OZU /MONTENEGRO /PODGORICA /GUIDE
From Podgorica airport to the city
1 h route4 stopsBest: The train is hourly: check the timetable before leaving the terminalUpdated July 2026
Twelve kilometres separate Podgorica airport from the centre, and the first thing to know is what there ISN’T: there’s no regular city bus to the terminal. None. That reduces the matter to two options, and one of them depends on whether you’re willing to walk a quarter of an hour with your suitcase.
It’s a small airport and that works in your favour: you get out fast, the taxis are at the door and there’s no maze. What there isn’t is the network of options you’re used to in a European capital, and it’s worth having decided before you land rather than improvising on the kerb.
The route, stop by stop
4 STOPS- 01
The taxi: the practical option
With twelve kilometres and no city bus, the taxi is what there is, and for most people it’s the right answer: fifteen or twenty minutes to the centre and done. The taxis wait outside the terminal and nothing needs booking.
The only precaution is textbook and it matters here: agree the price before getting in, not on arrival. Settling the figure on the kerb, suitcase still in hand, is what removes the problem. Arguing it at the door is what creates it. It isn’t suspicious advice, it’s what everyone does.
And if you land at night, this has no alternative at all: the train isn’t round the clock and the bus doesn’t exist.
- 02
The train: seven minutes, and a fifteen-minute walk
A station carries the name Aerodrom and it misleads a lot of people, so here’s the fact that decides: it isn’t at the terminal. It’s about a fifteen-minute walk. That walk, with a suitcase and in the heat this place gets in summer, is the entire question.
If you accept it, what you get is notable: there’s an hourly train and it’s seven minutes to Podgorica, for barely more than a euro. It is, by a very long way, the cheapest way into the city, and in a country that uses the euro without being in the eurozone that figure needs no conversion.
The condition is the usual one with hourly services: check the timetable BEFORE setting off, because turning up at the halt and waiting fifty minutes in the sun turns the bargain into a punishment. With light luggage and the timetable on your side, it’s the best option at the airport.
- 03
Podgorica station, and why it matters
The airport train drops you at Podgorica station, and there’s a convenience there worth using: the intercity bus station is right next door. Almost everything you’ll want to do in this country leaves from that same point.
That makes the arrival more than a transfer.
If your plan is to use Podgorica as a base (and it’s what nearly everyone does, because the whole country fits into day trips) this is the hub: the buses to Kotor, Budva and Cetinje go from here, and the rail line to Bar goes from here too, stopping at Virpazar, the gateway village to Lake Skadar. Knowing it’s all in the same block saves you planning transport separately.
- 04
The line to Bar, which is a trip in itself
The track you arrive on from the airport is part of the Belgrade-Bar line, and that isn’t a trainspotter’s footnote: it’s one of the most brutal engineering jobs Yugoslavia ever did. It crosses two-thousand-metre mountains with tunnels and viaducts chained together, and it was finished in 1976 after decades.
The famous piece is the Mala Rijeka viaduct, north of Podgorica, which spans nearly two hundred metres of air and was the highest railway viaduct in the world when it opened, in 1973. You see it from the train heading towards Kolašin or Belgrade, not towards the coast.
And the other way, the Podgorica-Bar stretch drops to the Adriatic via Virpazar, on Lake Skadar. That an airport run leaves you on a line like this is a coincidence, but it’s worth knowing before deciding how to move around the country.
Frequently asked
How do you get from Podgorica airport to the centre?
There are two options and no city bus: it doesn’t exist. The taxi is twelve kilometres and fifteen or twenty minutes, and you should agree the fare before getting in. The alternative is the train: the halt is called Aerodrom but it’s about a fifteen-minute walk from the terminal, once there, trains run hourly and it’s seven minutes to Podgorica for barely more than a euro.
Is there a train at Podgorica airport?
There’s a halt called Aerodrom, but it isn’t inside the airport: it’s about a fifteen-minute walk from the terminal, and that walk with a suitcase is what decides whether it works for you. If you accept it, it’s by far the cheapest: hourly trains, seven minutes to Podgorica. Check the timetable before setting off.