Cetinje

Cetinje today: the Old Royal Capital of Montenegro

Cetinje is the Old Royal Capital Cetinje, a continental municipality without sea access at 672 metres in Montenegro's Central Region. The municipality covers 910 km2 and includes 25 local communities, three urban and 22 rural, as well as 94 settlements. Its 2023 census population was 14,494. The 2011 census recorded 16,757 inhabitants in the municipality, 13,991 of them in the town of Cetinje.

The historic core, known as Stari Grad, is on UNESCO's Tentative List under Cetinje Historic Core, submitted in 2010. It is not inscribed on the World Heritage List. The National Museum of Montenegro, founded in 1926, comprises 11 buildings and 98 collections holding more than 66,000 objects. Cetinje was also the seat of the Crnojević printing house, which published the first books in Cyrillic in southeast Europe between 1493 and 1496.

What to see and do in Cetinje and Lovćen

Cetinje Monastery, founded in 1484/1485 by Ivan Crnojević, keeps what are described as the right hand of John the Baptist and a particle of the Holy Cross. Devastated in 1692 during the Morean War, it was rebuilt between 1701 and 1704 and took its present form in 1927. King Nikola's Palace was built from 1863 to 1867, became a museum in 1926, and has been part of the National Museum of Montenegro since 1980; it is known for its exhibition of the Crown of Montenegro. Biljarda, a royal residence whose construction began in 1838 for Danilo I and Nikola I, forms another part of the royal record. Former foreign embassies of France, Russia, Britain, Italy and Austria-Hungary remain part of the town's built record.

In Lovćen National Park, hiking trails lead to Njegoš Mausoleum and Jezerski vrh. The mausoleum has 461 steps. Ivanova korita is a mountain plateau on the route to the mausoleum, with a panorama across Montenegro. In Lipa, Lipska pećina has about 2.5 kilometres of corridors and has been open to tourists since 2015. The village of Njeguši offers Njeguški pršut and Njeguški sir in local konobas and restaurants; the pršut is dried with sea and mountain air and beech smoke, while the hard sheep's and cow's milk cheese is traditionally paired with it.

Getting to Cetinje

Cetinje is linked by main roads with Podgorica and with Budva and the Bay of Kotor. The historic route through Njeguši continues towards Kotor through the Kotor Serpentines. As a continental municipality in the hilly hinterland, Cetinje has no marina of its own. Porto Montenegro in Tivat is the nearest marina for Cetinje.

When to visit Cetinje

Cetinje has an oceanic climate, Cfb in the Köppen classification, with an average annual temperature of 9.8°C and annual precipitation of about 3,300 millimetres. Its altitude and karst make it cooler and wetter than the coast. Late spring, in May and June, and early autumn, in September, are identified as the most pleasant periods for visiting. Winter brings substantial precipitation and snow in higher areas, an important consideration for travel to the higher parts of the municipality during winter.