Dangerous or Scenic Road?

If you search for “dangerous roads” on the internet, many can be found. There’s even (at least) one dedicated site for it. But when is a road considered dangerous?

Montenegro: Scenic.

For example, in Montenegro we drove a very nice stretch of road; the R-16 from Pluzine to Zabljak, and then specifically the first 10 km or so when you leave the E762. It is steep, narrow, has lots of rough tunnels that are unlit nor have reflectors, and these tunnels are not just straight cut, but also have bends. The road surface is tarmac, but sections of the road do not have a guard rail, there are steep cliffs going almost straight down, allowing you to enjoy magnificent views… While driving it in the last hours of daylight we found this to be a very beautiful and scenic road. And this is also the opinion of the Montenegrin people, as they point it out as scenic drive nr.1, variation G.

But is it dangerous? I would say it depends… bad weather can make every road dangerous. Darkness the same. High speed… you can guess. So, when using common sense and driving when permit-able, a “dangerous” road can be very enjoyable and rewarding.

We also drove the “hairpin-infested” road from Kotor to Cetinje and, according to the British travel advisory, this is considered a genuine dangerous road. But here again, take it easy and enjoy the views. That is what we did anyway.

Albania: Paradise of “dangerous” roads?

Albania has an infinite collection of “dangerous roads”. But -again- at the same time the scenery was overwhelming too, more often than not. But, if we had to call truly dangerous road, it was the one from Banjat e Benjes (Nivice Canyon) to Frasher: it was after a few days of heavy rain, and this kind of weather can change any track from fair to undoable in no-time. But apart from this event we encountered several interesting situations in Albania and still we survived. Below a small collage of what we encountered.