Hiking at Lake Skadar

Hiking and walking are some of our all-time favourite things to do.  Over the years and, more specifically, over this year abroad, we have done a lot of walking and hikes.  We had heard Lake Skadar was beautiful and there were some nice hikes you could do around there.  I did some research and found a moderate difficulty loop that looked fun, and off we went!

We packed up a picnic lunch to bring with us, drove the hour and a bit towards Lake Skadar, and stopped for a brief café pick me up and last toilet break before making our way up the mountain to the trailhead.  We decided to spread out our blanket and eat before heading out since we weren’t sure exactly how long we would be.  Reviews for this trail were extremely limited.

We set out and from the first moment we got onto the trail, we were awed by the gorgeous site of the marshy section of the lake that reached out and down in front of us.  It was stunning.  Looking at the terrain map, we decided to go counterclockwise to make sure the ascent was gradual and the descent was steeper, which is our preference.

This hike was amazing!  We had such a variety of terrain and landscapes.  We had sections that were relatively flat, sections that were fairly steep, and everything in between.  We walked through forests and scrambled up rocky slopes.  We passed a small little waterfall area, abandoned buildings, and little caves with springs in them.  There were areas that were like meadows and areas where we wondered if we might fall right off the mountain if we didn’t tread carefully.

There was one way off the grid residence we crossed through, which looked so cozy with the hammock outside the house and the pot of fish soup cooking over a campfire out in the yard.  The man was so kind and invited us to stay and join him for a bowl of soup.  He seemed completely shocked to see hikers in the area and asked how we had found the place.  He was surprised when I told him I was able to find it through Google and he asked us to please put a review online so more hikers could explore this beautiful area.

And indeed, it is a beautiful area!  We had some truly stunning views along our hike.  And the hiking trail was impeccably marked out.  But it was clear that this trail is one that few people use.  In the forests, we were constantly clearing out cobwebs everywhere we walked along the path, and in some meadow areas of the path the grass had clearly not been trampled down by many recent feet.  But the mostly unspoiled nature of this path just made it even more appealing to us.

We have done so many hikes in the past, but this is one that will go down as one of our all-time family favourites.  The stunning views and varied terrain were perfect for engaging and enjoying something new.  The difficulty level and length of the hike (about two hours) were perfect for our family to enjoy and challenge ourselves without being too exhausted at the end.  And it was a loop route.  I LOVE loops.  I find it slightly boring and tedious to hike in, see something, and then hike back out along the exact same path.  It was amazing to be in such an unspoiled, natural area that we essentially had to ourselves.  Other than the local resident, we did not encounter another living soul all day.  All in all, this hike checked all our boxes and then some!

After finishing our hike, we made our way back down the mountain to the little gas station café to cool down with some popsicles since we were all hot and sweaty after our time on the trail.  If you ever find yourself in Montenegro, looking for the perfect hike, make sure you check this area out!