Ski resorts Žabljak - Durmitor

Discover the beauty of Zabljak

Žabljak is the center of Montenegrin mountain tourism, the largest town on Durmitor, 1450 meters above sea level, thu being the town at the hithest altitude in the Balkans. The town is the centre of wider surroundings as well as the seat of the municipality covering 445 km2 and with 4,2455 inhabitants. Zabljak municipality coyers the areas of former tribes of Saranci, part of Drobnjak, Tepac and Little Montenegro, the area between mountains of Durmitor and Sinjavina and the River Tara. There are no reliable data dating further in the past of this area. Rare remains, legends and place names indicate the presence of Illyrians, Celts and the traces of Greeks and Romans. It is known that near the river Tara there used to live the Illyrian tribe Autarijats, according to which today’s “beauty” or “the tear of Europe”. Tara was named. One branch of Mataruga tribe, Krici werelong present at the area of Durmitor and Sinjavina. There used to be a caravan road from Municipium S in Komini near Pljevlja towards Risan, Travunia and Dalmatia. As an urban settlement, Zabljak started to be established in 1871, in picturesque scenery, at a large plateau under the mighty Durmitor, beautiful at each and every time of the year, although hard to live in. Zabljak municipality shows all features of the alpine climate: very long and cold winters, with a lot of snow, as many as 120 days a year, and with short and fresh summers. The town of Žabljak and the whole municipality with Durmitor , Sinjavina, Tara canyon, flora and fauna, human settlements make a unique natural and tourist unity, testifying the ancient symbiosis of the nature and the people. The magnificent mountain massif of Durmitor, whose canyons of Tara, Piva, Susica and Komarnica rivers made it even more indented and impressive, is the destination of many holidaymakers, mountaineers and adventurers. There are over 30 tops over 1900 m rising from its massifs, the highest being Bobotov kuk or Cirova pecina 2223 m. It is the most impressive one with magnificent view reaching far in the distance. It takes five hours to reach the top. Still, the highest point of Durmitor is – its beauty. Many believe that Durmitor would not be what it is, “soa nebeska”, without the pearl necklace made up of its 18 glacier lakes, called by the people “gorske oci” – “the eyes of the mountain”, when looking into the clear sky, and when it is cloudy, then they close their eyelids and sleep hidden in their ponds, surrounded by forests and meadows. In wintertime they are covered by thick ice and deep snow. The crown of Durmitor and its beauty is Crno lake. It is located under Medjed, reflected in its clear waters, surrounded by thick pinewood forests. It consists of a Veliko and Malo lake interconnected in the shape of an 8. Crno Lake is the second largest of all mountain lakes in Montenegro and is located at 1418 m above sea level. A special attraction as well as a challenge is to reach the remote lakes at Durmitor. Zmijinje Lake is located at 1520 m in a picturesque landscape of idyllic beauty. It is about an hour walking distance from Crno Lake along the hiking path through woods and is frequently visited. Above it, there is Jablan Lake 1791 m above sea level located in a pond above the red rock, again a lake of astonishing beauty. A special challenge for tourists is to reach Skrcka lakes, an experience of “primavel beauty and wild nature”. They are located in Skrka, the highest and the least accessible parto of Durmitor, between Bobotov kuk and Prutas. Veliko Skrcko Lake is located at 1686 m above sea level and has fish. Malo Skrcko Lake is above it, at the altitude of 1711 M. The dream of many is to get to know this “isolated world of primeval beauty”. Glacier lakes at southern slopes of Durmitor, in Poscenska valler are: Valovito 1695 m above sea level, Srablje 1623 m, Modro 1609 m, Suva lokva 1594 m and the largest Poscansko Lake 1487 m as well as Vrazje 1411 m, near the road to Njegovudja, and nearby Riblje Lake. Zminicko and Zabojsko Lakes, as well as the lakes on Sinjavina, are the pearls of mountain beauty and in the tourism offer of Zabljak. Other rivers confluent to Tara also attract with their waterfalls and a number of smaller falls and cascades on the river Bukova. The dynamism and contrasts of the canyon are enthralling. The wild beauty of the nature there amazes and inspires. In the waters of Tara the fish like shoot, trout and grayling, on the banks does, chamois and other game. At the beginning of the canyon, between Bistrica and Dobrilovina there is the natural reserve of black pine, Crna poda. Tara offers the possibility for white water rafting, kayaking and other attractive disciplines. National park Durmitor “takes care of and protects” this unique nature inscribed as world natural heritage. Winter is for Zabljak what summer is for Budva. The snow lasting for several months, at some sites even throughout a year, offers the possibility for skiing even in summertime. This makes Zabljak into a winter sport centre.