Montenegro on a Swedish Licence — Narrow Coast Roads, No Side Switch

Montenegro is an unusually low-friction destination for a Swedish driver. Your EU licence is accepted with no IDP, you stay on the right as you do at home, and the alcohol limit is actually a touch more relaxed than Sweden’s — 0.03 here against your strict 0.02. None of the usual cross-border hurdles apply. The thing that will genuinely shape your trip is the road itself.

Most of Montenegro has no motorway. The country’s spine is the coastal road — a narrow, serpentine two-lane route that hugs the cliffs above Kotor Bay, dives through unlit single-lane tunnels and climbs hairpins toward the mountains. In July and August it clogs with tour buses and hire cars, and the posted 130 km/h motorway limit is irrelevant to where you will actually spend your time: realistically you are driving 50 to 70 and concentrating hard. Tunnels are the specific catch — some are one car wide with a give-way at each end, and oncoming drivers expect you to read the situation quickly. Our Montenegro driving guide maps out which stretches are the slow ones.

Coming from Sweden, the temperament of local driving is the bigger adjustment. Overtaking on bends and tailgating are common, so let faster cars past at the pull-ins rather than feeling pressured into a manoeuvre you would not make at home. The disciplined lane habits you are used to do not always hold here.

On the formalities, the car should carry a warning triangle, reflective vest, first-aid kit and spare bulbs, and because Montenegro is outside the EU you need a Green Card for the vehicle’s insurance — confirm the rental has one. Speeding penalties are modest at €30–80, usually settled on the spot; you can check a figure with the speeding fine calculator, and our guide to who pays driving fines abroad covers how rentals handle them. The emergency number is 112.