Mojkovac

Mojkovac is a small town on the upper Tara in northern Montenegro, at about 800 m, between Kolasin and Bijelo Polje. It is roughly 90 minutes from Podgorica and sits on both the main northern road and the Belgrade–Bar railway.

In January 1916 the Montenegrin army held off a far larger Austro-Hungarian force here over two days of fighting in deep snow, covering the retreat of the Serbian army through Albania. The battle is a fixed point in national memory, marked by a monument above town.

A medieval mining town just outside Mojkovac, worked from the 13th century by Saxon miners for silver and lead. It was among the largest mines in the medieval Balkans and had its own mint. Little stands today, but the site is signposted.

It is one of the usual starting points. The Tara canyon proper begins downstream, and operators run trips from here through the upper stretches. Spring meltwater gives the fastest water; late summer is gentler and better for families.

Biogradska Gora national park, with its old-growth forest and lake, is a short drive south. Bjelasica rises directly behind the town for walking in summer and skiing in winter, and the Tara itself is fished for trout.

It is a practical, inexpensive base for the Tara and Bjelasica rather than a destination. Rooms cost less than in Kolasin a few kilometres away, and the same mountains and rafting stretches are within easy reach.