Raft and Canyon in Montenegro
Explore Montenegro's wild rivers and tackle the deepest and longest canyon in Europe
Raft and Canyon in Montenegro
Explore Montenegro's wild rivers and tackle the deepest and longest canyon in Europe
DURATION
3 nights
LOCATION
Montenegro
ANNUAL LEAVE
2 days off work
SEASON
Jul—Sep
GROUP SIZE
Up to 14 people
MEETING POINT
Dubrovnik Airport
ACCOMMODATION
Classic
Cabin · Hotel
DIFFICULTY
Moderate
No rafting or canyoning experience is needed, just a reasonable level of fitness and the ability to handle 3-4 hours of activity each day.
Escape to one of Europe's least-visited wildernesses, home to brown bear, grey wolf, European wildcat and golden eagles
Descend into the Tara River Canyon, the longest and deepest gorge in Europe and a UNESCO-protected biosphere
Visit the glacial, Zabljak (Black) Lake, set in a breath-taking landscape of deep forest and limestone mountains
Day 1
Into the forest
Driving
4-5hrs
Head to the banks of the Piva River and settle into your cabin in the forest - your home for the next three days! Relax around the campfire, listen to the babbling river and socialise with your fellow adventurers as the cook prepares your dinner.
Day 2
Rafting
Review safety procedures and equipment with your guides and then paddle down the mighty Tara River. You'll navigate 18km of flat water and exciting rapids surrounded by amazing natural beauty. Return to base for a well-deserved lunch and then spend the afternoon relaxing in the sunshine. In the evening, enjoy another delicious dinner while sharing stories around the campfire.
Day 3
Canyoning
Drive to the beautiful village of Poscenje and hike to the rarely-visited Nevidio Canyon where you'll slide, jump, wade, splash and crawl through a wonderland of water, rock and vegetation. Have lunch at a local restaurant and then drive to nearby Zabljak (Black) Lake for the afternoon. When you've had your fill of glacial swimming, spend the night in a hotel in nearby Zabljak town.
Day 4
Woodland walk and home
Relax over a last Montenegrin breakfast and then head off for a couple of hours walking before jumping in the van and returning to Dubrovnik for your flight home.
Please note that swimming at Black Lake (Day 3) and the woodland walk (Day 4) may be interchangeable depending on the group's departure times.
Included
Guides
Local, fully-qualified guides
Accommodation
2 nights in a cabin and 1 night in a hotel
Meals
Munch on tasty food throughout
Transfers
To and from the airport and everything in-between
Equipment
All your rafting and canyoning equipment
Permits
All park entry fees and taxes
Not Included
Flights to and from the meeting point
Travel insurance
Personal expenses
Visas where required
Day 1
Cabin · Twin or triple share
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 2
Cabin · Twin or triple share
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 3
Hotel · Twin or triple share
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 4
Departure day
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
What is the food like?
Typical breakfast: Tea and coffee, made-to-order omelettes, fresh doughnuts, fried eggs and bacon, ham and sausage, locally made cheese, granola, yoghurt, milk and fresh fruit. Typical lunch: Delicious soup, quality meat lamb or veal or trout in combination with various vegetables, and seasonal salad, and desert. Typical dinner: Freshly grilled local specialties like cevapi, pljeskavica, raznjici and musaka, or pasta with veggies, fresh salad and pastries.
Your chef uses local produce whenever possible and all food is freshly prepared. Special dietary requests can be accommodated, just let your host know beforehand.
Please be aware that meal times tend to be later in Montenegro than what you may be accustomed to at home. It's not uncommon for lunch to be served mid-afternoon or dinner to start beyond 21:00.
What is the accommodation like?
In the forest
You’ll stay in wooden pioneer cabins in a purpose-built area near the Bosnia Herzegovina border. Designed to get you up-close and in harmony with the natural, riverside setting, these cabins have 2, 3 or 4 single beds, while others have double beds and are more suitable for couples.
Final Night
To maximise your time canyoning, on your final night you’ll stay in a lovely hotel in the town of Zabljak, most likely in Hotel Zlatni Bor or similar.
Upgrades
For solo travellers looking for their own space, there is an option to upgrade to a private room (subject to availability) - see Optional Extras for prices. Just request at the time of booking.
The Area
Logistics
Starts
Dubrovnik Airport (DBV)
16:00
Ends
Dubrovnik Airport (DBV)
15:30
Transfers
Your host will pick you up and drop you off at the airport. If you are staying in Dubrovnik before the trip or after, there are regular buses from the airport into town that cost approx. 5Euros a journey. At the end of the trip, please book a flight that departs after 17:30.
Travel options
Dubrovnik Airport is served by regular flights from airports across the UK and Europe.
Enjoy 12.5% Off Outdoor Gear
In need of a few more items? All bookings receive a 12.5% discount to use at Cotswold Outdoor, Snow + Rock and Runner's Need.
What's included?
- All your rafting, canyoning and safety equipment (this includes wetsuit, wet booties, anorak, life jacket)
What do I need to bring?
- Breathable, quick-drying, sport clothes
- Hiking boots and slippers (you will be provided with neoprene booties)
- Swimsuit (towels will be provided by your host)
- Sun protection (hat, sunglasses, sunblock)
- Warm layer for evenings by the river and a jacket
- A light rucksack to take to the second rafting camp (your luggage will be safely stored at the Waterfall Rafting Centre)
- Cash for any extra bits you'd like to buy. There is a cash-only bar on site, but no card-payment facilities are available.
Optional Private Room Upgrade
Payable Before Departure
Optional Private Room Upgrade
… Per Person
The trip was fantastic, highlight definitely the canyoning, it had everything. The host Milada at the chalet was friendly, very attentive and couldn’t be more helpful, all staff including the drivers were great and the instructors were excellent and the equipment was good.
Great people, great guides, incredible scenery! Loved the semi camping/hut (glamping) experience and the chilled feel of the place. A chance to get a flavour of the local culture. Don't think, book it!
This is an outstanding trip with an amazing and wonderful host (Milada). Milada always go beyond the call of duty. We had a fabulous few days and the canyoning trip was the highlight for most. This is a trip with basic accommodation and significant time in a minibus. If you are comfortable with that and have an average or better Le vel of fitness, just book it! Our party of 11 loved every minute.
Excellent experience in itself, booking process and comms can be improved a little
An excellent balance of activities and beautiful scenery in a less well travelled part of Europe. The canyoning in particular was great fun but hard work at times - a great balance for this kind of adventure activity trip. The location for the Waterfall Centre was amazing and waking up to the sounds of the waterfall across the river was something which you don't get many places in the world! I great bunch of people made this a memorable and enjoyable taster of activities on (and in) the water.
Milada is the most wonderful, hospitable and personable host and cares deeply about her guests. The waterfall centre is a magical, cosy place where you feel as if you are away from it all. Be aware that if you want adrenaline-pumping rafting, go at the start of the season when the river levels are higher. September is ideal for a more gentle experience. The Nevidio Canyoning experience was awe-inspiring - its' the 2nd deepest canyon in the world and you'll feel the majesty of it as you climb, slide and jump your way through. You need a reasonable aerobic fitness level for this activity as there's a 45-minute hike uphill afterwards and you'll be tired from your canyoning. The Canyoning guide we had was certainly not Mr Smiles & Small Talk, but he was very competent and experienced. The level of kit for each part of the adventure is high quality - you won't be cold. The food at the Waterfall Centre is fabulous - especially loved the breakfast buffet. The accommodation at the waterfall centre is delightful. You'll feel like you're in the middle of nowhere and you may not want to leave!
Brilliant experience. Montengro is beautiful. Rafting was fun and canyoning was excellent, (not for the faint hearted and a lot more physical compared to the rafting) and a lot of fun. Our host Milada in the rafting centre was great, nothing was too much trouble. An unforgettable experience with a great group of people
Beautiful locations, great activities with very good guides at both locations.
Incredible trip. Amazing to everything sorted for you. The canyoning was unreal - stunning location and a good amount of adventure. The rafting was chilled but beautiful. The food and accommodation included was excellent too.
Absolutely incredible experience. Loved all of it. I wasn’t expecting to be so well fed on the trip too. Truly wonderful experience I will never forget
We've crunched the numbers to work out the total carbon footprint of this trip, and plant enough trees to suck 2x as much back out the atmosphere.
What's the number?
It works out on average at 176kg of CO2 emissions per person, including all local transport, accommodation, food, activities, guides, staff and office operations.
The only thing it doesn’t include right now is flights and travel to the destination. We do make an overall estimate across all our customers separately, but as we don’t book flights, have customers from all corners of the world, and no way of reliably knowing their travel plans, we simply can’t include an individual number in the figure on display here. We’ve got a goal for 2022 to fix that, so that when you book, there is a way to measure and mitigate the carbon emitted by your flight too.
But what does the number mean?
Yep, hard to picture eh? To give you an idea:
- Driving 1000miles/1609km would be approx. 281kg of CO2 in an average car (or 140.5kg per person if there was 2 of you in it).
- A return economy class flight London - New York would be approx. 1,619kg (1.66 tonnes) per person.
- 10 trees in a temperate forest are estimated to remove approx. 250kg of CO2 from the air in a period of 5-10 years.
What are we doing about it?
Our trips are relatively low-carbon by design, and we're working with all our hosts to develop long term carbon reduction plans. For every person booked with us since 2016 we’re planting enough trees to suck at least 2x more carbon out the atmosphere than is emitted by their trips. All native trees, as part of amazing projects that are re-foresting degraded land, tackling the biodiversity crisis and supporting local communities at the same time. We go further than that too, also funding re-wilding projects worldwide to help protect important keystone species from extinction. See the reforestation and re-wilding schemes we support. See our carbon action plan.
Want to know more?
Amazingly, no international travel company has ever publicly published their carbon measurements before, as far as we know. We believe that must change, quickly. So we’re openly sharing the method we used in the hope that other companies will be able to more easily follow suit and build on what we've done so far. You'll find it all here.
No rafting or canyoning experience is needed, just a reasonable level of fitness and the ability to handle 3-4 hours of activity each day. Participants for canyoning must be over 18 years old, able to swim and not suffer from any kind of heart or lung diseases.
Nevidio Canyon is 2.7km long and in some places squeezes down to just 0.5m wide. You'll be swimming through narrow sections, jumping into pools, wading and diving your way through, however, your guide will always be on hand to help you cross every obstacle. The water is chilly in the canyon, but wetsuits will be provided.
You'll raft an 18km section of the Tara River with 21 sets of grade 3 and 4 rapids. These are big enough to get the heart racing and challenge even experienced rafters but are not out of reach of the adventurous amateur.
Sure can! Over 50% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.
Summer is the best season to explore the mountains of Montenegro. The average temperature is around 25 degrees, but at night it cools down so you may want to bring warm clothing for sitting around the campfire.
You can leave your excess luggage at your host's eco-lodge on the banks of the Piva River for the first 2 nights. On Day 3, your luggage will be travelling with you to Zabljak.
Our recommended travel insurance provider is Campbell Irvine.
Travel insurance is compulsory on all of our adventures. Your insurance should include adequate protection for overseas medical treatment, evacuation/repatriation, your baggage and equipment and the specific activities involved on your adventure.
Your insurance policy should also include specific Covid-19 cover, including cancellation and curtailment cover if you, your travel companion or a close relative are diagnosed with Covid-19.
We fully endorse Campbell Irvine as their insurance offers all of the above, so get in touch with them or call on 020 7938 1734 to get your insurance sorted. We suggest that you book travel insurance as soon as you book your adventure, just to cover you for any last minute life changes. We know you’re an active lot and injuries do happen!
We automatically convert prices from the local currency that a host receives to your chosen currency. We update our exchange rates on a daily basis so this does mean that prices displayed on the site are subject to currency fluctuations, which is why you may see them change over time.
If you wish to change the currency you pay in, head to the bottom of the page.
All of our group adventures are specially designed for adults to enjoy (18+) as we want these adventures to bring together outdoorsy people who are truly like-minded. Children can be accommodated on some private departures.
You're in good company. Our adventures are typically made up of a mix of solo travellers and small groups of two or three friends who simply love adventure, pushing themselves and meeting awesome like-minded people. See here for more info about our lovely bunch of Much Better Adventurers.
Want to book a private trip? Just tap ‘Private Group’ in the dates and prices tab.
Your trip is led by carefully curated local hosts and expert guides. See here for more info about the guides we work with.
Full Financial Protection
Your money is safe. Every booking is fully financially protected.
Pay In Installments
You can choose to pay for this trip in as many installments as you like, with no interest or fees.
