Wait times at the Croatia–Montenegro border are reaching 12 hours at the height of the season. Weekends are the worst, when tourists move between Dubrovnik and the Bay of Kotor in both directions at once.
Why the jams broke records this year
The main reason is sheer volume that two crossings were never built for. On a single Sunday almost 40,000 people and more than 12,000 vehicles passed through them. Border officers could not check documents fast enough, and the queue stretched for kilometres.
The second factor is the EU's Entry/Exit System (EES). It requires fingerprints and a facial photo from every non-EU traveller. One such check takes longer than a plain stamp, and across thousands of cars it cuts capacity noticeably. We track the Croatia Montenegro border crossing time online.
Who is actually queuing
Not just holidaymakers. Residents of border communities, for whom the crossing is daily routine, wait alongside them, as do members of the Albanian and Kosovar diaspora heading home from Western Europe for the summer. On social media they now advise each other to skip the route entirely — drive to Bari and take the ferry to Durrës instead, even if it adds distance.
How can you check whether there are queues at the border?
The most reliable way is to check each crossing separately rather than the country as a whole. The bulk of the traffic goes through Karasovići on the Croatian side and Debeli Brijeg on the Montenegrin side; the statistics pages show which hours of the day are traditionally the quietest.
What is being planned
The authorities have announced an infrastructure upgrade: three extra lanes roughly 1.5 km long in front of Karasovići. Design documentation is promised for 2026, but there is still no start date for the works.
Experts argue that much of the problem can be solved far sooner, without building anything:
- sort vehicles by type of control before they reach the booths;
- assign more lanes to whichever direction carries the heavier flow;
- open additional booths faster during peak hours;
- temporarily specialise the two crossings — one for exits from Croatia only, the other for entries.
By their estimates, organisational changes alone could lift capacity by 20–30%.
Montenegro and Schengen: when the checks disappear for good
The long-term fix is an expressway from Dubrovnik past Čilipi airport and through the Konavle region to the Montenegrin border. But checks will vanish completely only once Montenegro joins the EU and the Schengen area. Until then, summer queues here remain a seasonal norm.
Advice for drivers in the coming weeks
- cross in the early morning or overnight, on a weekday;
- avoid Saturday and Sunday — that is when the 12-hour waits were recorded;
- if your route allows it, consider the Bari — Durrës ferry instead of driving through Croatia and Montenegro;
- refuel in advance: fuel prices in Croatia are better than at the resort stations along the coast.