Montenegro day 7: Tara Canyon

Saturday, 8th October 2022

Forecast was for cloudy weather today so instead of a mountain walk, we went on another road trip. Today was all about Tara Canyon.

Tara Canyon (Kanjon Tare) is 82km long and the deepest canyon in Montenegro at 1300m deep. It is also the deepest canyon in Europe and the second biggest in the world after Grand Canyon in the US. Its river, Tara river (Rijeka Tara), is called 'Tear of Europe' due to its clean and clear waters, which are fed by 20 rivers, mountain streams and underground springs.

The canyon is protected by UNESCO since 1977 and, in 1980, it attained UNESCO World Natural and Cultural Heritage status alongside Durmitor NP.

We drove the P4 road between Tara bridge (Đurđevića most) and Mojkovac to take in the views of the Tara Canyon. We realised when we got there that this is actually a marked tourist route as you can see on the map below. Our direction was from point 10 to point 1 but it makes no difference which direction you go.

The road travels along the canyon and it's beautiful, providing for an excellent road trip. It is narrow, with a mountain wall on one side and the canyon dropping below on the other side. If you are not driving, you'll see the bridge, the river and the cliffs between the trees as the road snakes around the canyon.

10) Tara bridge (Đurđevića most)

The bridge is 365m long, has 5 arches and the road on top stands at 172m high. The first arch is an engineering feat as it spans 116m.

When the bridge was built in 1937-1940, it was the biggest vehicular concrete arch bridge in Europe. It was blown up in 1942 to stop the Italian advance during WWII, and finally rebuilt in 1946.

Parking is not easy by the bridge so come early. On the northside of the bridge there is free parking, exit right as soon as you cross the bridge.

The sidewalk on the bridge is very narrow so extra care is needed when there is traffic.

The best way to experience the canyon is via white water rafting but that is no longer an option in Autumn. The second best way to see the canyon is from Tara bridge. 

One of the most popular activities in the area is to zipline across the canyon and that is possible at Tara bridge. Jorge decided to skip it. It took me a while to convince Manuel, we sat drinking a coffee at Motel Tara MB watching others zip by until we both gathered enough courage.

There were supposed to be several operators offering zipline crossings but only Big Zip Line was operating. We paid €20 each and it was fun! Flying across the canyon from the west to the east side of the canyon, feeling the sun and the wind, high above. The view of the canyon is impressive!

8) Rafting Point (Šljivansko)

At the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th century, logging was a common occupation in this area. Loggers felled mature and massive trees, processed them into logs and lowered them down the cliffs, all the way to the Tara river. The logs on the river were taken over by trifters, who managed the navigation of the logs all the way to the rafting-making stations, such as this one. The logs were then connected by cables and iron clamps into rafts, which continued along the river to their final destination: sawmills. None of these sounds like an easy job!

These days, the rafting-making station is a rafting point from where white water rafting excursion depart in Summer.

7) Premćani bridge

According to legend, there has been a crossing over the river at this location since ancient times.

Leave the car by the information board and go down the narrow path until you find the current bridge, a suspension bridge.

On the other side of the river, there is a trail from the bridge to Dovolja Monastery (10.6km return) which we started but the trail is not very well marked and it's not popular. There was a lot of going up and down and we were tired so after less than an hour we turned around.

Me washing my muddy boots in the river, Manuel making fun of me.

6) A place to take photos

5) Spring fountain

Not particularly interesting.

3) Crna Poda natural reserve

Crna Poda is a terrace formed in the middle of a very steep slope of the Tara Canyon. Almost level terrain has allowed deep soil to accumulate and black pine (Pinus nigra) has formed a tall forest. The pine forest covers an area of 40ha, pines are about 45m high and have an average age of 400 years. The tallest is 51m and the oldest estimated at 450 years.

Unfortunately, European Beech is invading the forest, preventing pine regeneration. Now the forest looks like a beech forest with an emergent layer of black pine.

2) Entrance to Durmitor NP - Viewpoint

Tara Canyon starts below this viewpoint and continues for 82km.

The stretch between Tara bridge and the Entrance to Durmitor NP - Viewpoint is 25km so it makes for a leisurely and relaxing drive.

Ice-cream in the afternoon. Dinner at Hotel Pavlović was €42 for 3 drinks + speciality of the house for two + stuffed peppers with salad and bread + 3 crêpes. The surprise of the night was that 3 crêpes cost €3, €1/crêpe is a very good price and they were delicious.

Speciality of the house for two

Stuffed peppers with minced meat and rice

Crêpe