50 free Montenegro trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Montenegro is a country of 630,000 people wedged between the Adriatic and the Dinaric Alps, whose name is Venetian for 'Black Mountain'. It was ruled by prince-bishops, kept the Ottomans at bay from its highlands, became a kingdom in 1910, spent most of the 20th century inside Yugoslavia and voted for independence in 2006 by a margin so narrow the EU had set a special threshold. This quiz covers that story along with the geography that draws visitors: the fjord-like Bay of Kotor and its walled Venetian town, Durmitor and the Tara Canyon, Lake Skadar, Mount Lovćen and the highest peak that only became the highest in 2018. It also asks about modern Montenegro: Podgorica's years as Titograd, the euro used without eurozone membership, NATO accession in 2017, Milo Đukanović's three decades in power, the official language debate, the Serbian Orthodox Church, water polo and handball medals, the poet Njegoš and The Mountain Wreath, and the island resort of Sveti Stefan that hosted Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Montenegro, Podgorica, Kotor, the Tara River Canyon, Lake Skadar, Sveti Stefan, Njegoš and the flag, and each question carries the sentence that supports it.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital and largest city of Montenegro?
Podgorica
The Old Royal Capital, seat of the president, is a different town.
Q 02Montenegro's coastline lies on which sea?
The Adriatic
Its coastal towns include Kotor, Budva, Herceg Novi and Ulcinj.
Q 03What does the name Montenegro literally mean?
Black Mountain
It is a Venetian rendering of Crna Gora, after the dark forests of Mount Lovćen.
Q 04Which of these countries does NOT border Montenegro?
North Macedonia
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo complete the list of neighbours.
Q 05Montenegro declared independence in June 2006 following what?
A referendum
The vote for independence narrowly cleared the 55 percent threshold set by the European Union.
Q 06What share of the vote did independence win in the May 2006 ballot?
55.5%
That was just above the 55 percent bar required to validate the result.
Q 07Before 2006, Montenegro was in a state union with which country?
Serbia
The Belgrade Agreement of 2003 had loosened the old Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Q 08Which military alliance did Montenegro join on 5 June 2017?
NATO
A Russian-linked coup plot had tried to derail the accession in October 2016.
Q 09What currency does Montenegro use, despite not being in the eurozone?
The euro
It first adopted the German mark unilaterally in the late 1990s and switched to the euro afterwards.
Q 10Montenegro's independence was recognised by the Great Powers at which 1878 gathering?
The Congress of Berlin
It followed Russia's victory over the Ottomans in the war of 1877-78.
Q 11Montenegro became a kingdom in which year?
1910
Nicholas I, who reigned from 1860 to 1918, was its only king.
Q 12Which dynasty ruled Montenegro from 1696, first as prince-bishops and later as secular princes?
Petrović-Njegoš
Their seat was the old royal capital in the mountains.
Q 13What was the title of Montenegro's ruling prince-bishops?
Vladika
Montenegro became a theocracy under them in 1515.
Q 14Prince-Bishop Petar II, known simply as Njegoš, is celebrated for which epic poem?
Q 21Who defeated the long-serving incumbent in the 2023 presidential run-off?
Jakov Milatović
He came from the pro-Western Europe Now movement.
Q 22Which peak was confirmed in 2018 as Montenegro's highest, at 2,534 metres?
Zla Kolata
Bobotov Kuk, at 2,522 m, had previously been thought the highest.
Q 23Bobotov Kuk, long thought to be Montenegro's highest point, lies in which mountain range?
Durmitor
Durmitor National Park, founded in 1952, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Q 24The Tara River gorge is notable as what?
The Mountain Wreath
Gorski vijenac is regarded as the national epic of Montenegro and its neighbours.
Q 15Which Italian republic controlled the Bay of Kotor and much of the coast from 1392 until 1797?
Venice
Budva was known as Budua under Venetian rule.
Q 16The Crnojević family's Zeta fell to whom in 1496?
The Ottomans
It had been the last free monarchy in the Balkans.
Q 17Before the Slavs arrived, the region was inhabited mainly by which ancient people?
Illyrians
Rome absorbed their kingdom into the province of Illyricum.
Q 18Some historians credit Montenegro with what event on 13 July 1941?
The first armed uprising in Nazi-occupied Europe
Within a week 32,000 men and women had joined the fight against the Italian occupiers.
Q 19From 1946 to 1992, Podgorica bore what name?
Titograd
It honoured Yugoslav president Josip Broz Tito.
Q 20Which politician dominated Montenegro for three decades after Yugoslavia broke up?
Milo Đukanović
OCCRP named him 'Person of the Year in Organized Crime' in 2015.
The deepest canyon in continental Europe
Nicknamed the Tear of Europe, it reaches 1,300 metres deep.
Q 25Which lake on the Montenegro-Albania border is the largest in Southern Europe?
Skadar
One shore is a national park; the Albanian side is a Ramsar wetland.
Q 26The walled port of Kotor was known by what name under Venetian rule?
Cattaro
Its fortifications were added to UNESCO's Venetian Works of Defence listing in 2017.
Q 27Which mountains plunge into the Bay of Kotor at the northern end of the coastal plain?
Lovćen and Orjen
Lovćen's dark forests gave the whole country its name.
Q 28Sveti Stefan, the island resort near Budva, was converted by the Yugoslav government from what?
A fishing village
The remaining villagers were moved to the mainland and celebrities from Sophia Loren to Marilyn Monroe checked in.
Q 29Which hotel group reopened Sveti Stefan as a five-star resort in 2009?
Aman
Aman took over the island resort in 2008-09; the nearby Villa Miločer was the summer residence of Queen Marija of Yugoslavia.
Q 30What is the official language of Montenegro?
Montenegrin
Serbian is nonetheless the most spoken language, and the two are mutually intelligible.