One of Europe's most spectacular and least-visited mountain landscapes — glacial lakes, the Balkan Peaks Trail, Grebaje Valley, and cross-border connections to Albania and Kosovo. Taxi Podgorica to Plav from 100€.
Plav is a small town at the foot of the Prokletije — the mountain range known in English as the Albanian Alps and locally as the Cursed Mountains. The name overpromises on hostility and underpromises on beauty. The Prokletije is one of the most spectacular and least-visited mountain landscapes in Europe — a world of glacial lakes, limestone walls, ancient beech forests, and ridgelines that form the tri-border zone between Montenegro, Albania, and Kosovo. For hikers, climbers, and serious mountain travellers willing to go off the beaten track, it rivals the Dolomites and the Swiss Alps in raw landscape, at a fraction of the crowds. The taxi Podgorica to Plav — the private airport transfer from TGD to Plav — covers approximately 140 km and takes around 2 hours and 15 minutes, following the Lim river valley through Andrijevica and climbing steadily into the eastern Montenegrin highlands. TTM has been driving this mountain route since 2003.
The Grebaje Valley is the primary entry point into the Montenegrin side of the Prokletije massif — a glacial trough of extraordinary beauty, accessible from Plav in under 30 minutes. Steep limestone walls rise on both sides, a series of glacial lakes sit at the head of the valley, and trails climb into the high mountain terrain toward the Albanian and Kosovo borders. The valley is one of the most dramatic and most genuinely wild places in Montenegro — visited by a fraction of the number who go to Durmitor, with a landscape that is arguably more impressive. TTM drops hikers and mountaineers directly at the Grebaje Valley entrance or at any guesthouse in the Plav municipality at the same fixed price.
Plav also carries particular significance for the Montenegrin diaspora — the families with roots in the Plav, Gusinje, and surrounding area who return every summer from New York, Chicago, and across Europe, often after years or decades abroad. The journey from Podgorica Airport to Plav is the final leg of a long trip home. TTM has driven that road for many of those families. We know what it means to arrive.
The youngest national park in Montenegro and one of the most remote — a UNESCO-nominated landscape of glacial lakes, limestone massifs, old-growth beech and fir forests, and the tri-border terrain where Montenegro, Albania, and Kosovo converge. Bears, wolves, golden eagles, and chamois live here in viable wild populations.
The primary gateway into the Montenegrin Prokletije — a glacial valley of exceptional dramatic beauty, accessible from Plav town in under 30 minutes. The combination of limestone walls, glacial lakes, high passes, and trails connecting to Albania and Kosovo makes it one of the finest hiking valleys in the Balkans. TTM drops hikers directly at the valley entrance.
The Balkan Peaks Trail is a long-distance hiking route connecting the mountain ranges of Montenegro, Albania, and Kosovo — one of the great trekking routes of southeastern Europe. The trail passes through Plav and the Grebaje Valley, making the town a key hub for multi-day trekkers crossing the region on foot. TTM covers transfers to and from all Balkan Peaks trailheads in the Plav area.
The glacial lakes of the Prokletije — Hridsko jezero and the lakes at the head of Grebaje Valley — are among the most extraordinary bathing and hiking destinations in Montenegro. Impossibly clear, startlingly cold even in July, set in a landscape of bare limestone and alpine meadow that has no equivalent elsewhere on the Montenegrin mountain circuit. You don't swim for long. You remember it for years.
Plavsko jezero — the glacial lake at the edge of Plav town — is calm, clear, and warm enough for comfortable swimming throughout the summer months. Kayak hire is available locally. The view from the lake surface — the Prokletije peaks reflected in still water, the town visible on the shore — is one of the defining images of eastern Montenegro. An evening on Plavsko jezero is the reward after a day in the high mountains.
The Dani Borovnice (Blueberry Days festival) in Plav is one of the most authentic and beloved local celebrations in Montenegro — held each summer when the mountain blueberries ripen on the Prokletije plateau. Local food, music, and the extraordinary produce of the highland make it an unmissable event for those who time their visit right. For the diaspora returning from America and Europe, Dani Borovnice is often the gathering that makes the long journey worthwhile.
The Balkan Peaks Trail is the premier long-distance hiking route in the western Balkans — a multi-country trail connecting the mountain ranges of Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia, linking the Prokletije in the north to the Šar Mountains and beyond in the south. The trail passes through Plav and the Grebaje Valley, using the high passes of the Prokletije massif as the crossing points between the three countries that share this remarkable mountain border.
For hikers doing the trail in its entirety, Plav is a natural hub — the point from which the Montenegrin section begins, and the base from which the Grebaje Valley and the Albanian border crossings are accessed. The trail continues into the Valbona Valley in Albania — one of the most celebrated mountain valleys in the western Balkans — and from there south through Albania toward Kosovo and beyond. TTM covers all stages of the transport logistics for Balkan Peaks Trail hikers:
Private taxi from Podgorica Airport (TGD) to Plav and directly to the Grebaje Valley trailhead — door to trailhead, fixed price, all hiking equipment included. The most straightforward way to begin the Montenegrin section of the Balkan Peaks Trail without bus connections or intermediate transfers.
For hikers continuing into Albania — or arriving from Albania to begin the Montenegrin section — TTM arranges private transfers from Plav to Valbona, Shkodër, and Tirana. The cross-border route via Čakor or Hani i Hotit is covered at fixed prices. Contact us via WhatsApp with your specific crossing point and dates.
For hikers arriving from or continuing to Kosovo — TTM covers the private transfer from Plav to Peć/Peja and Pristina via Rožaje. A natural extension of the Balkan Peaks Trail for those completing the full multi-country route. Contact us via WhatsApp for pricing and availability.
For hikers doing point-to-point sections who need their large luggage transported between trailheads while they walk — TTM can coordinate luggage transfer from one stage to the next, so you walk with a day pack and your gear meets you at the destination. Contact us to arrange.
The Montenegrin section of the Balkan Peaks Trail begins at or near Plav and traverses the Prokletije via the Grebaje Valley, crossing the high passes at the Albanian border. The crossing into Valbona (Albania) is the most popular border transition on the trail. Typical walking time from Plav/Grebaje to the Albanian border: 1-2 days depending on route and pace. TTM covers all transport logistics from Podgorica Airport to any point on this section at fixed prices — contact us with your itinerary and we will plan the transfers around your walk.
The mountain tracks around Plav and into the Prokletije are excellent quad and off-road terrain — a combination of highland meadows, forest roads, and rocky mountain sections that rewards exploration on four wheels. The views from the plateau above the valley are extraordinary. Local operators offer guided tours and hire from Plav.
Prokletije National Park is one of the last genuinely wild areas of the western Balkans — brown bears, wolves, golden eagles, chamois, and lynx live here in viable populations undisturbed by significant human pressure. Early mornings and evenings in the Grebaje Valley and the surrounding highland offer genuine wildlife encounter possibilities. This is not managed wildlife viewing — the animals are wild and the encounters are real.
In late July and August the Prokletije highland meadows are dense with wild blueberries — borovnice — in quantities that are genuinely extraordinary. Picking them in the morning sun, on a hillside above the glacial valley with the peaks visible above and the village below, is one of those simple pleasures that stays with visitors long after they have returned home.
For experienced mountaineers, the high Prokletije offers serious terrain — limestone walls, couloirs, and ridge traverses at altitudes above 2,400 metres. The Maja Kolata (2,528 m), the highest peak on the Montenegro–Albania border, and other major summits in the massif are accessible from the Grebaje Valley base. TTM drops climbers at the appropriate trailhead from Podgorica Airport.
The taxi Podgorica to Plav — the private taxi from Podgorica Airport (TGD) to Plav and Prokletije — covers approximately 140 km and takes around 2 hours and 15 minutes, following the Lim river valley through Andrijevica. There is no direct public bus from Podgorica Airport to Plav. TTM drops guests at Plav town, at the Grebaje Valley trailhead, at specific guesthouses in the municipality, or at any cross-border connection point — 24/7 at a fixed price. All hiking equipment is included in the transfer price. For cross-border transfers to Albania and Kosovo, contact us via WhatsApp with your specific itinerary.
~140 km · ~2h15min · Fixed price · Trailhead & guesthouse drop-off · Hiking gear included · Cash on arrival · 24/7
→ Full transfer details, FAQ & booking formTTM arranges private cross-border transfers from Plav to Albania (Valbona, Shkodër, Tirana) and to Kosovo (Peć/Peja, Pristina) — popular with Balkan Peaks Trail hikers and with the diaspora community visiting family across the region. Contact us via WhatsApp with your specific destination and dates for pricing and availability.