From Lake Skadar, to rare bird species, to the world-famous cat - there are numerous reasons why visitors from all over the world come to Virpazar.
Some happened to be there by chance this June, while others return year after year. The numbers are showing an increase, with tourism workers expecting more in the coming months.
Full of visitors or almost empty - this is how Virpazar looks at different times of the day. Crowds are visible for a few minutes, before tourists board boats that will take them on a tour of the Skadar Lake National Park, or set off to explore the untouched nature of Crmnica.
At the very entrance to the center of Virpazar, stands are lined up for the main tourist offer of this part of Bar, a cruise on Skadar Lake on wooden boats. The competition is fierce, say those involved in this business, but there is enough interest.
Although the start of the tourist season at the seaside worries caterers on the south side of the Sozina tunnel, "Vijesti"'s interlocutors from Virpazar claim that the number of visits is encouraging, and that they "lost" May due to weather conditions.
From the beginning to the end of May this year, 29.645 tourists visited the Skadar Lake National Park, while for the same period last year, the number was 24.008 visitors. This shows that the number of visitors in 2025 is 23,48 percent higher than last year.
This was stated to the newspaper by the National Parks of Montenegro, adding that in the first week of June there were 8.645 tourists, or 33,31 percent more than in the same period last year, when the park was visited by 6.485 visitors.
Slađana Petranović, president of the Virpazar Shipowners' Association, told "Vijesti" that they started offering tours of the lake in March, when the first tourists arrived. That month is especially beautiful, she thinks, because there aren't many boats and people, and there are mostly birds.
April was slightly weaker than last year, she said, while May was "surprisingly bad," which she blamed on the weather. The beginning of June, however, is making them happy, and they are hoping for a successful continuation of the summer season.
According to her, they are most often visited by the French, Germans, Poles, Dutch...
"These are people who are looking for nature. We have tourists from the region, but I think that Lake Skadar, and national parks in general, are not that interesting to guests from the region. People from Western Europe are more interested in it. I would single out the French and Germans, who I think are one of the strongest clientele here," said Petranović.
The lake is rich in flora and fauna, everyone can find something they like, she says. Visitors are mostly interested in bird watching, and tours are not uncommon where guests are interested in sights and history.
"The history of the lake is truly incredible. There are people who have studied and read about the lake and who come specifically to explore it. There are also people who just want to learn. The lake is visited by 280 species of birds during this period and you have to be patient with them. I think that says that the lake is the best habitat for birds, that tourism does not yet affect them that much," says Petranović.
What she noticed, and her colleagues confirmed, is that most of the guests who come to them are not accommodated in Bar, but in other coastal towns, or they come to Virpazar specifically from Albania, stopping by on their way there or from Greece.
Several shipowners told "Vijesti" that there are fewer and fewer people who come unannounced, and that most often reservations are made through social networks, apps or tourist tours.
The cat "guards" the Velji most bridge
Although the Crmnica region has, besides the lake, numerous other attractions to offer, such as local cuisine, camping, hiking trails, and unexplored nature, tourists are particularly interested in one (un)common phenomenon - a cat sleeping on a bridge.
As local residents told “Vijesti”, it is a cat named Slavijanka, who came to the center of Vir a few years ago, quickly chose the bridge as her favorite place and since then, when the weather permits, she spends all her time on it, mostly sleeping. She is even recognized on Google Maps, where one of “her” places on the bridge is marked as “Cat sleeping on the bridge”. Her popularity is evidenced by the large number of reviews and ratings on the Internet, where users “upload” her photos, often with a short description of how they noticed her, met her, where they found her, and whether she was sleeping or not.
That's exactly what several tourists did this weekend, who told a "Vijesti" reporter that they learned about Slavijanka from numerous blogs, articles, and other posts on the internet.
Came across by chance, stayed on purpose
Claire and Philippe from France happened to be in Virpazar. They started their month-and-a-half cycling trip in Italy, traveling through Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, before arriving in Montenegro.
Durres was their original plan - they wanted to pedal past Rijeka Crnojevića, that was their primary interest, and the route to the Albanian border was not important.
"We didn't plan to come to Virpazar, it was on the way. We've been here for two days now because I was too lazy to continue. Claire enjoys nature, the river, the lake. It's really nice," Filip told "Vijesti".
Claire, she said, explored the area on her own during their stay at a camp in Crmnica. She was delighted, she said, by the beauty of nature, the silence and peace.
"We saw a lot of advertisements for boat tours, but we didn't go. Probably the only ones here. We decided to see the lake and ride our bikes around its edge."
In Virpazar, they said, they ate good fish, saw beautiful nature and would definitely recommend the place to their friends. In France, they emphasized, Durmitor is very “famous” and popular as a tourist destination.
However, they bypassed it and decided to visit Lovćen and vacation in Virpazar, which, until they came across it, they didn't even know existed.
The manager of the camp where the young French couple stayed told the newspaper that such cases are common - guests arrive at their gate without even knowing what part of the country they are in.
However, there are more who do know, or who return often. She particularly highlighted cases in which some visitors find out about Virpazar through content shared on the internet by previous guests.
Primarily, her experience has shown, they come for the lake, but often stay longer than planned when they see that this area has numerous other natural resources to offer, and above all, peace and relaxation.
Lack of parking and flights are the biggest problems
"The biggest problem in Virpazar is parking, and the fact that we don't have flights from many countries," said Slađana Petranović, claiming that the parking problem in this part of the Bar municipality must be solved as soon as possible.
Ksenija Petranović, who lives in Virpazar, agrees, and thinks that parking is a challenge not only for the tourist season, but also for the local population. She says that a way should be found to ban cars from entering the center of Virpazar, since there is not enough parking, so visitors often park in front of local homes or along the already narrow streets.
This is also the opinion of NK from Crmnica, who believes that solving the parking problem in Virpazar is crucial for its survival. She believes that the misuse of public spaces for this purpose must also be stopped and parking zones must be properly regulated.
"I think it is also fatal, not only for the season in Virpaz, but for all of Montenegro, that we are limited by air traffic and have half as many available destinations as, say, Albania. Many guests come to us via Tirana, which reduces their stay by one or two days that guests, if they came from Podgorica airport, would spend here."
This interviewee emphasized that because of all this, Virpazar is becoming just a transit zone, for those who would otherwise spend a longer time there:
"I have a feeling that the season is becoming more and more transparent every year. Many agencies from the coast bring organized groups to tour the lake, on contracted rides. This creates the illusion of big tourism in Virpazar, and I think that only one or two boats benefit from these tours, and it creates a lot of congestion and congestion."
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