Podgorica Airport car rental,
and the road south to Ulcinj.

The car can come back to the airport or finish in Ulcinj. Collecting here and returning in Ulcinj is a one-way, because the airport and the town are different cities in the booking system, and it is priced as one. A one-way saves the 75 km drive back to the airport. The search shows the difference once both places are set.

The international brands are signed in the arrivals hall past customs, and their cars sit in the public car park opposite the terminal. The companies here are local and each sets its own handover, which is shown on the car in the search results before you reserve.

These cars are allowed on paved public roads only. It makes no difference on the drive down, and none on driving the length of Montenegro either, since the main roads are sealed. It applies where the beach turnings south of Ulcinj turn to sand.

Bring the licence you actually hold, not a photograph of it. The conditions ask for a valid national driving licence with the details duplicated in Latin script, and they are explicit that copies and electronic licences are not accepted. The expiry date can be no earlier than the day your rental ends. If your licence is only valid in the country that issued it, an International Driving Permit is strongly recommended and may be asked for.

A booking may require a physical embossed credit card in the main driver’s name. Some companies accept a debit card instead, and where they do it is stated during booking and on your voucher, but it still has to be physical, personalised, embossed and in the main driver’s name. A card in someone else’s name does not meet this condition.

Age and driving experience are set per car rather than across the fleet, and each car’s page states its own. The search filters hide the ones you do not qualify for, and the company may decline a car if the requirements are not met.

Keep the phone you booked with switched on. The conditions require the number given at booking, with its country code, to be reachable throughout the rental and on the day before pick-up, including on WhatsApp, Viber or Telegram. It is how the person meeting you finds you, and service complaints cannot be taken up if nobody could reach you. A collection means meeting a person at a time and place set by the company you book with.

Standard insurance does not cover damage to the wheels, the undercarriage, the windscreen or the interior. The car’s own page says what a higher level of cover adds, and the conditions the rental is booked under set out the rest in full.

If something happens, tell the rental company immediately and get a police report, unless they agree otherwise. Skipping either cancels the insurance on the car and leaves you responsible for the whole amount. Deliberate damage and neglect are not covered at all.

Return the car with the level you were given; if it is lower you pay the difference at the company’s rates, and if it is higher you are not refunded for it. Fuel, parking, fines and tolls are all yours during the rental. And bring it back clean enough to inspect: a car returned too dirty to check over gets washed at your expense.

The road leaves the Zeta plain, drops to the coast and runs south through Sutomore and Bar, which is where the summer traffic sits. Give it an hour and a half, and more in July and August.

The quick way between the airport and the coast is the Sozina tunnel, and it carries a charge, which is yours under the conditions above. The alternative is the old road over the pass, which is slower.

North of the runway, the capital an hour and a half inland is twenty minutes away. At the southern end, renting a car in Ulcinj means a person, a time and a place agreed with you when you book.