Bar
From MyVacationsTo
Bar (Serbian Cyrillic: Бар) is a coastal town in Montenegro. It has a population of 13,719 (2003 census). Bar is the centre of Bar municipality and a major seaport of Montenegro.
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[edit] Get in
[edit] By train
Bar is the final destination of the overnight train that runs from Subotica across all of Serbia and Montenegro ending in Bar. The trip, including a sleeper car, costs about 25 EUR.
[edit] By boat
Bar is a major port for Serbia and Montenegro. It is possible to take a ferry to Italy from Bar.
[edit] Get around
When you definitely decide that you'll spend your summer vacation on the Montenegrin coast, and after you choose a town in which you'll stay, question like: how to fulfill your time in best possible way, or how to see and experience attractions and beauties of Montenegro may seem important. The majority of tourists make a decision for a certain tourist destination by leafing through catalogs, watching the photos of magnificent sites over the Internet, but there are also those who chose the town in which they will stay during the summer on an inducement of a friend. If some of the mentioned ways becomes the reason of your coming to Bat, we believe that after several pleasantly spent days in swimming and sunbathing on some of the 20 Bar beaches you'll wish to discover some other exciting tourist destination, both in Bar and its nearer or farther vicinity. Those who always put the sign of equality between relaxation and adventure would say, why not? And indeed you can create such holiday for yourself, which doesn't require too much of an effort.
Beside the enjoying and swimming on the city or hotel beaches, one day of your vacation, you can for e.g. devote to exploring of coastal parts of town Bar. The easiest way to do that is to rent some tourist taxi boat or barge and with the skillful assistance of an experienced captain, tour guide or maybe your host at whose private house or hotel you are staying, and then you can explore Bar strands, hidden crags, caves or some other nook that maybe is just waiting for you.
If you're not too curious, and your soul is seeking for rest and tranquility, we are sure that the ride with taxi boat or barge to some hidden cove, to cape Ratac or to the beaches in Canj or Sutomore will do you good. When you reach the destination, you'll quickly find a suitable place where you can read some summer bestseller or favorite vocational literature in silence.
If you really wish that several days of your vacation look more original, then we recommend that you go to some of the numerous tourist agencies in Bar and ask around about the possibilities of the organization of excursions. The excursions that are most frequently offered by tourist agencies are to: Virpazar, Rijeka Crnojevica, Skadar Lake, Cetinje, Montenegrin monasteries on the coast or in the interior, rafting on the river Tara… The drive to the above mentioned destinations is organized in luxurious buses or van transport. Tourist programs which apart from the excursions, whose purpose is getting to know the cultural and historical monuments or more important tourist towns of Montenegro, contain various lunch breaks, refreshment pauses... are often sold on taxi or bus stations in town, so it is possible to get a reservation or pay directly at the owner of the tourist van taxi.
Agencies also offer the possibility of the organization of one day trips by bus to Dubrovnik or Tirana, and harbor tourist agencies often advertise attractive 2 day trips with luxurious boats which stage towards Italy on line Bar – Bari or Bar – Ancona.
A very significant place for the navigators (sailors) and devotees to the sea, and especially for the tourist from Italy is harbor of Bar, which is a special yachting center. Across the passengers floodgate of the harbor for already 40 years the passenger's relation between Montenegro and Italy is successfully carried out. The most significant place in the setting of the harbor is Bar's marina, the biggest marina in Montenegro. Its capacity is 900 pier pillars. Since 2004 beside the already mentioned marina there is also marina St. Nikola, property of the company OMC. The marina St. Nikola is unique on the Mediterranean because in harbor hangars it owns winter quarters for yachts, as well as the biggest travel lift of weight of 260 tones. Passengers` line Bar –Bari and Bar – Ancona is maintained every day during the summer period, while during the autumn, winter and spring months, passenger ships operate on that relation only two days a week.
If you do not wish to leave the coast, then there are numerous ways that the several days of your summer vacation you reserve for acquainting with the other towns of the Montenegrin South. With you personal or cab transportation you can go to Petrovac very quickly. It is just about 15 kilometers away from Bar, and in it you can find nicely arranged beaches, on which you can swim and sunbathe all day long. If you continue you search for new destinations, after Petrovac at about 20 kilometers further is Budva, the metropolis of the Montenegrin tourism and the most visited summer destination. Also, by using various kind of transportation you can reach ancient Kotor, pleasant Mediterranean town Tivat or Herceg Novi. If you wish to go in a quite opposite direction, using your personal car, a taxi or a tourist taxi van, we recommend that you feel the spirit of Orient in the ancient Ulcinj.
If the first days of your summer vacation make a “sea addict”, it would be good that after the tours of Bar beaches, strands or coves, you embark yourself on some tourist boat and go for a cruise to Ulcinj or maybe Budva, Kotor, Herceg Novi and where ever the trip leads you.
For the tourist for whom walking or fast-paced walking have never been a problem, we suggest that you spend one day in nature, which you can only find on Montenegrin coast, more precisely we suggest that you visit the fortress Haj – Nehaj in place Sutomore. The fortress that was initially owned by Venetians and then by the Turks, today it is almost completely neglected and is situated on a hill. The fortress is very well seen from the highway Bar – Petrovac and vice versa. That is a place which can be very interesting because of its thick vegetation which surround the fortress, as well as for the uphill towards it, which surely to the supporters of walking and of healthy life will not be a problem.
[edit] See
The Oldest Olive tree in the world is a must see! It is old between 2000 and 2500 years. In the Port of Bar you can see a lot of great ships, beautiful yachts and small fishing boats.
[edit] Do
[edit] Buy
As Bar is a famous Montenegrin harbor, the number of trading shop in it is much bigger, than in some other coastal towns. The biggest and the best selection of clothes, footwear, sports equipment, and food products… you can find in the majority of stores that are situated in the very center of Bar. On both sides of the wide boulevards in Bar there are shops in which mostly and most often you can find clothes, which are produced by the world and the European fashion designers. If you are an incurable supporter of Italian designers, then you'll be glad to hear that in almost all boutiques in Bar you can find exactly those pieces of fashion clothes which, let say, you could buy in Rome, Milan, Bari...
Striving to satisfy the need more and more choosier buyers, the owners of Bar trade shops and boutiques, using the steamship lines to Italy, often go to Bari or Ancona, so their store windows are always filled with the newest pieces of Italian clothes, footwear or gallantry.
Except the fact that they are trying to fulfill high criteria of the regular consumers, and especially of the female world, Bar merchants are more and more trying that in the wide assortment of their products, one can find a good selection of modern children and men clothes, footwear, and gallantry. Especially during the summer period, Bar boutiques are much attended, and mostly because of the very big and quality selection of the newest models of bathing suites. Save the boutiques, in Bar one can find a great number of other selling objects: souvenir shops, jewelry shops, photo shops, commissions, food stores, various hair and cosmetic saloons, toy shops…
If the buying of the branded clothing for you is an unnecessary expense, then you can visit stands with clothes and footwear, that are placed next to Bar's green market, which is few hundred meters away from the center of Bar. Except the stands with clothes and footwear, you can some across the salesman of the handicraft products, objects d`art and souvenirs, so if you have extra time, maybe that type of shopping could be interesting for you.
For many, rather often and for the famous world centers it is said that beside its: culturally – historical monuments are famous for their various markets. You should believe that it is the case with Bar, because its green market is well-stocked with all Mediterranean fruits, vegetables, fish, different kinds of meat, dairy products…Especially on Saturday the market in Bar is swarmed with both local residents and great number of people from other coastal towns, with foreign and domestic tourists. One can hear some very interesting conversations between agricultural manufacturers, merchants, buyers … English, German, Italian, Albanian language… To those who for the first time visit Bar, we are sure that the real attraction will be the saleswomen on the markets – dresses by the traditional Muslim customs, women covered with white kerchief, with pantaloons or in long skirts of different colors.
The spirit of the Orient which is typical for the Montenegrin town Ulcinj, is also a characteristic of Bar, so you'll easily find various pastry shops with famous sweet (Turkish) tidbits, pie shops (burekdzinica), but also in Bar there are numerous restaurants in which you can try the famous Mediterranean fish specialties.
[edit] Eat
In Bar Riviera we have a great number of various resort compounds in which you can taste different kinds of sweet and salty specialties, traditional Montenegrin and numerous Mediterranean meals. Soups, thick soups, Mediterranean vegetables, fish prepared in various ways: cooked, salted, roasted, fried, grilled..., all kinds of meat, salty pies, fruit delicacies, sweet cookies... and what else to add to this great list, which eternally lures our stomach as well as senses of smell and taste, except that you can try every single one of these if you definitely decide to spend your next yearly vacation in Bar.
If your visit to some tourist destination is simply unimaginable without so-called „traditional lunch or supper“ which means, specialties of the region in which you're staying, then the best solution is to visit famous hotels in Bar like: “Topolica“, “Korali“, “Biserna obala“, or some private hotel objects, and convince yourself that only in them fish can be tasteful when it swims three times: in the sea, in oil and in wine; or how grilled meat, as well as veal chop or cutlets, have a specially pleasant smell because it is prepared by skilful cooks from Bar. If to this magnificent menu we add meals prepared out of sea products, spiced with garlic, rosemary, lime, white wine, parsley or with some other typically Mediterranean spice, the invitation to try out the octopus salad or mussels fried with bread crumbs, should be enough to immediately bring you to some of the marvelous Bar restaurants like: “Knjazeva basta“(“The Prince's garden“), “Borselina“, “Gurman“(“Gourmet“), “Kalampera“ or maybe tavern "Canj“. Of course, these are just some of the suggestions, because the number of resort compounds in Bar that should be visited is much greater.
If you wish to try out a typically Mediterranean meal, which is rarely prepared, then we're suggesting you that among numerous taverns that you‘ll find in Bar, you make up your mind for one in which it is possible to order a salted anchovy. Namely, that meal is prepared in such a way that anchovy – freshly taken out of the sea, without additional processing, is washed, cleaned and quite salted with sea salt. Then it is put in a deep wooden barrel, to stay there for a while. This meal is usually served as a pre-course, and it is recommended to persons who like quality food, and especially to those tourists who equally enjoy in a good meal as well as in a good drink.
For those with somewhat modest financial abilities, in Bar there are a great number of objects which offer fast food like: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, pizzas, hot-dog...
Still, if you take a walk along the Bar Riviera, especially the part from Sutomore to Bar, you'll find a large number of smaller resort compounds such as restaurants, pizzerias, snack-bars... in which you can have a nice lunch or dinner too.
In Bar there is a great number of pizzerias, in which you can order all kinds of Italian pizzas, lasagnas, spaghettis as well as some other paste specialties.
In many parts of the town there are famous pastry shops or café clubs, in which, especially during the summer months you can comfortably drink up various cocktails, ness or espresso coffee, cappuccino, fruit juices, or you can sweeten yourself with some fruit cookie, cake or ice cream.
If you wish to satisfy your senses with the spirit of Orient, then it is best that you search for several traditional resort compounds in which you can try out perfect sweets like: baklavas, tulumbs, dates, walnut sweets…
So, simply said, when it is about cooking, in Bar everything is in service of its royalty – the guest.
[edit] Drink
[edit] Sleep
Even though Bar compared to the other towns of the Montenegrin coast can't pride itself with numerous hotels that because of the quality of service and fulfillment of the tourist standards of the modern guests are evaluated with 4 or 5 stars, in the majority of hotels in Bar you still can spend a pleasant summer or winter holiday.
On Bar Riviera there are several big private hotels, as well as the hotels that are in the property of the state. More exactly, in Bar at the moment there are 27 hotels. The majority of the hotel capacities have 3 and 2 stars. The commission for the quality and the standardization found that the municipality of Bar has a disposal of 5.200 hotel beds, 3.000 resort beds and 30.000 beds in private accommodation.
The majority of hotels in Bar, which according to evaluation of the above mentioned commission, got 3 stars are situated in Sutomore, a place that can be considered suburb of Bar. Those hotels are: “Korali“( “the Corals“), “ Mirela“, hotel “Topolica“ in the center of Bar, hotel “Vidikovac“ and the tourist place “Zlatna obala“ (“Golden shore“), also in Sutomore.
Fifteen hotels in Bar have 2 stars for the quality, among them are: hotel “Adria“, hotel “Niksic”, tourist place “Biserna obala” (“Pearly coast”) Canj, hotel “Sozina” Sutomore, and also hotel “Juzno more” (“South sea”) Sutomore. In Bar there are 7 hotels with one star, and we can single out: hotel “Galeb” (“Gull”) Canj, the boarding house “Hrast” (“Oak”) Sutomore and hotel “Palas”.
Even though the majority of hotels in Bar is opened during the whole year, guests still mostly choose for their staying several hotels in Bar, among which is hotel “Topolica” in the center of Bar, which has 3 stars. Hotel “Topolica" is situated in the vicinity of the seashore, it has 300 beds, and for the visitors and tourists it is opened during the whole year. It owns very comfortable rooms and apartments, a restaurant, aperitif, and a snack bar, an opened swimming pool, a congress room, and sport terrains. Hotel “Inex Zlatna obala” (Inex golden coast) is situated in Sutomore, at the very shore of the sea. It has 3 stars, 800 beds, a closed swimming pool and a hall for 300 persons. Also very nicely arranged hotel “Sidro” (“Anchor”) is situated in Sutomore. It is opened over the whole year and it has 230 beds, 2 restaurants, 2 terraces, a tavern, and sport terrains. Next to a beautiful sandy Sutomore beach hotel “Korali” is situated. It owns 832 beds. Beside the restaurants and the aperitif bar, hotel “Korali” has a night bar, tennis terrains, and children playgrounds… In the vicinity of the hotel “Korali” is also hotel “Sozina”, which has 88 beds, a restaurant, summer open-air restaurant and its own parking lot.
On the coast in Sutomore there is hotel “Niksic” with 287 beds in 106 rooms and 8 apartments. It owns a restaurant, a nicely arranged terrace, a nightclub and a parking lot. In the place called Utjeha, on the 12 th kilometer of the highway Bar – Ulcinj, hotel “Vidikovac" is situated. Hotel is opened during the whole year; it has 40 beds in two-bedded rooms, a restaurant, a nicely arranged terrace as well as a parking lot.
Beside the mentioned hotels, in Bar and the surroundings exists a great number of mostly private, luxuriously equipped hotels, which in their offer, beside the standard tourist offer, have saunas, jims, beauty saloons, parking garages, children playgrounds and playgrounds for fun…
Beside the hotel accommodation, in Bar municipality, the accommodation in private houses and villas is very well developed. Even though the precise data would show much more, it is considered that in private accommodation in Bar there are 30.000 beds. The great number of rooms and apartments in Bar municipality that are rented are mostly situated in the suburb of Bar, in places Sutomore, Canj, as well as in town places from which the most famous one is Susanj. In the private accommodation, in contrast to the hotel one you can spend your vacation for somewhat accessible prices. The rooms are mostly of the first and second category, but if you wish for a vacation in a luxurious accommodation, then we suggest that you spend your staying in some of the numerous villas, which Bar as well as suburbia settlements abound in. The information about private accommodation you can seek in Bar tourist agencies or in the Tourist organization of the town Bar. Also, such information can be given to you by helpful citizens of Bar in person, in cafes, on the streets, in stores…
What is also a characteristic of Bar and the surroundings, whether it is about hotels or private houses in which you intend to spend your summer vacation, are the trees of thick Mediterranean vegetation that are placed in front of almost every house, hotel or restaurant. Save the olive trees, Bar is famous by palm trees, oleanders, mimosas and other Mediterranean plants, which decorate the vicinity of the coast as well as suburbia settlements in Bar.
[edit] Get out
There are frequent buses that run up and down the Montenegro coast.