Durmitor is the kind of mountain range that makes you pull over every few minutes. In the north of Montenegro, a limestone massif rises above a high plateau around Žabljak, with jagged peaks, glacial lakes and deep canyons carved by the Tara, Piva and Sušica rivers. The national park was inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1980, and it includes the Tara canyon, one of the deepest gorges in Europe. Glaciers shaped the range, leaving cirques and lakes scattered across the high ground, of which the Black Lake near Žabljak is the best known.
The Durmitor ring road is one of the best rides in the Balkans. From Žabljak, the road climbs over the Sedlo pass at about 1900 metres, through an open, wild landscape of grass, rock and snow patches that linger into summer, and then descends in tight bends toward Plužine and the Piva lake. The road is narrow, sometimes without barriers, with livestock, potholes and rockfalls. Fog can roll in quickly, and snow can close the pass from late autumn to late spring. Ride it in summer or early autumn, carefully and slowly.
The Đurđevića Tara bridge, a concrete arch built just before the Second World War, spans the Tara canyon north-east of Žabljak and was famously blown up and rebuilt during the war. Today you can ride across it, watch rafters below and zipliners above. The village of Umoljani and the shepherds' settlements on the plateau keep the traditions of summer grazing, with katuns, the seasonal huts where families make cheese and kajmak.
Žabljak is the main base, a small town with fuel, accommodation and restaurants, though prices rise in high season. Plužine, at the other end of the ring, also has fuel. Pljevlja, the nearest larger town, is a good hour away. Try the local lamb cooked under a sač, a metal lid covered with embers, and the cheeses from the high pastures. Nights on the plateau are cold even in July, so bring a warm layer and keep an eye on the weather.