Bar Car Rental | Stari Bar & the Italy Ferry Port

Pickup in Bar puts you at the ferry port to Italy and the start of the Sozina tunnel inland, and the Albanian border crossing at Sukobin is around forty minutes south.

Hire a car in Bar, the coast's easy-parking base

Bar is the easiest town on the Montenegrin coast to keep a car in, with proper paid car parks in the centre that the resort towns simply do not have. Collect at our Bar town point or have the car brought to your accommodation, the ferry terminal or the train station, and most cars go out with no credit card needed and the deposit returned when you bring it back. From here the long beaches toward Ulcinj, Stari Bar and the olive groves, Skadar Lake just inland and the overnight ferry to Italy are all within an easy drive, and prices tend to sit below Budva and Kotor.

Bar, Montenegro's Port with Ancient Roots

Bar is an overlooked coastal town that most guidebooks race past on the way from Budva to Ulcinj, and that is to your advantage. It has King Nikola's seaside palace, one of the oldest olive trees in Europe, the only international ferry port in the country, and, in the hills above, the ruins of a medieval city that feel like a small Pompeii.

The modern town (Novi Bar) is a working port city, not a resort. It's compact, walkable, and genuinely Montenegrin rather than tourist-tailored. Four kilometres inland, Stari Bar (Old Bar) is the atmospheric counterpart, abandoned after an earthquake in 1979, preserved as an open-air museum, and one of the most photogenic ruins on the Adriatic.

Why Bar is a smart driving base

Bar sits at a natural hinge point on the Montenegrin coast. The Bay of Kotor is up the coast, Ulcinj and the Albanian frontier a short run the other way, Skadar Lake just inland, and the ferry terminal gives a clean exit to Italy if you want to carry on. Accommodation and restaurants run meaningfully cheaper than Budva or Kotor, and parking is actually available in the centre.

Pickup options

Tivat Airport is 58 km north, 1 h 5 min by road. car rental Podgorica Airport is 42 km north-east, under an hour. We also deliver to the Bar ferry terminal and the train station, useful if you're arriving from Belgrade by rail or Bari by sea.

The right car for Bar

The coastal road and the road up to Stari Bar are paved and gentle, any car works. If you intend to push inland to Rumija mountain or to the lesser-used road from Virpazar around Skadar Lake, a mid-size or SUV gives more comfort. Bar's port area has genuine multi-storey paid parking (rare on this coast), so a slightly larger car isn't a handicap. Browse the fleet.

What to see

King Nikola's Palace on the Bar waterfront was built in 1885 as the summer residence of Montenegro's last monarch. Its Botanical Garden still has the original Japanese pomegranates and cedars from the 1880s, and the palace is now a museum with coin and ethnographic collections. Stari Bar, 4 km inland, is a walled medieval city of 600 buildings across 4 hectares, with a clock tower to climb for the panorama.

Stara Maslina, the olive tree more than 2,000 years old

Two kilometres outside Stari Bar, the Stara Maslina (old olive) is a living tree more than 2,000 years old, one of the three oldest in Europe and the national symbol on the Bar municipal crest. It is surrounded by a small walled grove open to visitors for €1. Combine it with the ruins for a short half-day visit.

The overnight ferry to Bari

Bar's port is the only Montenegrin ferry link to Italy. Jadrolinija and Montenegro Lines run overnight sailings to Bari, around 10 to 11 hours, several times a week in summer and less often off-season. You can take a rental car aboard only with an international permission letter, which we arrange, though most travellers drop the rental in Bar and walk on as a foot passenger.

Driving tips for Bar

The E80/M2 coastal road through Bar is four-lane with hard shoulders, easier than the narrow two-lane up the coast past Budva. On most residential streets park only in the white-marked bays, and paid parking runs at around €1 per hour along the port waterfront. The climb to Stari Bar is 4 km of gentle inland road with clear signage, and the train station has a dedicated bay for rental returns. If you are carrying on into Albania at the Sukobin crossing, our guide to cross-border permits for Albania covers the paperwork and what to keep in the car.

Day trips by car

Skadar Lake from the south, 25 km via the Virpazar road, ending at the famous horseshoe river bend.

Stari Bar + Stara Maslina, 4 km from the port, a relaxed half-day. Fewer crowds than Kotor's walls for similar atmosphere.

Ulcinj and Velika Plaža, 26 km south, combine with dinner at Ada Bojana. More detail in our Ulcinj guide.

Ostrog Monastery, 87 km north via Podgorica, Montenegro's most important Orthodox pilgrimage site clinging to a cliff face.

Driving times from Bar

Insurance and the deposit at Bar

Bar is a working port city rather than a resort, and it has something most of the coast lacks, proper paid car parks in the centre. That lowers the kerbing and door-ding risk that drives most deposit disputes elsewhere, so a standard tier with the roughly €100 hold is usually enough here. The deposit is taken on the supplier card terminal at handover and released when you return the car as collected.

If you plan to push inland toward Rumija or around Skadar Lake on rougher secondary roads, the glass-and-tyre exclusions matter more, so compare the four insurance tiers and consider Full Coverage Plus, which waives the deposit entirely.

Bar has the rare luxury of real parking, so size matters less. A mid-size saloon suits the longer runs to the border and Stari Bar, while a runabout is plenty for the town.

When does Bar make sense as your base?

Bar earns its place when you want a genuinely Montenegrin base with real parking and lower prices than the resort towns. The ferry to Italy leaves from here, Stari Bar's ruins sit four kilometres inland, the Stara Maslina olive tree more than 2,000 years old stands on the Ulcinj road, and the road south opens the long beaches toward the border. It is less suited to a nightlife-first trip, so for more resort buzz Budva is 38 km north, while Sutomore has a sandy beach ten minutes up the coast.

Bar car hire FAQs

Few people arrive in Bar by accident. Most are catching the Italy ferry, exploring Stari Bar, or using it as a quiet, well-priced base for the south, and the booking questions follow from that.