Parking in Herceg Novi (Montenegro)

Friends,

In my opinion, the parking system in Herceg Novi is better organized than in any other coastal town in Montenegro. Everything is very convenient and clear.

The whole city is divided into two zones — red and yellow. The red zone means there are more people, more cars, and more parking problems in that area. That’s why it’s a bit more expensive than the yellow zone.

The parking cost depends on the time of year.

During the season, prices are a bit higher; off-season, they are lower. This is not done to get more money from tourists, but to avoid traffic collapse, because during the tourist season the number of cars in the city doubles.

Today, in February, the parking price in the yellow zone is €0.40 per hour or €4 for the whole day. If you park in the red zone, you’ll need to pay €0.60 per hour or €6 per day.

You can pay for parking by buying a ticket, filling it out, and placing it under your windshield.

Most often, the tickets are sold at nearby kiosks.

If you plan to stay for 2–3 hours, you can simply fill out several tickets right away.

It’s more convenient to pay for parking in Herceg Novi by SMS.
Paying with tickets is not very practical — it’s better to use your phone. Parking can be paid via SMS. You need to have a local phone number. Just send your license plate number by SMS, and you’ll receive a confirmation saying that parking has been paid for that vehicle and for how long. Five minutes before the time runs out, you’ll get a reminder that your parking time is ending. So, you have two options: either send another SMS and pay for one more hour, or run back to your car and leave. Very convenient!

Also, you can stay for free for 10 minutes. So, for example, if you just need to get out and buy cigarettes, you don’t need to pay for parking.

Punishment for not paying for parking

And what happens if you don’t pay for parking?
Basically, nothing terrible. When you come back, you’ll find a fine under your windshield — it’s a ticket for 10 euros.

You go to the post office or a bank and pay. By the way, these 10 euros include 24 hours of paid parking, so you can leave your car for as long as you want in any zone. But if you don’t pay these “fines,” there can be more serious problems. If you don’t pay three fines, your car might get a wheel clamp. To remove it, you’ll have to pay more.

If you rented a car, it’s possible that the vehicle already has unpaid fines, so it’s better not to forget to pay.

There are also parking lots with a barrier gate in Herceg Novi.

It’s all simple here: when you enter, you take a ticket, and when you leave, you give the ticket to the lady at the window and pay based on how long you stayed. The price depends on the area of the city and ranges from €0.5 to €0.8 per hour.

Along with paid parking, there are also places in the city where you can park for free. In almost all residential areas, parking is free. That’s natural—there are no parking problems in these locations, so charging for parking wouldn’t make sense. You’ll quickly figure out where you can park for free—just watch for signs and markings along the roads.

Personal parking spot

Lastly, I want to tell you about having your own parking spot. If you buy property in Montenegro, the price may include a parking space near the building. Usually, all new buildings have parking spaces planned. That spot is yours. If someone parks there by mistake, you can call a tow truck — in about 20 minutes, the “offender’s” car will be taken away.

Friends,
You can ask your questions in the comments under the article.

P.S. A few months have passed since I wrote this article, and I decided to add some information.
We now have a third zone – the blue zone. It’s the same as the red one, but there is a time limit for parking. In the blue zone, you can park for a maximum of 2 hours.
As you might guess, this is the most popular tourist area in the city, where parking is the most difficult.
The purpose of the blue zone is to make it easier to find a parking spot in these high-traffic areas.
To be honest, I’ve seen similar zones in every European country I’ve visited, so this is normal and makes sense.

What happens to violators?
I just saw a car being towed from a free parking area because it was blocking access to a trash bin.
You should know about such things in advance.

Also, I can confidently say that you cannot park at sharp turns, where your car gets in the way of turning or passing through (a common situation near the sea).
And, of course, you cannot block pedestrian walkways.
Even if it looks like people can get around the car, not everyone can.
People with children and strollers might not be able to pass!

If you leave your car in such a spot, make sure you are not blocking anyone, and that someone can walk / drive / pass by with a stroller or bike.

And finally, a couple of months ago parking machines started appearing in many places.
So now there’s another way to pay for parking – you can buy a parking ticket from the machine.