Virpazar: The most important port on Lake Skadar

Travel destinations Comments: 2 May 06, 2021

Virpazar is a small settlement on Lake Skadar in the Bar municipality, Montenegro. It's located in the Crmnica region, only 15 kilometers from the Adriatic Sea.

The first mention of Virpazar dates back to 13th century. In those times, a settlement was established near a river whirlpool, where people used to come on small river boats to visit the local market. From 1888, it was connected with Bar via an unsurfaced road, and from 1908 with narrow gauge railway line. When a dock was constructed in 1905, Virpazar became the most important port on Lake Skadar.

Virpazar, during the summer tourist season, is visited by many tourists who are mostly lovers of nature, national parks and protected areas. In the urban part of Virpazar there are several restaurants with traditional cuisine where you can try a wide variety of specialties of fish from Lake Skadar and taste the famous wines of Montenegro.

During the summer season are organized many cultural and entertainment events such as "Days of Skadar Lake", literary evenings, artists colony, performances at the festival "Bar Chronicle" while in the winter you can enjoy the festival "Days of wine and bleak ".

You can also get to Virpazar by bus from Podgorica or Sutomore. Longer-distance buses for example, from Ulcinj, Bar towards Podgorica also stops there but it is important that you tell the bus driver that you want to stop in Virpazar or they will probably drive past it because it is so small. The bus stop is a shed along the roadside and across the railway tracks from Hotel Pelikan.

Bus tickets: