We were delighted to run our first Montenegro trip last week!

Why Montenegro?

We started Montenegro trips because we wanted a destination that was relatively close to the UK with affordable flights where people could visit for a long weekend. Flights from London or Manchester to Tivat take just under 3 hours and cost around £200 return. It was also important to have another destination which was different enough to the UK to feel like a change of culture, geography, language, food etc but had enough familiarity to avoid huge culture shock for a short trip.

The old town in Kotor with the mountains immediately behind

Why did we choose Kotor?

Two reasons; one, because the only deaf school in Montenegro is located there and, two, it’s a stunningly beautiful town. With the Adriatic sea in front and the black mountains behind it has a unique and dramatic setting. All VoluntEars trips include time helping at a local deaf school or association – we love connecting deaf communities from different parts of the world, sharing sign languages and experiences and spending time together feels enriching and rewarding.

The trip ran from Thursday to Sunday with some people deciding to stay an additional day or two at the end. 4 day trips can be easier to fit into life – less time away from families and less holiday required off work or studies.

Our group was made up of 14 people; 7 deaf or hard-of-hearing people and 7 hearing people, including a CODA and several people at different stages of learning BSL, from complete beginners to qualified interpreters.

Some of the group exploring the old town city walls in Kotor on the VoluntEars Montenegro trip

Day 1 – Thursday 10th April 2025

A busy morning of arrivals – all the flights were to Tivat which is a 20 minute drive from our accommodation in Kotor. VoluntEars Director Richard Clowes was leading the trip along with Mel Demetriou who was the Communicator on this trip. They both met everyone at the airport on arrival and brought them back to the accommodation by private minibus.

4 people were diverted to a different airport because of bad weather and then brought over by bus which added a couple of hours to their journeys but meant they saw all the beautiful countryside along the way!

Our accommodation was in family-owned apartments 5 mins drive along the seafront from Kotor old town, slightly up a hill with a beautiful sea view and private balconies for the rooms. What a lovely place to sit and watch the boats coming and going.

Photo showing the view from a balcony at the accommodation used for the VoluntEars Montenegro trip in April 2025

This afternoon we visited the Kotor Old Town known as Stari Grad – it’s a small walled city full of narrow cobbled streets (all pedestrianised) which open up into squares containing cafes and restaurants. All this is encircled by the protective city walls which we walked along to see the view of the harbour outside the walls (with neat lines of beautiful boats moored along floating pontoons) and look down into the old town inside.

Kotor harbour just outside the old city walls on the VoluntEars Montenegro trip

Day 2 – Friday 11th April 2025

After a breakfast of muesli, fruits, cold meats and cheeses, omelettes, bread, jams, tea coffee and juices it was off to school for the morning.

We had two classes of deaf students, one with older students up to 17 years old and one with younger students below 10 years old. Assisted by teachers Ivana, Ivana (yes there are really two Ivana’s!) and Ulja we set to work!

Our volunteers split into two groups and did a BSL–Montenegrin Sign Language class with the older students and loads of activities with the younger ones. These included making lume bands, playing Dobble and Uno, along with lots of other crafting activities.

There was LOTS of laughter, with the older students teaching us their signs for colours, days of the week, months of the year, fingerspelling their alphabet and much more. We discovered that in Montenegro they don’t use the letters X or Y. Who knew! Check out the video below to see some of their signs.

After lunch at school, we walked down to the harbour where VoluntEars had arranged a private speed boat trip from Kotor to a tiny island called Our Lady of The Rocks (which has a tiny chapel on it, photos below) and then across to a cute little village by the sea called Perast (where they do very good icecreams!) before heading back home with the occasional spray of water and scream of laughter from our group!

The day wasn’t over yet! Not wanting our group to miss anything, VoluntEars then guided a walk up the hills behind Old Town. 1,200 steps later we reached the old castle, high above the town, and all collapsed in happy exhaustion to soak in the amazing view of Kotor and the sea below, with the sun setting over the mountains in the distance. What a great way to finish the day!

Admiring the view of Kotor in Montenegro from the castle above the city

Day 3 – Saturday 12th April 2025

After breakfast we left Kotor town in our private minibus and drove up into the mountains. The road went up a steep mountainside around 16 hairpin bends with the views getting better and better all the way as we drove higher and higher.

After an hour we reached Mount Lovcen national park where we walked up about 600 steps to the mausoleum for Petar I Petrović-Njegoš who was a famous Montenegrin poet and philosopher and then to the view point at 1,700m above sea level. You get an amazing 360 degree view of the mountains and we were even treated to looking down on the clouds below us in the distance. Wow!

After lunch, there was free time in Kotor for people to do whatever they wanted before our last dinner together in a traditional Montenegrin restaurant called Bokun.

Day 4 – Sunday 13th April 2025

Our final huge breakfast overlooking the sea and chatting to new friends before we all headed off in different directions to get back home. 7 people flew back to Gatwick together, 2 to Manchester, 2 got a bus to Dubrovnik and 3 stayed on longer (lucky them!).

New friendships made, a new country discovered and explored together, sign languages developed and adventures saved in our memories for ever!

Thanks for joining everyone! We hope you all had an amazing time with VoluntEars in Montenegro and look forward to seeing some of you on future trips to other countries 😊

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Photos of VoluntEars Montenegro trip – April 2025