Mojkovac

Mojkovac is a small mountain town in northern Montenegro, set in the upper Tara valley at around 800 metres, between the resort areas of Kolašin and Žabljak. The river runs clear and cold along the edge of town before entering the canyon downstream, and forested ridges rise on both sides. It is a working town rather than a tourist one, compact and inexpensive, and that makes it an unusually practical base for the mountains around it. Its name carries weight in Montenegrin history. The Battle of Mojkovac was fought here in January 1916, when the Montenegrin army held off a far larger Austro-Hungarian force to cover the retreat of the Serbian army through Albania — a stand remembered every January and marked by the memorial above the town. Mining history runs deeper still: medieval Brskovo, a few kilometres away, was one of the largest mining settlements in the Balkans in the thirteenth century, with silver and lead worked under the Nemanjić kings and a mint of its own. The town's greatest asset is Biogradska Gora National Park, whose entrance lies a short drive south. It protects one of the last primeval forests in Europe, with beech, maple and fir left standing for centuries, and the glacial Lake Biograd in a bowl of trees at its heart — an easy circular walk, and the start of harder routes onto Bjelasica. Rafting trips on the Tara set off from this stretch of river, hiking and mountain-bike trails run in every direction, and the ski slopes above Kolašin are twenty minutes away. Mojkovac suits travellers who want mountains, forest and river without resort prices, and families who plan to move around rather than settle on one beach. Summer and early autumn are the peak of the walking and rafting season; winter brings deep snow, cold nights and easy access to skiing.