best way to get to Žabljak is by bus. It’s best connected to the capital, Podgorica, and Montenegro’s second-largest city of Nikšić.
For those coming from Budva or Kotor, you can find one morning bus per day run by a company called R-Line.
The problem is that if you want to get back to those places, R-Line’s only bus departing from Žabljak leaves at 17:55 (as of 2021).
Wanting to return to Kotor, I simply took a morning bus to Nikšić and then transferred to a Kotor-bound bus.
The Žabljak bus station is completely unstaffed, though there are timetables posted on the wall outside. Here’s a summary of the basic routes as of 2021.
From Podgorica to Žabljak (various bus companies)
10:00, 12:30, 15:38, 17:05
From Žabljak to Nikšić / Podgorica
6:10, 8:50, 12:15, 13:30, 15:44 16:55
Budva /Kotor to Žabljak (R-Line Bus Company)
Budva Departure: 8:45
Kotor Departure: 9:40
Zabjlak Arrival: 13:30
Žabljak to Kotor/Budva
17:55
Kotor arrival: 21:45
Budva arrival: 22:30