montenegro adventures or montenegro holidays

[giraffelt]

I am trying to organize a private tour when we are in Kotor. From an earlier posting I got the name Montenegro Holidays as a contact. I contacted them but the response came back from Montenegro Adventures.

 

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with either of these companies and or if you can offer an explanation as to their connection. From the website Montenegro Adventures seems to be relatively new. I have tried Trip Advisor but didn't come up with anything.

 

Open to other suggestions as well in terms of private tour operators. Basically looking for a private guided tour starting in Kotor, going to Cetinje, then to Budva and back to Kotor.

 

Larry

[MarleneAm]

I am trying to organize a private tour when we are in Kotor. From an earlier posting I got the name Montenegro Holidays as a contact. I contacted them but the response came back from Montenegro Adventures.

 

I am wondering if anyone has any experience with either of these companies and or if you can offer an explanation as to their connection. From the website Montenegro Adventures seems to be relatively new. I have tried Trip Advisor but didn't come up with anything.

 

Open to other suggestions as well in terms of private tour operators. Basically looking for a private guided tour starting in Kotor, going to Cetinje, then to Budva and back to Kotor.

 

Larry

__________________________________________________

The road to Cetinje has 27 hairpin bends going up the mountains. So make sure you go with an experienced driver, in a vehicle narrow enough to fit on the road, not in a full size bus. I did not feel confident making private arrangements in Montenegro so I took my cruise line's more expensive small vehicle excursion Oceania choice, went in a narrow mercedes van held about 16 people on the whole route you describe. I would not want to have car trouble somewhere in the middle of Montenegro on a private excursion.

[giraffelt]

MarleneAM,

 

I have read about the road to Cetinje and know about the hairpin turns but am not too worried about it. I have even checked a topographic map to get a sense of the elevation. I have driven on some extreme corkscrew roads in different countries. Of course I am not thinking of doing the driving this time.

 

Since Oceania offers a shorex by coach bus to Cetinje I am sure a minivan for 6 will be able to negotiate the turns.

 

My posting was to try and get a comfort level about the operator because I also don't want to have to worry about car trouble in Montenegro.

 

Larry

[perlgirlnj]

Does anyone else have any further information on these operators--or if it's the same operator? I'm having the same questions about booking in Kotor.

[giraffelt]

Perigiinhj

 

I ultimately ended up using a third operator - Private Guides by Matthew. Montenegro Adventures wanted full payment in advance and there was a lot of back and forth about payment method. Montenegro Holidays was more expensive then MA.

 

Private Guides by Matthew I found easier to deal with and much quicker to respond. Matej basically acts as a broker for independent guides. Our guide Brianca was wonderful. We spent a great day visiting Cetinje, Budva and Kotor. The driver was excellent and handled the winding roads with no problems.

 

Matej originally asked for a deposit but because he was having problems with Paypal he was happy to book the tour with no payment in advance. He also sent me an email listing all sorts of reference material (books, dvd's, etc) if we wanted to do some research in advance. Thanks to him I learned about a great book The Bridge over the Drina which won a Nobel prize for literature some time ago - historical fiction of the region.

 

I was very happy that we ended up booking with Matej. He can also book tours for other areas in the region e.g. Dubrovnik, Split. His email address is matej.t.d@gmail.com if you are interested.

 

Larry

[perlgirlnj]

Perigiinhj

 

I ultimately ended up using a third operator - Private Guides by Matthew. Montenegro Adventures wanted full payment in advance and there was a lot of back and forth about payment method. Montenegro Holidays was more expensive then MA.

 

Private Guides by Matthew I found easier to deal with and much quicker to respond. Matej basically acts as a broker for independent guides. Our guide Brianca was wonderful. We spent a great day visiting Cetinje, Budva and Kotor. The driver was excellent and handled the winding roads with no problems.

 

Matej originally asked for a deposit but because he was having problems with Paypal he was happy to book the tour with no payment in advance. He also sent me an email listing all sorts of reference material (books, dvd's, etc) if we wanted to do some research in advance. Thanks to him I learned about a great book The Bridge over the Drina which won a Nobel prize for literature some time ago - historical fiction of the region.

 

I was very happy that we ended up booking with Matej. He can also book tours for other areas in the region e.g. Dubrovnik, Split. His email address is matej.t.d@gmail.com if you are interested.

 

Larry

 

Thank you for the update. Can you give me an idea of what you did, how long, and what you paid? I can send my email address if you aren't comfortable posting this.

[giraffelt]

Perigirinj,

We were met promptly at 8:30 am by Brianca and drove up the mountain via the old road (the one with the hairpin turns). Along the way Brianca gave us an interesting talk about the history and the region. we stopped for photos along the way (wished I had brought my larger telephoto lens) and then made another stop at Njegusi. From there we continued up the mountain to Cetinje and visited the National Museum/Palace. We then drove to Budva and had a walking tour and lunch. After lunch we drove to Kotor and had a walking tour. We ended the tour in Kotor at about 3:30 having left ourselves some free time to wonder around on our own. Kotor is quite small and thats why we left it for the end.

 

Matej will work with you to customize your tour. For example if anyone in your party suffers from motion/car sickness you don't want to do the drive up the mountain and he can recommend some alternative routes.

 

As to price I won't quote the price we paid because it wouldn't be fair to Matej. Depends on the size of your party. We were a party of 6 and he quoted me a price for the car and driver/guide. When we confirmed everything and he tried to book the car he couldn't get a 6+1 size vehicle and had to go up to a larger vehicle which required a dedicated driver. He was very fair about the price difference (we split the difference) and had a larger vehicle plus a driver and a guide. Worked out better for us and was still less than the other two operators.

 

regards,

 

Larry