Lake Skadar Experience

A full day in Montenegro's greatest inland landscape.

Lake Skadar is the largest lake in the Balkans — a national park of hidden coves, reed-fringed shallows, floating water-lily meadows and hilltop monasteries, straddling the border with Albania. It is a birdwatcher's paradise (with resident Dalmatian pelicans, pygmy cormorants and glossy ibises) and a wine region of quiet distinction — the ancestral home of Vranac and Krstač, Montenegro's flagship red and white grapes.

Morning — Virpazar and the boat. After a hotel pickup, we drive inland from the coast to the lakeside village of Virpazar. A private wooden boat is waiting on the water. We push off through a channel of reeds, past the small island fortress of Grmožur (a nineteenth-century Ottoman-Montenegrin prison island), and into the wide open water of the central lake.

Mid-morning — birdwatching and lily fields. In the shallower western bays, the water-lily fields carpet the surface for hundreds of metres. The boat's motor drops to walking pace; binoculars come out; and a resident guide identifies the birdlife — pelicans, cormorants, herons and, in spring and autumn, the migratory species that make the lake one of the great Balkan flyways.

Midday — Kom Monastery and a swim stop. We moor at Kom Monastery, a fourteenth-century foundation on a small headland reachable only by water. A short walking visit takes in the fresco cycle and the small monastic garden. A swim in the lake — clear, freshwater, unusually warm through summer — is a signature part of the day.

Lunch — a lakeside konoba. Lunch is at a traditional lakeside konoba: smoked lake carp, the local speciality; homemade pršut (dry-cured ham); ajvar; cheese from the Crmnica hills; and cool Krstač wine. The tables are on the water and the pace is unhurried.

Afternoon — Crmnica wine country. After lunch, a short drive brings us to a family winery in the Crmnica valley for a guided tasting of Vranac, Krstač and the local vranac rosé. The best of these estates have been producing wine for more than a century; the visits are unhurried and educational.

Return. Guests are typically back at their hotel on the coast by early evening.

How it runs. Private, air-conditioned vehicle with an English-speaking driver-guide; a private wooden boat on the lake with a local guide; National Park entrance fees; monastery donations; bottled water on board. Winery tasting is complimentary at the family estates we work with.