The minute you rest eyes on Žabljak is the minute you realise that the people who named Montenegro weren't being facetious. Surrounded by a horseshoe of colossal, carved peaks, each clad in blankets of dark spruce and fir forests until the tree line casts a plug of mighty limestone into the air, the town is right in the middle of the mountains. Nowhere is the altitudinous geography of the country more obvious; nowhere is its natural beauty more loved. Žabljak has learned to get by on its high perch with help from alpinists and enthusiasts of the great outdoors. Ski fields doused in snow cover the summits of Savin kuk, Stuoc and Javorovača – some of the best in the Balkans. The gushing whitewater rapids of the Tara River and its sheer-sided gorge (a UNESCO site, no less) are perfect for rafters. Žabljak tour guides organize regular hiking excursions out across the Montenegro highlands, even up to the rarely visited Nevidio canyon of River Komarnica. Wash all that down with a dram of regional rakija grappa and you're bound to be feeling fine!